Chapter 1: Cave

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Holding the small item Zecora had given her in her magic, Twilight studied it one final time. It was a small tube made of brass, marked on the end with the inscription 5mm, and reeked with a smell like burnt sulfur. Taking a look behind her, all five of Twilight’s closest friends waited with her. Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy. Their faces were a mix of joy and fear. The most scared of the group being Fluttershy, who cowered behind Applejack, a headstrong Earth Pony.

“Eh, Twilight?” a young voice said in Twilight’s ear, making it twitch. It was Spike, Twilight’s baby dragon assistant. He was busy riding on her back, munching on a large ruby.

“Yeah, Spike?” Twilight responded.

Spike’s face was twisted into a small grumpy frown, matching his bored-sounding voice, “We going into the cave or not? And why are we out here anyway? You just called everyone to the map room and told us to follow you.”

Twilight nodded, placing Spike gently on the ground with her magic. “Zecora said she found this brass tube near a cave under the old castle,” Twilight paused for a second, looking up the tall cliff wall at the crumbling towers of the Castle of the Two Sisters, as well as passing around the brass tube to her friends. They had already seen it, but Twilight figured a second look couldn’t hurt, “The chemical residue inside is old. Older than it has any right to be, and not a compound I’m familiar with. What’s really confusing is that the metal tube itself is too small to be of any use for storage. Not to mention the brass used is almost free from any impurities. I think we’re on the path to an archeological find that will unveil knowledge lost when the castle was destroyed and Luna banished.”

Rainbow Dash flew up to Twilight, crossing her legs in a huff, “All this over a little chunk of metal. Are you sure it wasn’t some junk dropped here by accident?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Rainbow, did you miss the part where I said the brass was nearly free from any impurities, despite being over two hundred years old?”

“So?” Rainbow replied flatly, “It’s metal. What does it matter if there is any impurities inside it?”

“It has everything to do with metallurgy!” Twilight exclaimed, stomping a hoof down onto the ground, “Impurities can make the metal weaker, and the brass has the perfect amount of copper, zinc, and trace elements to form a strong, corrosion-resistant brass. At this age, ammonia should have cracked the brass to pieces, but it hasn’t.”

“Jeez, Egghead, I was just joking,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, her always scratchy voice apologetic in tone. Then she added, “I think I was joking. I did learn something.”

Smiling at Rainbow Dash’s antics, Twilight turned back towards the cave, speaking to her friends as she lit up her horn, “I’ll go in first. There’s no telling if something dangerous may be inside.”

There were a few mutters of objection from her friends about going in alone, but fell on deaf ears as Twilight levitated the brass tube out of Fluttershy’s hooves and towards the cave. Determined to face whatever lay within, Twilight placed the brass tube into her saddlebags, entering the cave with her horn blazing with magic like a purple-flamed torch.

She nearly coughed as the damp smell of moss and wet earth crawled its way down her nose. Going further into the cave, the soggy earth began to sparkle just before coming to a stone floor. “I found something!” Twilight called out to the others. She couldn’t contain her excitement, calling out again in sheer joy, “Girls, Spike, come and see this! It’s safe, trust me! This shouldn’t be here but it is!”

As Twilight’s friends and her assistant Spike came rushing in, Twilight shot spheres of light out of her horn that were almost as bright white as a small sun, illuminating the cave and giving her and the others a good look. Their “oohs” and “aahs” told Twilight they were just as fascinated with the cave as she was.

Twilight could tell the cave was Pony-made; the walls were too smooth to be natural, and the cave itself was almost perfectly square with four walls and a vaulted ceiling. In one corner, there were metal desks, chairs, and filing cabinets. In the corner parallel to it were hooflockers, bunk beds, and other items on top of the stone floor.

Not stone, Twilight quickly realised with a gleeful smile, but concrete. Half of the cave’s floor was dirt, the other half a smooth even surface of dark grey concrete. This had to be her biggest discovery ever. There was so much to see and study, it was almost overwhelming on where to start. There were even things Twilight had never seen before scattered about. The biggest of all was a strange suit of metal armor, surrounded by smaller suits of armor made of what looked like green plastic. The metal armor was large and bulky, and attached to its side was what looked like some sort of cannon, but even that paled in comparison to the horseshoe-shaped mirror dominating the back of the room, directly behind the massive suit of metal armor.

Looking over to her friends, their faces awestruck, Twilight said to the small purple dragon among the group, “Spike, grab a quill, we have just uncovered the biggest archaeological discovery in the history of archeology! None of this stuff is from Equestria, can’t you see!?”

Spike quickly scrambled to open the backpack he was carrying, saying just barely under his breath, “Great, not from Equestria. Should’ve packed a tin-foil hat.” He pulled out a large roll of parchment and a quill. Meanwhile, Twilight’s other friends began to spread out, exploring the cave. Twilight looked at the mirror portal - or at least Twilight assumed it was one - with hungry eyes, her brain starving for knowledge. Maybe this one would take her somewhere else than Canterlot High.

As she started making her way over to the armor, Twilight stopped. Fluttershy was hiding behind one of the massive forelegs, blushing and peering around at the far corner of the cave, where Rainbow Dash already was. The blue pegasus was leaning on a desk, reading something, not realizing Fluttershy had a perfect view of her flank.

Trotting over to Fluttershy’s side, Twilight opened her mouth to ask Fluttershy if she was alright, but was cut off as Pinkie suddenly yelled right next to them, “What does this spinny bit do?”

Twilight turned just in time to see Pinkie twist a wheel-like piece on the back of the armor they stood next to. There was a ka-chunk and a hiss as the armor suddenly opened, making Fluttershy grab onto Twilight, trembling with fear. The legs of the armor split open to reveal a cushioned interior, while the back opened upwards, the strange cannon falling off the back of the armor and onto the floor.

“Whoa,” Rainbow Dash muttered, having flown up to the group now forming around the armor, “That is cool.”

Applejack added her two cents, “Tain’t trustworthy. I don’t like it.”

Twilight at the moment had to agree with her. She had no idea how the armor worked, and guessed that she needed at least a full day of study to understand how it could split open like it did with the turn of a valve.

Rarity gave a scoff, “The interior is far too bare for my liking, I mean look at the cushions on the inside. It must be dreadfully uncomfortable to wear. It needs a good repadding. And a coat of paint as well, that rusty look it has going on is dreadfully uncouth. Not to mention-”

Rarity was cut off by Rainbow Dash, “I dare you to get into it, Fluttershy.”

There was a weak “meep” sound underneath Twilight. Looking down, Fluttershy had crawled under her, shielding her head with her wings and hooves.

Rainbow Dash added in a joking voice, “C’mon, Fluttershy, I bet you’d look cooler in that armor than the stuff you wore to joust me at the Crystal Fair.”

Twilight stumbled as a yellow blur shot out from under her, the armored panels of the suit closing around Fluttershy the second all four of her hooves slipped into the padded frame. Oh great… Twilight groaned.

“Whoa,” Rainbow Dash gasped, “I was kidding around Fluttershy, I didn’t mean for you to actually jump in.”

The armor groaned as Fluttershy lifted a leg, taking a heavy step forward. Her voice was muffled by the helmet as she spoke, “I can barely move. This stuff is heavy.”

Pinkie was suddenly bouncing, her hoof waving in the air like she was a filly desperate to answer a teacher’s question. “Oooh, oooh! I found something!” she lifted a yellow metal cylinder into the air. “I think this plugs into the back. Hold on.” In a pink blur, Pinkie clambered onto Fluttershy’s back, plugging the yellow cylinder into the middle of the wheel.

As soon as the thing clicked into the armor, Fluttershy lurched forward in a stumble, her surprised yelp audible through the crackle of a speaker. “Whoa, a lot of lights just turned on. I can see a picture of the armor in the corner of the glass, as well as a compass.”

Twilight’s eyes were fixed onto the machine Fluttershy wore. Question upon question raced through Twilight’s mind as she studied the armor. The helmet Fluttershy wore had a horn on it, so it could fit a unicorn. The armor was steel grey, and speckled with rust. The armor seemed riveted together, and most of all it seemed to need a power source.

“D-do I look awesome?” Fluttershy weakly asked.

“Heck yeah, you do!” Rainbow Dash cheered, “That armor is amazing!"

Twilight considered telling Fluttershy she shouldn't be playing with the suit of strange armor, but squashed that thought. She knew that behind that helmet, the normally meek Fluttershy was beaming with joy.

I'll let Fluttershy have this moment. Let her build her confidence. At least it's not a repeat of Iron Will.

Applejack tipped her hat upwards, drawling out her words, “I still don’t trust the darn thing. Anything you plug an oversized battery into and climb inside just ain’t right in my opinion.”

Twilight couldn’t help but nod, “I think it’s time you got out, Fluttershy. We still don’t know what the armor is, exactly. It could be dangerous.”

“Awww, c’mon, Egghead.” Rainbow Dash whined, “Fluttershy looks like she could face down an Ursa Major in that thing.”

Twilight flared her nostrils, making it clear she was not joking as she glared at Rainbow, “I’ve been lenient letting you disturb this archeological site, but now, I’m putting my hoof down. We don’t know what half of this stuff is. I’m not sure what that armor can do, for all we know, it could blow up, crazy as that may sound. But that’s the thing, without studying it before tampering with it, we just don't know the outcome.”

“S-sorry, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering limply above the ground.

Twilight turned the valve on the back of the armor. With a hiss and a clatter of the armor splitting open, Fluttershy emerged, an apologetic look on her face. Before Twilight could say a word to her, she muttered, “Sorry Twilight. I shouldn’t have taken that dare, not knowing what I was jumping into.”

Twilight couldn’t blame Fluttershy, sure, she jumped into the armor, but Twilight knew she was probably being overprotective of her friends. It was a creaky suit of metal armor… that ran on a giant battery. Curiosity began to outweigh her anger, and Twilight decided to put a positive spin on things, “Well, you did help me. I learned a lot about that armor, but I now have so many questions. How did it feel inside it, Fluttershy?”

“It was wearable, but my tail was in a bind, as well as my mane. If I had time to straighten my mane and tail into the armor, it wouldn’t have been as bad. And until Pinkie plugged the battery into the armor, it felt like I was walking with cement horseshoes. But afterwards… I just had to move my legs, and the armor moved with me.”

“Interesting,” Twilight said, motioning for Spike to come over. He had been busying himself looking at an old olive green uniform with Rarity. She nodded to Spike, “I need you to take some-”

Twilight was cut short. “Ah found somethin’. Looks burned.”

Quickly trotting to where Applejack stood revealed a pit full of slagged metal. Whatever was in the hole, it was useless. I’ll come back to it when Celestia sends a team from Canterlot. Right now, I need to get Spike to write that letter. Twilight’s gaze drifted to the mirror. She almost slapped herself with her hoof. With all the excitement from that armor, I nearly forgot about the mirror! I guess before I have Spike write that report to Celestia I should have a look.

Pacing across the room, Twilight stood in front of the mirror. The large metal horseshoe frame was pock-marked with rust, and the normally shiny surface of the mirror was home to a spiderweb of cracks, marring the once pristine silver shine.

Cracked!? Twilight questioned in alarm. Starswirl never mentioned anything about the mirrors being able to break! Maybe all this stuff belongs to people from the other side of the mirror. Keeping all of this as an archeological find would be stealing… right? Maybe I can fix it and return their things. Hopefully all it needs is a little Fix-It spell.

Narrowing her eyes on the largest of the cracks, Twilight focused on binding the glass back together.

There was a sickening crunch, and everything exploded.

Opening her eyes in shock, Twilight screamed in pain but sound didn’t come, drowned out by the noise of the storm swallowing her whole. It sounded like being in a blazing fire and a waterfall at the same time. Colors swirled around her, her limbs twisting and contorting. Twilight could see her friends in the maelstrom of colors as well, their mouths open as if they were yelling, but all Twilight could hear was the crackle around her. Boxes, crates, and all the contents of the cave were being dragged with them, bouncing around as they spun in the colorful void.

Something hard and heavy slammed into Twilight’s face. Dizzy from the spinning and the pain, the last thing she saw before passing out was each of her friends being pulled away from her in the swirling mass.

Chapter 2: Mutant

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Daniel Neeson didn’t get out much. The outside scared him. The vast, open area outside the safe walls of Vault 101 still sent ripples of fear down his spine. He could face down Raiders and Slavers or anything Moira Brown would give him, but facing his steel-grey eyes up into the gaping maw of the sky sent his head spinning.

His best friend in the world outside his former underground home, Moira Brown, suggested he just breath deeply in and out and go outside. Face his fears head-on. And surprisingly the advice of the high-spirited, over-enthusiastic shopkeeper was sound enough. Letting out a deep breath, Daniel looked up, his fear ebbing away bit by bit.

Moira was right, this does work. Daniel thought to himself as he walked towards the location marked on his wrist-mounted personal computer, a Pip-Boy 3000. It was a miraculous little machine, a bit heavy, but the weight on his arm was a memento from home. Even in the wide-open outside, it made Daniel feel safe knowing home was right on his wrist. Plus the Pip-Boy was useful. It could hold tons of information, ranging from personal notes, interior maps, a large exterior map of the Capital Wasteland, location markers, and it even functioned as a radio.

Double checking his Pip-Boy to make sure he was going the right way, Daniel nodded with satisfaction. Minefield was the name marked. He had already passed the halfway point: a small farmhouse crumbling to ruins. A fridge inside had provided him with a few bottles of water, which he had shoved away deep into his travel pack. The reddish-brown backpack made from the hide of brahmin -- two-headed cows that looked nothing like the pictures in the vault -- almost looked as if it was made to go with his blue jumpsuit, armored with leather padding.

The backpack and jumpsuit were both gifts from Moira Brown. And of course, she was the reason Daniel had dragged himself to the far corners of the Capital Wasteland. He had already irradiated himself to sickness, as well as dove headfirst into a Raider stronghold for food and supplies. It was for research purposes, according to Moira. Now she wanted a mine from Minefield.

He just couldn’t say no to her requests, no matter how dangerously stupid they were. She was like an overexcited puppy; too cute to deny her begging. She was always running around her shop and talking about making the Wasteland better, or experimenting and talking at the same time. On more than one occasion, she groped Daniel’s well-trimmed goatee, or ran her fingers through his short, brown hair with the playfulness of a child.

Just thinking of her running her fingers through his hair made him chuckle, “Do I really have a crush on Moira?”

Daniel couldn’t help but smile. It was absurd, to think that he had a crush on her. He was just helping Moira out of the kindness of his heart. He didn’t want bottle caps -- the currency of the Wasteland, strangely enough -- he just wanted to help. Although, Moira made him take the caps as well as lots of free supplies.

Daniel stopped to observe his surroundings. Cupping a hand like a visor over his eyes, he shielded them from the glaring sun as he scanned across the barren wastes. The rocky hilled landscape and muddy fields were empty and void of life, save for clumps of stubborn grass and half-dead bushes barely fit to keep a grazing brahmin alive.

Daniel knew he had to keep moving. Moira had warned him that Germantown was close by, maybe a half-mile. It was a small town turned into a nest of Super Mutants. The nearly eight foot tall, green-skinned brutes were bent on one thing, and one thing only: Eradicating Humans. Just the thought of fighting them scared Daniel. The grisly sights he had seen left in their wake still curdled his blood and knotted his stomach. At least Raiders kept bodies partially intact.

Choking down the urge to puke, Daniel pressed onwards.

<>~<>~<>

“Shit!” Daniel cursed as a bullet ricocheted off the rusty car he hid behind. “Moira didn’t say anything about a sniper.”

Daniel knew he was in Minefield. The car he was hiding behind still burned a little, and his Pip-Boy clicked with radiation warning from the nuclear engine. The car had been blown up by the sniper, who more than likely had been the one to set the mines around the town. Moira wanted one to study, as well as for him to reach the playground in the center of Minefield, for some reason. The sniper had other plans.

Another bullet spattered asphalt next to Daniel’s foot, peppering him with dust. Whoa, that was too close! Daniel yelled in his mind. From the one muzzle flash Daniel had spotted before taking cover, the sniper was camped out in a destroyed building. It was the top corner of a four way intersection, and in the corner opposite of the sniper’s building was the playground Moira wanted him to reach.

The small town provided little cover, most of the buildings were gone. Daniel counted only about three houses left standing. He wasn’t sure about that estimate though, the sniper dissuaded him from making a thorough search.

Going over his options, fighting the sniper was out of the question. He was only armed with a 10mm pistol. It didn’t have the range or accuracy to beat a sniper who already had a bead on him.

Funnily enough, the situation reminded him of the bullies back home in Vault 101. A slingshot beat spitballs. Somehow Butch was always able to find metal washers to shoot at him.

Another bullet ricocheting ended Daniel’s reminiscing. There was only one other option. Run. Daniel knew he needed to plan his escape before blindly running out of cover. Looking to his left, burned out houses barely stood. Their rotting and burned frames barely held up under their own weight. It would be no good to use them as cover.

Quickly glancing over the car and to his right, a house stood tall and mostly intact. It was only missing half the paint and a few pieces of the wooden side paneling. Most likely used to board the shattered windows. He ducked back down as a bullet slammed into the car’s roof.

Sorry Moira, that mine isn’t worth taking a bullet. Daniel felt like a coward. A loser. How did I even end up here? I’m Daniel, the nerdy lab assistant, not a fighter. Of all the times he could have chosen to talk down about himself, he chose the moment a sniper was trying to kill him.

Daniel took a deep breath to calm his nerves, right before running around the rear of the car and charging towards the nearest house. It was almost in the center of town, but close enough to reach quickly. He was out of the sniper’s view in a few bounding strides, hiding around the corner.

Breathing heavily, Daniel rested his hands on his knees. Red stained his inner thigh. In the haze of all the excitement, Daniel could only feel a cold burning sensation. But it was there, a half-inch deep gash spilling red.

“Oh shi-” Daniel stopped himself mid-curse. I’m out of stimpacks, aren’t I?

<>~<>~<>

The window Daniel climbed through led directly into the the living room. Coughing into his sleeve, Daniel tried to block out the near fecal-like smell of the house’s interior. The pain distracted him, as it was slowly growing with each passing second. Looking left, a pair of crumbling bookshelves spilled their contents onto the carpeted floor. The books were all rotted to moldy heaps.

That sniper wouldn’t dare come in here. Too many places for me to hide and shoot him… damn, this is really starting to hurt.

With the sniper no longer an immediate threat, Daniel reached into his pocket to pull out one of his emergency makeshift bandages. Daniel wrapped the torn piece of cloth around his leg. It wasn’t much -- just an old shirt he had torn up a few days ago, and nowhere near a proper battle dressing -- but he felt at ease knowing he wouldn’t bleed out anytime soon. The smooth leather of his jumpsuit’s leg was stained a scarlet hue with blood, sharply contrasting with the navy blue.

Distracting himself from the blood and searing heat in his thigh by observing the architecture, a sense of deja vu passed over him. This is almost the same as every other house I’ve been inside. He resisted the urge to laugh.

White walls of peeling paint, moldy carpet too faded to tell what color it had originally been, a few destroyed paintings, piles of dirt and debris, and a lone staircase leading up to the bedrooms. It all felt so samey. The pre-war people must have lived boringly similar lives. Whoever had lived in the house even had the same style of chandeliers hanging from the ceiling as the last one he had visited. At the moment, they were rusted and threatening to fall. Just like the last house.

That was just the main room. Looking right, the empty door frame dividing the kitchen from the living room greeted him. He knew stimpacks wouldn’t be kept in the kitchen. The people of the old world were too predictable to let that happen.

Turning his gaze elsewhere, almost directly in front of him were the stairs. They probably keep their stimpacks in the upstairs bathroom. Same as the last house. Daniel thought as he limped towards the first board.

Holding onto the railing, Daniel tested the strength of the steps by putting his full weight into the bottom one while shaking the railing. The railing was loose and the stairs groaned, but they both held as Daniel ascended.

Each step caused Daniel pain. Using the splintery hand railing for support, Daniel slowly made his way towards the top landing. Sweating at the brow, he fought back the urge to yelp with each step. It seemed like an eternity of pain before he reached the top.

The hallway he entered from the top of the stairs was as dingy as any other he had encountered before. Across from the master bedroom Daniel found the bathroom. Sure enough, a familiar white box hung on the wall over a cracked toilet. Inside the container he found two stimpacks, among other meds that he stashed into his bag. Moira could always use more ingredients.

“Ahhh…” Daniel sighed as he plunged one of the needles into his thigh. Slipping off the bandage, the gaping wound under it began to mend and heal right before his eyes. It was amazing how stimpacks could almost miraculously close most open wounds. Daniel counted himself lucky the sniper’s shot didn’t break or shatter a bone. That would have been too much, even for a stimpack.

With his leg mended, Daniel’s mind eased a little of its worry. Okay, now I can search the rest of this place. Daniel had quickly learned that was all life was in the Wasteland: surviving one encounter only for another to take its place. Scavenging to stay alive came in between. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find a better gun.

The upstairs bedroom provided a locked safe too tough for him to crack, a long-offline terminal, and a dresser. The latter of the three contained a few 10mm pistol rounds buried under a pile of moldy clothes. The only outfit in the dresser that seemed wearable was a blue dress.

The bed nearby drew Daniel’s eye. A tattered yellow and brown shirt still clung to the ribs of a skeleton lying next to another one. Daniel wasn’t like his father -- able to tell the gender of a body by looking at the skull shape -- but he could at least guess from the purple dress clinging to the other skelton that it was most likely a husband and wife who died in each other’s arms. Daniel’s thoughts went sour, I’m robbing a tomb. I should just go.

His stomach let out a loud wince-causing rumble. Sighing heavily, Daniel shook his head. Or find something to eat. Maybe the kitchen has some food.

Daniel made his way back downstairs, grumbling to himself about the unfairness of the Wasteland. Why am I even concerned about them? They’ve been dead for over two hundred years. But still, it feels like I’m stealing.

Continuing his moral debate, Daniel meandered into the kitchen in search of a meal. Humming to himself to try and not think about how he was looting, Daniel sang in a half mumble as he checked the cabinets, “I don’t want to set the world on fire~, I just want to start a flame in your heart-”

The rattle of a tin can clanging on the floor rang out in the kitchen. A can Daniel knew he hadn’t kicked.

Daniel spun around on the spot, leveling his 10mm in the direction the sound came from.

The hell!? Daniel stumbled back in shock from the creature leaning its long bony arm against the refrigerator for support. It had a knife, but the hand holding it was so shaky Daniel knew the unknown thing was too scared of him to attack.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t human.

What it was, however, was female. Daniel could tell that by her exposed, light purple fur-covered breasts; she was naked. Her long, dark purple hair clung in dirty sweat-soaked clumps to her face. Oddly enough he noticed she had a light pink and purple highlight. Her purple eyes were wide open, fear and primal terror almost screamed at him from just her gaze alone.

Every one of her ribs showed underneath her purple fur. She was battered and bruised. Of all the hair obscuring her human-like face, it couldn’t hide the caked blood under her nose. Another look at her hair made Daniel gasp. She had two long ears poking straight out of her messy hair, and a single horn jutting from her forehead, spiraling and straight, except for a jagged and broken end.

Her horn is almost half as long as a deathclaw's talon! Just what are you!? Daniel thought in both amazement and shock.

The mutant gasped and wheezed for air, pleading in a raspy whisper, “S-stay... back.” Her shaky voice was so weak it was like a flame on the very edge of burning out.

She’s hurt, maybe I can help… somehow, Daniel thought as he lowered his gun, then shook his head, “I’m not here to hurt you.” Holstering the 10mm, Daniel kept one hand on the grip as he reached over his shoulder with the other, struggling a little with the flap of his leather backpack before presenting a bottle of water. She only had a knife, as long as she kept her distance Daniel wouldn’t draw his gun again.

Setting the plastic container on the grimy tile floor, Daniel gently used the side of his foot to roll it over to her. “You look thirsty,” he observed. She also looked hungry. There was no telling how long she had been in here to deteriorate to such a state.

Daniel watched as she slowly leaned over, using the handle of the refrigerator door to hold herself up as she grabbed the bottled water that rested by her… hoof? She uncapped the bottle and greedily swallowed the water down in huge gulps before he could ask about them. Tilting her head back, she drained the water bottle of every drop, letting out a content sigh when she finished. “Thank you,” She said. Taking a few steps away from the fridge she leaned on, her legs buckled.

Luckily, Daniel caught her, holding her steady as she fell into his embrace, head on his shoulder. He blushed as he felt her breasts press against his chest. That blush nearly turned into a fire as he realized he was holding a nude woman.

Shakily swallowing with embarrassment, Daniel did his best to ignore the detail of her lack of clothes. She’s hurt, think about that instead. Getting over his nervousness he said gently, “T-Take it easy now. You okay?”

She didn’t respond. Checking her pulse and breathing, Daniel eased his worry, She’s just exhausted. Wait, is that a tail?

Sure enough as she rested her head on his shoulder, he could clearly see her long flowing tail, the same color as her hair, as well as a pair of wings drooping limply towards the floor.

<>~<>~<>

Waking up felt good at first. The lull of sleep slowly wormed its way out of Twilight’s brain as seconds of blissful peace passed. She lay with her eyes closed, the mattress beneath her body a bit too stiff for her liking, but she couldn’t complain. Resting on something other than the floor felt too good to gripe about.

Then the pain began to flair throughout her body, the sense of peace replaced by the fiery sensation of a nail stabbing right through her brain. Opening her eyes with a groan of pain, the dim glow of an overhead light illuminated the room. Darkness tried to creep in from the holes worn in the rusted metal walls and roof now surrounding her.

Rolling over, she curled into a ball, sobbing in pain. Her empty stomach added to it like a rabid dog was inside her, biting constantly. Ughhhh… my head is killing me.

Sluggishly, she looked around, finally realising she wasn’t where she had been before. A filing cabinet was next to the bed, and next to it was a metal desk. A typewriter sat atop it.

Taking another look, she gaped in confusion as a machine hovered in the air a few feet from the bed, it’s three robotic arms connected to its spherical body. In the pincers of one arm, a bowl of something sent wafts of steam trailing towards the sole light in the room.

Its voice came from a speaker she couldn’t see, its voice posh and servant-like. “Hello, Madam. Sir Neeson has appointed me to greet you upon your return to consciousness with a complimentary bowl of stew. Luckily you woke up when it was still warm.” Under his breath she heard him whisper something with scathing contempt, but he muttered it so fast she didn’t catch exactly what he had said.

Quickly she changed positions to sit on the side of the bed, her hooves faintly scraping the rusty metal floor. Food! Was her only thought before she wrenched the bowl out of the machine’s pincers with an almost animalistic fury. A spoon was provided for her in the bowl, but she didn’t use it. Instead, she grabbed handfuls of the moist, warm food and crammed it into her mouth.

Tasty chunks of something greeted her tastebuds as she swallowed bite after bite, taking little time to chew before she chased it down with the thick broth.

“I see Master Neeson hasn’t prepared enough food, I shall go fetch some more.” The machine said in a butlery fashion. It turned around and floated out the bedroom door before Twilight had a chance to speak.

Dropping the empty bowl, she cupped one hand over her mouth while the other clutched her stomach. The food she had shoveled down tried to creep back up. Don't puke, don't puke, don’t puke!

Forcing herself to hold it in was torment, tears brimmed in her eyes before the pain quickly subsided. Sighing in relief, she tried to stretch her wings. They were bound! Panicked, she looked behind her, trying to see what bound her wings…

A soft blue dress.

Calm down, Twilight, you’re overreacting. Take a moment to analyze the situation. She wasn’t a prisoner, at least she believed she wasn’t. There were no bars, and the robot butler had left the door wide open. She had even been dressed and prepared a delicious meal.

Wait… when did I get clothes? Twilight asked herself, pinching the dress around the shoulder. The blue fabric was extremely worn and faded. The bottom end was frayed to the point it was tattered strips barely held together, and several spots had holes worn into the design. Rarity would kill me if she saw me wearing this. Twilight suppressed a laugh, her lips creasing into a small smile.

The smile didn’t last, replaced with a frown and a grunt as Twilight tapped a finger against the chin of her short muzzle, thinking deeply, So I’m obviously not a prisoner. I’m probably in a home of sorts, maybe a mansion if this Mr. Neeson has his own servant. No, too much iron oxide on the walls to be a mansion. Plus, why would a mansion have metal walls and floors? Just where the heck am I? I wake up in a town that’s burned to the ground and trapped inside a house with skeletons, but now I’m here. Why did that other person attack me? I need solid answers, evidence, facts, statistics. I’m blind in a world I don’t know right now, so my best bet in days right now is that mechanical butler.

Even though she had eaten, her strength still hadn’t fully returned. Shakily, she stood, her legs feeling like jelly as she did. Using the filing cabinet and desk as support, she guided her slow near-limp walk towards the door.

Grunting as she slid alongside the desk, she thought to herself, How long was I trapped in that house to get like this? The day and night cycle passed… four times, or was it six? Even more than that? Twilight knew it had to be at least half a week or more with almost no food and little water.

Before Twilight made it to the door, the robot returned. Its voice cheery, “Ah, hello there, Madam, I have retrieved more stew. It is good to see you’ve managed to make it out of bed.”

Stew? Twilight thought as she looked at the new wooden bowl in the robot’s pincers. It was full of a brownish liquid and steaming. Grabbing the new bowl and spoon easily rather than snatching it away, Twilight spoke calm and collectively as she shakily moved backwards to sit on the bed, “I’m sorry about my manners earlier, I haven’t had food in days. I thank you for your hospitality… I didn’t catch your name.”

For a machine, it seemed oddly emotional as it laughed before saying, “Right, right. I do believe introductions are in order, Madam. I am Wadsworth, an honest to Queen and Country, RobCo certified Mr. Handy personal servant. My master is Mr. Daniel Neeson. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. It’s not everyday we have guests.”

Taking a bite of her meal without looking at the spoon, Twilight began to chew on something soft and spongy. It broke apart into tiny strands as she chewed, and it tasted different from the broth.

Spitting whatever it was back onto the spoon, Twilight’s eyes opened wide in shock. Is this? No… this can’t be…

Wadsworth spoke up, sounding genuinely concerned despite his robotic voice, “Um… is something wrong with your stew, Madam?”

“Twilight… Twilight Sparkle” Twilight said weakly, finally introducing herself. It was one part courtesy, one part vain attempt to forget what she had just consumed. If it even was what she thought it was. This isn’t meat. I’m not a carnivore, I can’t eat meat. Trying to push away her doubt, Twilight asked Wadsworth as she stared at the spoon, “What is this?” I have to know.

“Squirrel stew. I’m surprised the little rodents aren’t extinct.”

To Twilight’s own surprise, she didn’t feel sick, just curious and slightly nauseous. This is too crazy, I’m a herbivore, I’ve never eaten meat before, and yet I’m not sick. This ‘stew’ stuff is full of it, and I’ve already eaten one bowl without realizing it. Is it because of this body? I need time to think. Study myself. Something!

<>~<>~<>

A sleepy-eyed Moira Brown rolled her eyes, nearly slamming the door in Daniel’s face, but instead yawned and asked in disbelief, “A mutant? Daniel, I know people said Minefield was--” Moira Brown let out a wide yawn “--haunted, but we both know that’s just made up stuff by some scared Wastelanders.”

“Listen, Moira,” Daniel said with conviction, “She was half dead and naked when I found her in Minefield. She’s like nothing I have ever seen. Purple fur, wings, horn, she even has a tail!”

Moira winced, “Sheesh, not so loud. It’s God-knows-what hour and my husband and I are trying to sleep. You’ve only been out of your Vault nearly two weeks and think you’ve seen everything the Wasteland has to offer.”

Daniel blinked in shock, not believing what his best friend had just told him, “You have a husband?”

Moira rolled her eyes, unable to suppress a bubbly smirk, “You didn’t think the mercenary brooding in the corner all day acted overprotective because I paid him to, right?”

“Everyone said you hired a mercenary to watch your store.”

Moira laughed, her bubbly smirk growing to a bright and loving smile “While I did hire him, I kinda…” she paused for a second, tapping a finger against her chin, “fell head over heels for him, is the expression I was thinking of.”

The explanation weighed heavily on Daniel’s heart. Looking towards the ground, he gave a heavy sigh. He didn’t know why hearing Moira was married made him feel so... cheated.

Moira ran her fingers through his hair, “I’m sorry you’re bummed out, Dearie. I’m sure you'll find someone. In the meantime, maybe checking out this mutant you’re talking all about will make you feel better.”

<>~<>~<>

Using a clipboard, paper, and pencil Wadsworth provided at her request, Twilight began to write.

Twilight’s notes, entry: one.

I did not have time to write while I was trapped inside that house. My initial hypothesis that this world was full of Ponies who look partially Human -- or the other way around -- was flawed. I should have known that from the skeletons in the house, but I never got a real in-depth look at them.

The existence of Humans in this world suggests that I am not what I am supposed to be coming out of the Mirror. I can only hope the other girls are safe with each other, but I’ve had days to accept the facts. We have been split up by the portal when it broke, or my friends would have been with me. The question is, where are they now.

I need to get my mind off it. They’re fine, I’m sure of it. We’ve taken on loads of more dangerous things than simply getting lost.

Maybe some notes will get my mind off of it. Yeah, notes. What I originally got the paper for than writing down exactly what I am thinking.

Interesting notes: I have hands and arms like a Minotaur or Human. Hooves and hind legs changed only slightly for bipedal movement. Body is covered in fur -- my cutie mark is still present.

Muzzle changed to a short, almost Human-like mouth, but covered in fur. Also my teeth have changed to be like a Human’s.

Stopping to look beside her, Twilight’s dress lay neatly folded on the bed. She had taken the dress off to stretch her wings, and to get a better look at herself. Atop the folded fabric was an empty bowl. Shame flooded her thoughts as she said solemnly to herself, “Fluttershy is going to rip me limb from limb when she finds out…”

After experimenting, it seems meat is a food source for Humans, and my new body. After consuming a second bowl of what the chef of the meal simply calls ‘Squirrel Stew’ my body has not rejected its consumption. I still need to wait and see. On a related note, I have lost a lot of weight trapped inside that house. The potato chips and junk food sustained me, but did not preserve my body weight after days of starvation.

Now, my horn.

Twilight’s pencil pressed hard on the last period, the tip of the pencil breaking with a loud snap. My...my horn. Slumping her shoulders, Twilight reached up and ran her thumb across the jagged tip. It’s not fair! In a fit of frustration, Twilight balled up her notes in an attempt to vent her anger.

Tossing the paper ball in an uncharacteristic fit of rage, it hit the far wall with a smack. The sound was enough to sate Twilight’s anger. Sighing heavily, she slumped her shoulders before eyeing the paper ball.

Twilight gave another stressed sigh. Focus. Closing her eyes, Twilight envisioned levitating the ball. “Just like in Magic Kindergarten,” she whispered to herself. The familiar warm sensation of magic channeling through her horn made her smile at it’s familiar presence. Relax and make the ball levitate. Opening her eyes, she increased the flow of magic, smirking as the ball of paper was enveloped in purple light.

There was a sizzling zap and sparks began to fly off the broken horn, “Owowowowwowowo-ouch!” Twilight yelled, grabbing the sensitive end. Tears of pain flowing into her eyes.

“Are you alright, Miss Sparkle?” Wadsworth called from outside the room. He floated into the room with a bottle of water. The stabbing pain in Twilight’s horn ebbed away quickly, and Twilight's mouth began to feel dry.

Taking the water, Twilight nodded, “Thank you, Wadsworth.” Wincing at a stab of pain in her horn, Twilight gave a fake smile, “I’m fine.”

My horn is broken, I’m bruised all over, I’ve spent days trapped inside a house nearly dying from starvation and dehydration, and to top it all off, I don’t know where my friends are in this world. “Fine” shouldn’t even be in my vocabulary at the moment.

Slumping her shoulders once more in another heavy sigh, Twilight shook her head, feeling powerless to stop all the problems weighing her down. “Wadsworth,” Twilight spoke solemnly, “I need to ask you something.”

“Sure thing, Miss Sparkle!” Wadsworth spoke with enthusiasm, as if he was trying to cheer her up. “What’s on your mind?”

“Where is Mr. Neeson? I haven’t seen him.”

“He stepped out of the house to see a friend of his, Madam, but he should be back. Miss Brown is probably running him late.”

<>~<>~<>

“So, tell me more about this mutant,” Moira said through another yawn, “I mean, does it look uglier than a feral ghoul dipped in acid?” She had been yawning the entire walk to Daniel’s two story home near the town gate, directly across from Craterside Supply, Moira’s shop. It was quite a long walk around the rim of the crater the town was built around.

Daniel smacked his face with the palm of his hand, “No, Moira, she’s not uglier than a feral ghoul dipped in acid.” He paused for a second, his hand resting on the doorknob of his house, half-jokingly asking, “How do you even know what that looks like?”

“Don’t ask. It’s a long story.”

Daniel rolled his eyes, hoping Moira was joking as he opened the door. “Wadsworth, I’m home!” He yelled into the main room. It was modestly furnished, a picnic table dominating the center of the room, littered with old tin cans and empty plates. Looking to Moira, he motioned with his hand for her to enter. “Ladies first. She should still be in the bed upstairs.”

Moira raced past him. Daniel barely had time to enter his own home and shut the door before a girlish squeal pierced his ears from upstairs. “OH MY GOSH, SHE HAS WINGS!?”

Chuckling to himself, Daniel rolled his eyes. I told Moira that already. I swear she has the memory of a mirelurk. Moira yelled from the top of the stairs, “Quick, I need paper to take notes!”

“Who are you?” He heard the mutant ask.

“And she talks, this is so exciting, I have so many questions for you.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight guessed that this was the Miss Brown that Wadsworth had just told her about. Her skin was a creamy white like she remembered Daniel’s was from their brief encounter, but unlike him, her hair was fiery red. She wore a blue set of coveralls stained with oil and grease, and she poked and prodded Twilight with her fingers. Grabbing her wings, stretching them. She was also very, very loud and kept asking for a paper to write notes. Wadsworth left the room, either to get the paper she was asking for, or to get away from the woman.

She made Twilight feel right at home. “A fellow scholar?” She asked hopefully to her, using the nearby filing cabinet to pull herself up to stand. “You seem like me,” But you aren’t a Human, Twilight. She tried to correct herself, “Well, not me because I’m not you, but we’re kinda the same even though we’re different.” Dragging her palm against the front of her temple, Twilight took a deep breath as the woman backed away.

Letting out the breath in a quick sigh, Twilight’s smiled friendly at the woman, “I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She reached out her hand to shake the newcomer’s.

Twilight felt as if her shoulder was jerked out of socket as the woman seized her hand, speaking almost as fast as Pinkie Pie on a sugar rush. “Moira Brown. Oh my, your fur is soft! I never met anything like you. Can I study you? What do you eat? Do those wings work? Why do you have hooves? Are you here from some secret mirelurk society?”

“Whoa, whoa, easy,” Twilight grunted, too weak to pull her hand out of Moira’s grasp, “And please, one question at a time.”

Moira chuckled weakly, blushing a little as she did. “Sorry, I can barely control myself when I’m tired, because someone-” Moira looked behind her as she put emphasis on the word, “-decided to wake me up as I was dreaming about having a hidden army of protectrons that I could only unlock with a poker chip.”

Daniel stepped into the room, chuckling, “Is Moira giving you a-” Twilight waited for Daniel to finish his sentence, but he only made a choking sound and his face turned red with a blush.

Finally Daniel was able to choke out, “Clothes,” before shielding his eyes with his hand.

<>~<>~<>

The last thing Daniel had expected to see when walking into his own bedroom was a naked mutant. “Please, put some clothes on.” He asked again, daring to unshield his face.

She was already slipping the blue dress over her thin body, hiding her gaunt ribs.

“I’m so sorry,” the mutant apologized, “It’s just that from where I come from, we don’t normally wear clothes. I forgot Humans consider nudity immodest.”

Daniel let out a small groan. He could still feel the blush burning on his face as the mutant smiled happily, running her thin, bony hands across the blue fabric of her dress. With the awkwardness out of the way, Daniel asked with a half-embarrassed chuckle, “Where you come from? Please, tell me about yourself…” Daniel trailed off, hoping she would catch on to the fact he didn’t know her name.

“Twilight,” the mutant answered, “Princess Twilight Sparkle. Wadsworth and Miss Brown here have already introduced themselves to me." Daniel crossed his arms, scoffing at the claim of being a princess.

Twilight smiled nervously at him, her thin, bony appearance and ragged clothes giving her the look of an old sage rather than royalty. "At times, I forget that I’m a princess. I’m still getting used to it. And I admit, after spending almost a week trapped inside a house after the portal to this world exploded and sucked my friends and I into it, I’m a little thin."

Portal to this world? Is she crazy? Speaking slowly, Daniel shook his head, “We need you to start at the beginning. How did you get here exactly?”

Chapter 3: Hate

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"So let me get this straight," Daniel said with outright skepticism, pinching the bridge of his nose as he leaned against the filing cabinet beside his bed. He couldn't believe the story he had just heard. It was so consistent that Princess Twilight was either telling the truth, or the best liar ever. Either one was just as unbelievable as the other. "You're supposed to be a Human right now, but that mirror-portal-thing you kept mentioning only did its job halfway?"

"That’s exactly what happened,” Twilight responded as she sat on the bed, nodding as if she were agreeing with herself. “I tried to fix the portal without proper knowledge of it using a simple magic spell. The damaged mirror must have reacted badly to my attempt and just blew up on me." She punctuated her sentence with a large shrug, throwing her hands to an even level with her shoulders.

Moira giggled from the entrance of the room as she stood in the doorway, “Ooh, Magic.” Her bubbly, naive smile was almost infectious. “I can’t believe she’s a princess from another world. This is so much better than trying to study mirelurks. Can you do some of it for us? Magic, I mean.”

Daniel was about to object, but considered otherwise. If there was any weight to Twilight’s claim, a little bit of magic could prove it. Watching with his arms crossed, Princess Twilight grunted and strained. Her horn made a sizzling sound as a few sparks flew off in every direction, causing Daniel to jump away from the bed. “Ouch!” Her yell was pained and she clutched her head at the base of her horn, “I’m sorry, but I can’t. My horn is still too damaged.”

“Oh no!” Moira cried, approaching the bed and offering a comforting a hug, which Twilight awkwardly accepted, “You poor, poor thing. It must be awful if it hurts. Is there anything I can do to help? A friend of Daniel’s is a friend to me.”

Twilight shook her head slowly as she gazed at their feet, an expression of grief across her face. “N-no… horns take time to r-regrow.” There was a sharp sniffle, followed by a low sob.

She’s crying. Daniel observed. So... comfort her, you idiot. But how am I supposed to do that? I don’t know the first thing about her. And magic, that could just be radiation she’s shooting off like a Glowing One? My Pip-boy would’ve been clicking like mad if it was, though.

He was too late to comfort Twilight. Plus there wasn’t much more he could do other than hug her, which Moira was already doing. Twilight quickly stopped crying and wiped away her few tears with the back of her furry hand, saying as she did, “I-I’m okay now.” Moira broke the hug and continued to sit beside Twilight. “I’m just tired, weak, and hungry, but okay. I mean, I’ll live, it’ll just be a while before I’m back to full strength.” She looked at Moira with her sad, purple eyes, “It’s just that… my horn. It’s how I can use magic, it acts as a focus. With it damaged like this…” She grunted and sparks flew in every direction again. “Ouch.” She muttered lamely.

“I’m so sorry, Dearie,” Moira said in a kind voice, “I would help if I could.” Standing back up from the bed, Moira stretched her arms as she yawned. “I’d also stay longer, but I really have to go back to bed. I have a long day of running my store in a few hours. Maybe come by and see me, Daniel knows the way. Hopefully you’re feeling better by then.” After a quick goodbye and a friendly hug with Twilight -- punctuated with many get well soons -- Moira left the small room out the door. At the bottom of the stairs Daniel heard her say goodbye to Wadsworth.

Daniel nodded towards Twilight, leaning back against his filing cabinet, “So, what do you think of Moira?”

Twilight gave Daniel a small smile, “I like her. She reminds me a little bit of my friend, Pinkie Pie…” Twilight trailed off and her expression grew solemn.

I better change subject really quick. She’s having a very bad day. “I’m hungry. How about you?”

<>~<>~<>

Downstairs, Daniel was busying himself with cooking a meal in the tiny kitchen offshooting from the main room. The wait gave Twilight enough time to have a look around from her uncomfortable seat at the picnic table in the center of the room. Daniel had cleared the table of old plates and tin cans for her. She didn’t mind the clutter, but he was so insistent on tidying up for a guest.

Looking around, there were two lockers in the room with her, one to the side of the exit, and one next to the entrance of the kitchen. Behind where she sat was a bookshelf, on top of which were skulls that looked suspiciously cow-like. Twilight didn’t feel like getting up to have a closer look, it was almost like every ounce of energy was leeched out of her. Plus knowing the answer would probably make her sick. For once in her life Twilight wanted the comfort of ignorance.

Sitting with her elbow on the table, chin resting in her hand, Twilight gazed longingly through the darkened window on the front door.

“What is it?” Daniel asked her. The rattle of a plate being placed in front of Twilight told her she had food. Looking at her plate, she studied the slab of thick reddish meat beside two wrinkly bluish-purple fruits.

“I wanted to go outside,” She responded weakly, “Stretch my wings and get some fresh air.” It was a half truth. Sure, she wanted to go outside and stretch her wings, but if those skulls on the bookshelf belonged to cows… well, the last place she wanted to be was in his presence.

“It’s a bit too late to go outside,” Daniel said. There was a long pause as Twilight looked up from her plate to stare at Daniel quietly. He took the seat across from her, setting down his own plate of meat and fruit. Just sitting near someone who ate meat like it was nothing put Twilight on edge. He doesn't seem like he’d hurt me, and he seems honest so far. And he did save my life. But, can I trust him?

Giving Daniel the benefit of the doubt, Twilight stabbed the meat on her plate with her fork. I can’t believe I’m doing this, but if squirrel didn’t hurt me neither should this, and I really need to eat. She began to cut it with the knife Daniel had laid beside her plate, a large black knife with a metal handle. The front of the blade was razor sharp, and the back was serrated close to the base of the blade.

This is an odd kitchen knife, Twilight thought, but quickly let it pass. “Thank you,” she muttered, lifting the first piece of meat off her plate to her lips. “I mean for everything. You saved me after I spent so long in that house.” I was nearly killed the first time I stepped out that door. Twilight remembered the loud bang and the wood of the door splintering beside her head.

“How long were you in that house?”

Twilight thought hard, trying to remember how many days had actually passed. “Six days… maybe. It’s hard to tell.” Her voice came out in a low whisper, “I was so scared, I couldn’t keep track of time.”

Daniel shook his head, “My guess is that you’ve been in there well over a week, maybe even two. You’re way too thin. But I’m just guessing, I have no idea how your biology works.”

Taking her first bite of the food, Twilight tried to forget the near-death experience. Swallowing nervously, she gave a halfhearted laugh to try and ease her own mood. “I skipped more meals than I should have back home. Whenever I’m studying something or working, I get so wrapped up in it that I shut out the world and often forget to eat. If it wasn’t for Spike, my assistant, forcing me to stop to eat, I’d probably weigh even less than I do now.” Picking up a chunk of the meat she had cut off with a fork, Twilight took a bite. Slowly chewing it as she looked at Daniel’s own plate of meat and fruit.

It was Daniel’s turn to speak, according to “Proper Conversations” by Silver Tongue, so Twilight continued to eat. Waiting for Daniel to say something as he ate his own meal, Twilight thought of the meal itself. The meat tasted okay, maybe even better than the squirrel. She wondered with a shudder what animal it came from. Looking back to the slab of cooked meat, Twilight gave a near-silent groan as she realized there was fruit on the plate the entire time. I could have been eating whatever fruit this is, instead of chomping down on poor squirrels and whatever animal this is. How could I forget there was fruit there?

After a minute or two of awkward silence that only seemed to amplify the background noise of Daniel’s knife occasionally scraping on his plate -- Twilight was busily eating her fruit -- Daniel asked, “So, if I’m not prying too much, tell me more about yourself, Princess?”

Twilight swallowed a mouthful of fruit. “Just call me Twilight. I don’t like my friends calling me by my title. It makes me feel a bit too pompous and bigheaded,” she gave a weak, friendly chuckle, “I guess I can start off by telling you that I’m twenty-three years old, and I used to be a herbivore. I could only eat plants, but in this new body it seems I can consume and digest meat just fine. But I still prefer fruits and vegetables. Even if this fruit is leaving a bad aftertaste in my mouth.” Whatever the fruit was, it tasted sweet at first, but left the horrid bitter aftertaste. However, it was better than meat in Twilight’s opinion.

“Oh? A herbivore?” Daniel asked with genuine curiosity in his tone.

“Yes,” Twilight said, taking another bitter-sweet bite of her fruit, “I used to be a Pony. Since the portal only halfway turned me Human, I still have my fur, horn, and wings. Actually, this is the first time I’ve been on two legs in a while. We don’t eat meat, but Humans do. I guess I changed just enough to eat meat, but I really don’t want to.”

“Ah,” Daniel sighed, “Guess I won’t be cooking brahmin steak again.”

“Is that what animal the meat is from?” Twilight asked with trepidation, “I never heard of it.”

“Never?” Daniel asked with surprise. “Well, I guess that is forgivable, since you’re from another world and all that. They're pretty common and easy to identify. They have two heads and a red hide covered in thick coarse hair. Apparently they are the descendants of cows. I don’t know if you have cows in your world but- hey you alright?”

Twilight didn’t hear the last part of Daniel’s sentence. Her whole body felt clammy, and her hands trembled to the point she dropped the purple fruit. It felt like an entire ton of rocks had fallen into her stomach, then turned into writhing snakes. With each passing second, the urge to puke grew and grew. Cows… I ate some Cow meat? Nonononononononono… I can’t eat Cows, that is… that is...

Twilight had to vomit. Rushing for the door, the cold air of the outside greeted her as she bent over to hurl the contents of her stomach onto the rusty metal walkway. Bent over with her hands on her knees, Twilight shook and heaved.

A few moments later there was nothing to come up. It left Twilight dry-heaving towards the puddle of half-digested gunk on the ground. Each heave seemed to suck more and more energy out of her, leaving Twilight feeling drained of all life.

Twilight barely had time to wipe her mouth with her dress sleeve before gasping as a hand touched her shoulder. The mere touch sent a jolt of energy through her and she slapped it away, spinning around to face Daniel. She hadn’t heard him follow her out the door.

The moon overhead was creeping towards the horizon, showing morning was coming. But even then the low-hanging moon shed enough light for Twilight to see Daniel’s face. She hoped it was enough to show him her full rage. Bared teeth and eyes glaring daggers. “Why did you kill a Cow?!” Twilight seethed. Not even after Tirek destroyed her home had she felt so much boiling anger.

He better have a good explanation, because magic or no magic, I’m going to send him to Tartarus! Killing Cows for food, then offering me some. I-I don’t even want to think about it!

“Whoa, easy,” Daniel said, raising his hands waist level as if they would shield him from Twilight’s wrath. “The dumb things make good beasts of burden and steaks. They can’t think for themselves or anything like that.”

“Maybe in this world, but where I come from, Cows are just as intelligent as Ponies!” Twilight literally hissed through her bared teeth.

“But you aren’t back in your world!” Daniel yelled defensively, “You said yourself you come from a land where you’re a four-legged herbivore. You know, I could somewhat believe your story up until the part about intelligent brahmin, but the more I think about it, the more I see you're just a very convincing loon.”

Daniel jumped back as Twilight took a swing at him. Backing through the open doorway, he slammed it in Twilight’s face.

Taken aback by both of their outbursts, Twilight just stood in front of the door, staring at it. Soon, realization came to her. I know nothing about this world. At least in Canterlot High I had girls who were almost exactly like my friends. And I just attacked the one person who was helping me.

<>~<>~<>

Just what the hell is her problem! Daniel screamed in his head as he rammed the door closed, locking it. I offer her a steak and she looks like she wants to rip me apart and shove me in a bag. The mental image of Twilight doing such a thing made him shudder.

She may not look like a mutie, but that doesn't change what she is: Not Human.

Taking a deep breath, Daniel tried to calm himself, but fear began to worm its way into him. He knew he couldn’t just leave her out there. What if she was dangerous? Daniel slapped his palm against his face. You freaking idiot! You bring a mutant inside the walls while everyone else is asleep! A moment of sheer panic raced through Daniel, visions of everyone in town cut down in their sleep by a psychopathic mutant he let into town danced around in his mind.

Placing his ear against the door to listen and see if she had left, Daniel swore he could hear… crying?

Shuddering a bit with fear, Daniel asked, “Are y-you still out there?”

“Please, Daniel,” Twilight’s low, tear-strained voice was made even harder to hear by the door separating them, “Let me back in, please. I’m sorry. I’m lost in a world I know nothing about. I’m sorry for acting all crazy, I’m just so confused... I don’t know where to go. P-please, I have nowhere else to go.”

Not too long ago you were in the same boat as her, Daniel thought to himself, staring out the window and into the darkened town, trying to see where Twilight was. As he did, he recalled some of his first experiences outside of Vault 101. The fear he felt wandering the ruins of Springvale, then getting too close to the school and being chased by Raiders to Megaton. His first time being shot, how scared he felt before Deputy Weld let him through the gate, Stockholm keeping the Raiders at bay. I can see why she’s so frightened. Straight from whatever world she came from and into the maws of hell itself. God, I’m being melodramatic.

Opening the door, albeit slowly to see if Twilight would try to pounce through, he saw Twilight on her knees, looking solemn and downtrodden. Tears streamed down her face, and her hair had slumped back against her face in a tangled mess. The sight gripped at Daniel’s heart. It was almost the same look she had when he found her. “Alright,” he said, though somewhat reluctantly, “Come on.”

Twilight calmly rose to her hooves, hugging Daniel as she smiled, “Thank you, thank you,” she repeated a few times between happy sobs, “I’m so sorry for what I did.”

Daniel gently pushed Twilight away with an annoyed grunt and rolled his eyes. She had taken a swing at him. That didn’t sit well with Daniel.

“I forgive you,” Daniel said coldly, “But from now on I’m going to have some rules for you to follow. You are my guest after all.” He waited for Twilight to agree. Which Twilight just nodded while drying tears out of her eyes.

“First rule: no more attacking me for eating meat, okay?” Twilight nodded again. “Second rule: I know how confused you are right now. I’m new to the Capital Wasteland myself, but just talk to me before going ballistic like that again. Taking a swing at Humans is a fast way to get killed. Other than that, you’re welcome to stay with me until you figure things out.”

Twilight grimaced in fear. “D-did you say Capital Wasteland?”

Daniel was still angry with her, his voice coming in a low, annoyed rumble, punctuated by wild hand gestures. “I know you have lots of questions, but right now I’m running on a short fuse.” Daniel ran his hand down his face, letting out a stressed-out sounding-sigh, “Let's just get some sleep and I promise I’ll answer as many questions as you want.”

<>~<>~<>

The yellow bedroll Twilight lay upon was stiff and lumpy, but was a lot better than the metal floor. Daniel had taken the bed, leaving Twilight with little choice in sleeping arrangements. The events of the day played out in Twilight’s head one by one.

Daniel finding her, waking up in safety, then nearly throwing it all away.

Twilight closed her eyes, frowning in shame as she rolled to her side, trying to get some comfort out of the lumpy bedroll. It didn’t help the dress she wore bound her wings and added to her discomfort. How was I supposed to know brahmin were unintelligent? I’ve held conversations with Cows before, and just eating a cut of meat off one is… Twilight shuddered, her stomach lurching again.

And then I tried to punch him. Guilt flooded through Twilight like a river overflowing its banks. It was so unlike her that even she couldn’t believe she tried to do it. Sitting up, she squinted her eyes in the dark to focus on the skulls. No matter how hard she stared, it wouldn’t change the fact they were still there. If I had just talked with him I would have known brahmin aren’t like the Cows back home. Maybe… maybe he can help me find the other girls, and Spike. Maybe they can convince him I really am from another world.

Laying back down, Twilight tossed and turned some more, thinking to herself the entire time. I need to fix this. I want Daniel to know I really am sorry. Like he said, I just need to talk to him before going off like I did. I know nothing about this world’s customs, or anything outside of that ghost town.

Finally Twilight rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling. Maybe I can get comfortable if I take off my- no. I have to stay modest in this new world. Drowsiness soon flooded her frantic mind. I’ll talk… with Daniel… later.

<>~<>~<>

“Hey, Twilight.” Twilight felt something hard nudge her shoulder. She could feel the floor beneath her back.

“Ugh, wha?” Twilight muttered, opening her eyes to see Daniel standing over her, his expression was a look of worry.

“Get up, it’s half-past ten,” Daniel said somewhat frantically, “Someone outside wants to meet you.”

Blinking a few times to clear her drowsiness, Twilight leaned up on her bedroll, balling her fist to wipe her eyes, “Who is it? Moira?”

“No, it’s the town sheriff. Lucas Simms. You better get up quick because he was very enthusiastic about meeting you.”

The way Daniel worded his sentence gave Twilight a jolt. The emphasis he put on enthusiastic meant this ‘Lucas Simms’ was far from happy to be meeting her. Getting up, Twilight stretched and nodded, “Okay, let’s get this over with.” The sheriff of the town wanted to see her? Great. Please tell me I haven’t broken any laws or anything like that.

Following behind Daniel the duo were quickly out the door. A man with dark skin and a long duster coat and hat stood waiting. From the tin star on his breast Twilight could tell the person must be Lucas Simms. He was holding some metal and wooden contraption in his arms Twilight had never seen before.

Lucas shook his head, “Well I’ll be damned, you did bring a mutant inside the walls.”

His comment took her off guard. “I’m sorry, but… what?” Twilight looked to Daniel as if he had an answer. He only offered a sigh and a shake of his head.

Meanwhile, Lucas began a small rant, “I walk into Craterside Supply, and what do you know? Moira is blabbering on about Daniel bringing a mutant to town. Saying it was supposedly a lot friendlier than the others.” Lucas glared at Twilight with such contempt she stepped back, “You have exactly five seconds to get the hell out of my town before I shoot you.”

Twilight stared dumbfounded at him in shock. She did nothing wrong to Lucas but he was so hostile. She tried to speak, but her words caught in her throat.

Daniel stepped in for her, “Lucas, she’s with me. She’s no trouble.”

Lucas almost snarled at Daniel, “That’s for me to decide. You may have defused the bomb in the center of town and saved my ass from Burke, but that’s what you’ve done,” he pointed a finger at Twilight. “Not that mutant. I have half a mind to kick you out for bringing it inside the walls without my permission.”

Daniel took a defensive tone, “Lucas, I know you, you’re a nice guy. Give her a chance. I found her half dead in Minefield. She asked for me to help her.”

“Yeah and you bring it inside the walls. You’ve seen what things like her do to Humans.”

Mutant... it; he’s not even referring to me as a person… and I’ve done nothing to him. Twilight thought. Balling her fists in anger, Twilight finally she found her voice, “I have a name you know,” She said lowly, taking a stand for herself. “It’s Twilight Sparkle, and I am not an it. I have done nothing wrong to you, so why are you treating me like this?”

“The last outsider, other than Daniel here, nearly shot me in my back after his plans to blow up the town were ruined.”

“I would never do such a thing!” Twilight exclaimed. “I don’t know anything about this world, please, stop, I did nothing wrong to you.”

Lucas grumbled, “Well, at least you have manners. If you try anything I’ll be the first one there to send what little brains you have flying out of your skull, mutie.” Lucas stormed off, leaving Twilight staring at the ground, clutching her arms as she trembled in fear.

She felt Daniel's hand on her shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze, “I’m sorry about that. Even after that swing you took at me, you didn’t deserve to be treated that way. I have no idea what’s gotten into him. I never seen Lucas so hateful before.”

Twilight’s words were just as shaky as her body. “He-he threatened to kill me. Just b-because I’m not a Human.”

Daniel looked around, his mind seemingly occupied for a few seconds before he said to Twilight. “I know just the person you need to meet,” Daniel suggested in a cheerful tone, as if those few words would help Twilight, “I know he feels just as alienated as you do right now. Just ignore the people on the way there.”

Twilight let Daniel guide her around. She felt even more lost than when Daniel had shut her out of the house. No one had threatened her like that before. Make what little brains I have fly out of my skull. The gory depiction nearly made Twilight collapse, but Daniel grabbed her before she fell, holding her steady.

“Easy now,” Daniel said, “All we have to do is walk a little ways. Megaton isn’t very large. I know Moriarty and Gob will be pleased to meet you. Just don’t trust a word Moriarty says.”

Twilight heard Daniel say things, but nothing really stuck in her mind. Her thoughts were too jumbled by Lucas’ threat. I’ve handled villains who wanted me out of the picture, sure. But not one of them has worded their hatred of me that strongly before.

<>~<>~<>

Moriarty’s was a bar. Twilight could tell the moment Daniel guided her through the door. The smell of alcohol greeted her nose, and the people who occupied the tables were drinking from brown bottles or tiny glasses full of amber liquid.

The din of talking cut instantly as all eyes set upon her. Twilight started shaking again, feeling a lot like Fluttershy and wanting to hide behind Daniel. That was until Daniel yelled out, “Alright, stop your staring and go back to your drinks. She’s with me.” And like magic, everyone went back to their conversations and drinking. Twilight let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, and it felt like a weight was suddenly lifted off her chest. It’s okay, Twilight, Lucas isn’t here.

Twilight winced as someone drunkenly slurred, “What in the fuck is she?” He was leaning his back against the bar. Daring to look at him, Twilight noticed that he was bald, sporting very tan skin, and he wore what looked like a leather jacket with metal shoulder pads connected with leather straps. He wore more leather than Daniel, and the sight made Twilight grimace.

Daniel gave the person a sour look, “I said get back to your drinks. That means you too, Jericho.”

Jericho spat on the floor, “Who made you the boss of me, you goody two-shoe little prick? I asked what the fuck is she?”

Great. More people who hate me. Twilight thought. She looked to the floor dejectedly, Please don’t threaten to kill me too.

“In all honesty, I don’t have a clue,” Daniel responded with a smug grin and a heap of bravado, “But I do know what I am. About to kick some old Raider’s ass out the front door.”

“Why, you little shit,” Jericho charged forward, raising his fist like he was about to punch Daniel, causing Twilight to shrink back and hide her face with her hands. Twilight watched through a gap in her overlapping fingers as Daniel stepped out Jericho’s way, sticking a leg out and tripping him.

The ground shook as Jericho fell flat on his face with a hearty ‘oomph’ and didn’t get back up. There was a shuffle of feet as someone ran up to them. Twilight dropped her hands to get a good look at the newest person to arrive on scene.

He was a tall man with white skin, and messy snow white hair and goatee. He pushed himself between Daniel and Jericho; Twilight shied back a few steps as he bellowed with an odd accent. “Just what in the heck is going on here!? Daniel, I thought you were out huntin’ yer father, not harassing my worst paying customer.”

“Worst paying?” Twilight asked, tilting her head towards Jericho, who was groaning on the floor.

“His bar tab is a mile long, Lass,” The man replied, who she figured was the owner, Moriarty. “Alright, Jericho, I’ve had enough of ye. Get out.”

Jericho stumbled to his feet, wiping his bloody nose. Twilight guessed he broke it when he slammed onto the floor, “I’ll get you, Daniel, and that mutie bitch.” He flicked his hand, a few drops of blood spattering on Twilight’s dress before he walked out, scowling.

“No threatening my customers, Jericho, it’s bad fer business,” Moriarty declared, shooing him out the door. He turned to face Twilight and Daniel, bowing slightly, “Colin Moriarty at yer service. I see Daniel has brought me an interesting new lass to gab about. Tell me, my Bonnie gal, what’s yer name?”

He was cheery enough and acted like she wasn’t a freak, so Twilight answered him kindly, “Twilight Sparkle,” and returned with her own courteous bow, “Do you have any water?”

Colin bellowed a hearty laugh, causing Twilight to give him a curious look as he put his hands on his knees, doubled over and still laughing. “Water!?” He laughed some more. “This is a bar, I’ve got no use fer that stuff!” He sniggered a few times, before calming down, all the patrons of his bar nosily looking in their direction. “All joking aside, talk to Gob, Miss Sparkle, he should have a few bottles.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said, making her way to an empty stool at the counter. It was difficult to sit in her dress, but once she sat down, the people to either side of her got out of their seats and walked away, grumbling. Daniel took a seat beside her, resting his arms on the counter.

Sighing, Twilight listened to the radio at the end of the counter play some dreary song about setting the world on fire through crackling static. The radio must of had bad reception where they were at. Looking for the bartender, Twilight couldn't see him or her. A small silver desk bell was right beside her hand. Well, I guess I should ring for service. Twilight pressed the little button on the top of the bell, producing a sharp ring.

“Just a second,” The bartender called from behind a door. His voice was dry and scratchy. Like the speaker had swallowed a lot of sand. There was a sharp rattling sound, like a load of glass bottles were shifting around suddenly, before the handle of the door began to turn.

“Now, don’t be rude to Gob,” Daniel warned drawing Twilight’s attention away from the door. “He’s... well, I’ll let him introduce himself.”

The bartender stepped out carrying a large tray full of beer bottles. “Yeah… whoa,” Gob croaked. He looked like a human, but that’s where his similarities with them ended. His yellowed skin was dry and peeling, revealing reddish splotches underneath. What little hair he had was thin brown wisps that looked ready to fall out. His nose was gone, his lips were drier than his skin and cracked, and his eyes… they scared Twilight. She could barely tell they were green under the milky-white film covering them.

“H-hello,” Twilight stuttered, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Gob placed the tray of beer under the counter and Twilight flinched. Daring to look, Gob was busy polishing a glass, “What, a gal like you never seen a Ghoul before?” He chuckled, “I don’t bite.” He rolled his glossy eyes, “Anyways, I heard the commotion Jericho caused, but I never expected to see someone like you sitting at the bar. No offense, but really, what are you?”

Twilight wanted to back away, but didn’t, her curiosity peaking as she continued to look at the corpse-like figure standing before her, “The same could be said about you. I’m a Pony.”

To her surprise, Gob began to laugh, “A pony you say? Well, who the hell says you aren’t? I’m Gob, a Ghoul. I take it from your horrified reaction to me that you haven’t seen someone like me.”

Twilight nodded.

“Well, look at that smoothskin there,” Gob pointed at Daniel, “Then blast him with a ton of radiation and pray he doesn't go insane. Wait a few days for his hair to fall out and his skin to peel away, and yeah, that, sister, is how Ghouls are made.”

“Radiation? You mean to say the unstable decay of periodic elements caused you to turn into a Ghoul.”

Gob chuckled, “Daniel, I see that you found yourself a smart one. Well furryskin, what can I get you? Don’t tell Moriarty, but it’ll be free of charge after that shit Jericho pulled.”

Wincing at his foul language, Twilight simply said, “Water.” Gob produced two bottles from under the counter, giving one to Twilight and the other to Daniel.

Gob put the now well-polished glass on the counter and moved over slightly, standing in front of Daniel. He leaned forward with his hands against the counter, his head tilted slightly forwards as he whispered, “So, Daniel, you get any closer to finishing what you started?”

Twilight’s ears swiveled in their direction as she listened in, sipping on her water. Daniel shook his head, “I tried to go through the Metro, but the ferals and Raiders chased me off again. It’s been nearly two weeks, Gob, I’m starting to lose faith I’ll ever get on his trail before it goes cold.”

A voice to Twilight's right caused her to swivel her ears in the opposite direction. It came from the radio, the song having ended and a different voice rang through, “Hellooooooooooooo- Capital Wasteland. It is I, Three Dog-” the man on the radio gave a loud wolfish-howl “-comin’ to you loud and proud from Galaxy News Radio. And do I have a special treat for you.”

Whatever Gob and Daniel were talking about fell on deaf ears as Twilight was captivated by the charismatic voice powering through the static on the radio, “We all know the Brotherhood of Steel accepts recruits from all walks of life across the Capital Wasteland, but I have a very special guest here in the studio today. She is the very first non-human accepted into the Brotherhood. Mind introducing yourself to our audience?”

Twilight’s heart nearly stopped as she recognised the voice. “H-hello Capital Wasteland, m-my name is,” and in the smallest voice possible, her lost friend meekly whimpered, “Fluttershy.”

Chapter 4: Hope

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With a flick of his finger, Daniel turned to the map tab of his Pip-Boy. Leaning partially over the bar, he showed the wrist-mounted computer to Gob. “I tried getting in through there-” Daniel pointed to a square symbol inlaid with an M, “-but the Super Mutants and Raiders keep fighting over that particular Metro tunnel. It’s damn near impossible to even get close to it.”

When Daniel had first met Gob, he had thought the Ghoul was blind. That wasn’t the case, as Gob blinked his filmed-over eyes a few times, peering at the map while humming in thought. Tapping a thin rotting finger at a spot to the north of the metro tunnel, he told Daniel. “Take that. It’s been a while, but I went through this metro here to get out of the DC ruins. Should have less Raiders to deal with, and a route to the radio station.”

“Thanks, Gob.” Daniel thought for a second, then tilted his head slightly. “Why didn’t you show me this way before?”

Gob smiled his cracked lips, chuckling dryly, “It’s both irradiated and full of ferals. But that was years ago.” His frown turned sour and he whispered lowly. “It was way before getting stuck here serving drinks for that asshat, Moriarty. And to be honest I’m not even sure that tunnel still has a passage through it.”

Daniel would just have to risk finding a dead end. Finding his father was more important than anything else. It was just taking so long because he neither had the gear nor experience to brave the DC ruins.

Gob gave Daniel a sharp elbow, chuckling as he rasped, “Hey, Smoothskin.” He nudged his head towards Twilight, “Your girlfriend is really interested in Three Dog. You might want to turn it off before she starts wanting him more than you.”

“She’s not my girlfriend, Gob,” Daniel shot back in a heated whisper and a roll of his eyes. Twilight wasn’t even his type; way too much fur. From what he knew of her so far, Twilight was also pushy, hotheaded, and intelligent. A lot like Amata. Daniel’s heart sank like a rock.

Daniel shoved the coming thoughts away, leaning over to listen in on the radio and distract himself. Twilight was absolutely entranced. Daniel watched and Twilight didn’t even blink, as if taking her eyes off the radio would make her miss something crucial. He leaned even closer. It sounded like Three Dog was interviewing someone.

“-did you come about joining the Brotherhood of Steel?” From what Daniel recalled, Three Dog spoke highly of the Brotherhood of Steel, praising them as knights in shining power armor. He had yet to see a member himself. Maybe I can get an idea of what they’re like.

A very meek female voice spoke, her voice often cracking with nervousness, “I f-flew into a… a group of Knights out on patrol.”

Three Dog laughed. “Flew?” he sounded disbelieving. “Seriously? Straight into a pack of Knights?”

There was a sharp hissing sound and the rattle of metal. Three Dog exclaimed suddenly, “Whoa, do those wings actually work?” Three Dog laughed again and seemed to addressed his audience. “Well, kiddies, it seems we’ve run out of time. Fluttershy, I thank you for joining us.” Three Dog’s voice came calm and smooth over the crackling static, as he let out one final chuckle. “There you have it, boys and girls, the very first non-Human In the Brotherhood.”

There was a loud crack of static and a song began to play. “I’m as corny as Kansas in August-”

Twilight suddenly grabbed the radio, “What!?” She yelled into it. “The interview is over!? Where is she?”

Murmurs around the bar warned Daniel that Twilight was drawing too much attention. Every other patron of Moriarty’s bar stared at her. Looking over to her, she had let go of the radio and turned to face the crowd. A huge blush was on her face -- somehow it showed through her fur -- and her ears were folded down. She squirmed in place, her blush growing brighter and brighter by the second.

Gob made a grunt before nudging Daniel’s arm, “Well get me stumbling drunk and call me a zombie. It seems that the Brotherhood let in a mutant. I’m surprised they didn’t disintegrate her.”

“That was Fluttershy,” Twilight whispered to Daniel, leaning close to not draw anymore attention to herself, smiling nervously all the while. “She’s out there, and I need your help to find her. Please,” she begged, giving Daniel a pleading look as she clasped both hands together. “You know this world, I need to get to this Brotherhood of Steel the DJ was talking about.”

It was his turn to be the one to blush as Twilight stared her stunning purple eyes into his. Completely crazy or not, Twilight was asking for his help. She’s going to turn out like Moira. Getting me to do things that are either stupid, dangerous, dangerously stupid, or stupidly dangerous. With an exasperated and somewhat embarrassed sigh, Daniel nodded. “I’ll help,” he muttered, hoping he wouldn’t regret his decision later. Gob chuckled while polishing a dirty glass.

Twilight hopped out of her seat and did a small dance, clapping and laughing with such joy that Daniel was tempted to laugh with her, were it not for all the eyes on them. Twilight stopped moving around, smiled at him and said, “Let’s go.”

She darted for the exit and was halfway to the door before she slowed her steps, clutching her head in pain. Daniel was already out of his seat as Twilight stumbled to reach for something to support herself. He was able to grab her around the waist before she could fall, but she was already unconscious.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight felt dizzy. When she opened her eyes the roof was spinning, and all she could feel was the mattress beneath her wings. Her attempt to lift her numb arm failed. It felt like nothing wanted to work. Sweat poured out of her and made her dress cling wetly to her. A damp rag rested on her forehead.

A sharp but tiny prick in her wrist jolted Twilight into full consciousness. She could hear someone breathing beside her. Looking to her right, Daniel was standing over her while holding a plastic bag full of orange liquid in the air. Twilight followed the tube running from the bag to her wrist where the small pain was. Her heart began to race as she spotted a needle. What is he doing!? She wanted to panic but it seemed the faster her heart beat the weaker she felt. With no energy to move, Twilight weakly whispered, “What…?” but couldn’t finish. The edges of her vision were going black like she was about to faint again.

Daniel shook his head slowly, patting Twilight on the shoulder with his free hand. “Seems you passing out is becoming a regular occurrence,” he gave a small chuckle. “Just rest, you’re still weak. Doesn't help you’re suffering from a slight case of radiation poisoning.”

Twilight could barely focus on Daniel, her blurry vision making it impossible to keep her eyes on him. A headache wormed its way into her brain. Twilight asked in a tiny whisper while closing her eyes. “Poisoning?”

“That, and a fever. I think you might have come down with something. I’m administering five-hundred milliliters of RadAway intravenously. That should flush the radiation from your system.”

Intravenous. Of course, she had a needle in her wrist. Opening her eyes to look at Daniel, the blurriness had cleared letting her get a good look at him. Daniel seemed to be a young man, even younger than her. Too young to be a doctor. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. “Are you qualified to do this?” She asked in a near panic. Twilight tried to lean up.

Daniel put a hand on Twilight’s chest, halting her movement and making it clear he wanted her to stay put. “Calm down. I’ve worked with my father since I was ten helping patients in our Vault.” Daniel stared into the plastic bag, half of the orange goop drained. “And since I was sixteen I’ve worked as a physician beside both my father and our friend, Jonas.”

Twilight had heard Daniel mention his father before. And at the bar he said something about finding him. Relaxing, Twilight lay back into her pillow and watched as the orange liquid inside continued to flow into her. Seeing how slow it was going, Twilight decided to ask. “What are they like?”

Daniel winced, his shoulders slumping as he frowned. Twilight folded down her ears. She didn’t need psychic powers to tell she had hit a tender spot with him. Opening her mouth to apologize, Daniel cut her off with a blunt answer. “Jonas is dead, and my father is missing.”

Twilight folded her ears even closer to her head as she found the strength to roll over and face the wall of Daniel’s room. The way Daniel replied was so callous, like he was angry with her for asking. Knowing the Humans, he probably was. Lucas’ treatment of her was still fresh in Twilight’s mind.

Daniel coughed to clear his throat, “Listen, Twilight, I apologize for being rude. I just don’t feel like talking about them right now. Jonas was a good friend of mine. Now my dad is somewhere out in the Capital Wasteland.”

Twilight’s ears perked up, her curiousity growing and she managed the strength to roll back over and lean up. Daniel didn’t stop her this time, and the rag slid off her head. “I keep hearing this place referred to as the Capital Wasteland,” Twilight picked the rag up and placed it back against her forehead. “Why is that?”

“You really don’t know?” Daniel asked, his disbelief apparent. Daniel knelt down, opening a metal box with a cross on it. He pulled out some gauze and medical tape. Twilight realized the bag Daniel was holding was empty. “All this time I had doubts that you were from some other world, but, well…” He trailed off. Daniel reached for Twilight’s wrist and pulled on the needle. Twilight shied away and winced in pain, but the needle was out before she knew it. Daniel quickly placed a small square of gauze over the needle mark and taped it in place.

Frowning as Daniel failed to answer her question, Twilight rubbed her wrist slightly as she asked, “Well what?”

“I think the explanation would be better if you saw some of the things I’ve seen,” he said distantly, before blinking and pointing to her bandaged wrist. “Now, seeing as this is your first time using RadAway, and that you obviously don't know what it is since you claim you aren’t from this world, I must warn you that it’s a diuretic.” Daniel blushed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t believe I’m having to explain this, but heads up: the glowing urine is fine. It’s just the RadAway working.”

“Oh boy...” Twilight chuckled lamely. Sticking to the same subject, she said lightly, “I don’t know how in the name of Equestria I got radiation poisoning. Or this fever.” The mere mention of it made Twilight feel weak. Lying back down, Twilight pressed the wet rag hard against her brow.

Daniel’s professional tone of voice almost made him sound older as he pushed the empty RadAway bag and first aid kit under the bed. “When you were trapped in Minefield -- the place I found you -- did you eat or drink anything suspicious there?”

Twilight blushed and looked in every direction that wasn’t towards Daniel and weakly muttered under her breath, “Toilet water.” She looked Daniel in the eyes with an expression fitting of a child having been caught. “B-but it was my last choice, I swear! The kitchen sink ran out of water, then the bathroom sink… it was either that or die of thirst.”

Daniel chuckled and Twilight’s blush grew tenfold. He gave her shoulder a playful nudge, “Ah it’s not that embarrassing. I was that desperate too. My Pip-Boy started clicking like mad as well. That explains the radiation poisoning.”

Twilight sighed and shook her head, “Can I get up now? I’m feeling better...” Twilight trailed off as she blushed then added embarrassingly. “Actually, where’s the bathroom? I think the RadAway is kicking in.”

<>~<>~<>

Daniel could feel Twilight’s gaze on him as he opened the locker right beside the exit. She was busily eating another mutfruit at the table. Reaching into the locker while keeping his eyes on her, Daniel grasped the sole item he kept inside it. The item wasn’t anything valuable, he actually had found it inside a bathtub in Springvale.

Daniel removed the long, thin item from his locker and held it at arm’s reach. Twilight tilted her head, squinting as she asked, “What’s that?”

“This, Twilight,” Daniel said as he walked towards the table, presenting the hunting rifle to her. The beat up old rifle had served him well until it ran out of ammo. “This is yours. It’s a rifle, a weapon of sorts. I’m going to teach you how to defend yourself.” Twilight put down her mutfruit, grabbing the forestock with one hand and the grip with the other. She ran one hand across the cracked wood furniture and rusted barrel. Daniel made a small movement, almost like a half shrug as he watched Twilight. “Earlier I said I wanted to show you some of the things I’ve seen. Well, you need to know how to use one of these before we get too far from Megaton.”

“Oh, is that what this town is called?” Twilight didn’t take her eyes off the rifle as she spoke, laying it across the table. She gave the leather strap that ran from the forestock to the butt of the rifle a wary look, then asked in a joking tone as if to get her mind off of something. “Why haven’t I asked the name of this place before?”

“Stress, maybe?” Daniel offered, but he honestly had no clue. “I’m pretty sure I did mention it to you before we left for Moriarity’s. Although, you were so worked up over Lucas’ friendly welcome to town that I doubt you’d remember half of what I said.” Then he scratched his chin as he quickly added in an afterthought. “What do you think of Gob? Ghouls like him get treated badly because they look like corpses.”

Twilight tilted her head and hummed, “He creeped me out a little at first, but he’s not the weirdest thing I’ve seen.” Twilight picked her mutfruit back up and took a large bite. “I’m more concerned on why you’re giving me this-” Twilight made a wild motion with her hands towards the gun, “-rifle thing. Why do I need this to defend myself?”

“Because there are very bad people who live out in the Wasteland. They won’t hesitate to kill you for your food or water. Mutants will kill you for simply being there, but that pales in comparison to what they do with the bodies.”

Twilight’s ears spayed almost impossibly low as she stared at the rifle, “Oh.”

<>~<>~<>

Megaton was a sight to behold. With the hunting rifle slung across her back, Twilight peered over the railing of the metal walkway near Daniel's house. The entire town was built inside and up the slopes of a massive crater, the center of which held a large egg-shaped metal device the size of two people. A puddle of green water surrounded the object where a man stood, shouting as he raised his arms to the sky.

Daniel grumbled beside her, “I can’t believe those people worship the damn thing.”

Twilight winced. She never liked it when people cursed. “Language,” she muttered. Curious as to what the object was in the center of town, Twilight tilted her head. “What is it, to be exact?”

Daniel stated as calmly as if she had just asked him the time of day, “It’s a nuclear bomb.”

“A bomb!” Twilight jumped back from the railing, shaking her head in a near panic, “A nuclear bomb!?” There were theories Twilight had studied before about harnessing the power of nuclear fission. Magic, of course, rendered it impractical, but it was theorized that fission could be harnessed for purposes far more devious than generating electricity. Miles upon miles of ruins. All of the theories were solid, I even ran calculations myself.

One word was all that Twilight needed to form a theory of her own: Wasteland. It can’t be… no, but all my current evidence points to it. The irradiated water, the skeletons, the burned buildings. This town!

Twilight blinked as a blurry shape passed her vision. Daniel was waving his hand in front of her face. “Anyone in there?”

“I figured it out,” Twilight muttered. She took a few shaky steps forward, grabbing the railing once more and gazing at the town composed of of scrap-metal buildings. “The world you live in was destroyed, or at least partially.” Her new worst fear stared her right in the face as Daniel nodded his head solemnly.

“I...” Twilight trailed off. She couldn’t find the words to express how she felt. Fearful of the new world? Sad that the old one was gone? Angry at his world’s scientists for letting science go too far? She found the emotion she was looking for: overwhelmed. Twilight felt an almost insurmountable sensation of being totally out of control of anything. Fluttershy and her friends weren’t as safe and sound as she thought they were.

“I’m much like my father, you know?” Daniel said as he placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder, “I’m skeptical of taking things on faith without proof. But, unlike my dad, I think a little bit of my mother is in me.” He chuckled, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” He dropped his hand from Twilight’s shoulder, and she turned to face him, eyes brimming with tears. Daniel held his fingers against his chin, as if he was contemplating something before he spoke. “I may be skeptical, but I can’t prove or disprove if you came from this Equestria place through a shattered mirror. What I can prove, however, is that Three Dog talked to a non-human with wings that you claim is a friend of yours, and I already agreed to help you find her.” Daniel spoke with something that sounded like bravado, but was cliche enough to make Twilight smile. “Now dry your eyes, save those tears for when you're shedding them with joy.”

“Thanks,” Twilight said, rubbing her puffy eyes. “Can we go see Moira now?”

Twilight gave an almost mouse-like squeak as Daniel threw an arm over her shoulders. “If it’ll cheer you up, why not?”

<>~<>~<>

Daniel felt conflicted, torn between two sides in his own mind as he walked with Twilight. Taking a glance at her, he made sure to turn his head away quick enough for Twilight not to notice his staring. I still can’t tell if she’s crazy to the point she believes the words coming out of her mouth, or if she’s actually really from this Equestria place. Talking, intelligent cows, four-legged herbivores, a magic mirror portal. Twilight spoke like the entire fantasy was real. But that was just it, fantasy.

But Three Dog spoke with a mutant, I heard her myself: Fluttershy. She also had wings. Maybe if I ask Twilight about her, when we actually find Fluttershy, she can confirm what Twilight told me. If both of their stories match up, then she’s not crazy.

“So, Twilight,” Daniel asked, throwing an arm casually over her shoulder, acting as non-suspicious as he could. “Tell me about Fluttershy. I need to know what she looks like if we’re going to find her.”

Twilight blushed and wiggled out from under Daniel’s arm. He dropped it to his side as she chuckled embarrassedly. “Oh, um, well her fur is soft yellow, she has turquoise eyes, and her mane is long and soft pink. She’s also the kindest and most shy of my friends. Oh, and her cutie mark is three butterflies.”

What did she say? “Cutie mark?” Daniel asked, stopping to give Twilight a curious head tilt.

“Every Pony gets one, it’s a mark that shows what we’re good at. I have one as well.”

Twilight bent down and pulled up one side of her dress, exposing her leg bit by bit. Daniel’s jaw dropped and his face flooded crimson with a blush as she stopped at her hip. Thankfully no one else was around.

She has no shame! Wait… is that a tattoo? Sure enough, perfectly imprinted on Twilight’s fur was a large dark-pink six-pointed star with white rays coming out of it. It was surrounded by five smaller white six-pointed stars.

Twilight looked up from her cutie mark to Daniel, her face suddenly going red with a blush as realisation hit her. “Oh-my-gosh I’m so, so sorry!” Twilight yelled as she pulled the dress down over herself. She tapped her fist against her head, grunting in frustration. “I keep forgetting you humans hate nudity.” Her voice picked up pace as she began a small tirade. “Having fur is really throwing me off. I mean, the last time I was on two legs, I had skin to remind me I was supposed to be clothed. But now I still have fur, so it’s really hard to remember I’m not supposed to, WHOA-” Twilight fell flat on her face. On Twilight’s back Daniel noticed two bulges furiously wiggling underneath the dress. “Ughhhh…” Twilight groaned, pushing herself up. “I tend to flap my wings when I’m worked up. I tried to take flight and ended up tripping.”

Daniel’s blush had finally receded, traded for confusion, “The wings actually work?” Daniel reached a hand out to Twilight, helping her get back onto her hooves.

“I’m sorry to ask you to damage your clothing,” Twilight gave a nervous smile and in a pleading voice asked, “but could you possibly cut some wing holes in the dress?”

Reaching for his side, opposite of his holster, Daniel drew a large knife out of a sheath. The handle was almost six inches long, the blade equally so, and slightly rusted. A few specks of dried blood were mixed in with the rust, but Daniel could guess Twilight wouldn’t like to know that.

Bad thing was, it was his blood. Daniel had sliced open his hand trying to juggle both it and a beer bottle. Last time I take a bet from Jericho and try to be cool, Daniel thought as he put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. Lightly tugging her shoulder, Twilight got the hint and turned around. Her body was visibly shaking.

“What, you don’t trust me?” Daniel joked. “I’m not going to cut you.”

“Sorry,” Twilight apologized, her body tensing instantly as she crossed her arms and gripped them hard. “That knife is too big to not be scared of.”

Daniel chuckled, pinching the dress behind the first of Twilight’s wings and pulling the fabric back to avoid cutting what was underneath. Daniel took a mock defensive tone, “What, you think I’m compensating for something?” Wait, did I just say that? Hoping Twilight was the joking type, he quickly cut a hole into the back of the dress with an audible rip of the aged cloth. It wasn’t big, just large enough for Twilight to stick her wing through.

“Compensating? What do you mean by-” He could almost feel Twilight’s face heat up from behind her as he took a grip behind her second wing. The words that followed were more angry than embarrassed. “What is it with stallions always making rude jokes?”

Stallions? Must be what she calls men. Daniel thought as he changed his tone again to match Wadsworth’s, though it was a bit shaky as he tried to play off his screw-up. “I say, whatever do you mean? I am insulted to say the least.” He cut a second, equally sized hole in the back of the dress.

Daniel backed away as Twilight groaned with annoyance, pinching the bridge of her slightly protruding muzzle. Daniel guessed she rolled her eyes, but by the time she had turned around, she held them closed as she shook her head, “I guess I can’t complain, Rainbow Dash makes enough rude jokes for two stallions.”

“Another friend of yours?” Daniel asked, innocently. He was thankful for an opportunity to change the subject.

Twilight simply nodded, reaching her arms behind her to struggle getting a wing through the new hole. Daniel quickly dodged around to her back and pulled a wing through, then the other.

In an instant, Twilight was sounding just as cheery as ever. “Thanks,” then it turned to embarrassment, “Do you think you could cut a hole for my tail as well?

Daniel face once again flushed red. I may be the first person ever to overdose on embarrassment.

<>~<>~<>

As soon as Twilight stepped through the door, Moira’s cheery voice called from behind the counter. “Hey, Twilight, Daniel, don’t mind the smell. The chemicals are all safe… I think.”

In the corner of the store behind the counter was what Twilight could only guess was a chemistry set bubbling away. Behind the counter as well were shelves lined with cans of something called cram, cans of pork and beans, boxes of salisbury steak, and other foods whose labels were too faded to read. The sight of so much meat related food sent Twilight’s stomach into an uneasy knot.

There wasn’t just food on the shelves, either. Mixed in were small, differently colored cardboard boxes with numbers on them, as well as more rifles hanging from the wall by their straps. Also on the shelves were several bottles of pills labeled Buffout, tins of something called Mentats, and on the counter was an open first aid box full of syringes, all premeasured. A piece of scotch tape on the box had Med-X written on it with pen.

Moira’s disappointed voice pulled Twilight out of her browsing. “Daniel, you know I can’t do that.”

Daniel made a wild gesture with his hand, “But you know me, Moira, we’re friends. I’ve risked my neck to help you write that book of yours, you can’t spare a little bit?”

Twilight took a step back and decided to let the argument work itself out. She had no idea what it was about anyways. Backing up farther, she bumped into someone. His voice was like gravel as he muttered, “Back off, and don’t try anything.” Jumping back, she looked at the man in a leather jacket and pants who leaned against the wall, a rifle different from hers in his hands.

“Sorry,” Twilight sheepishly apologized, quickly turning around to listen back in on the argument.

Moira put a faded green metal tin onto the counter, “You have to pay just like the rest of the town. Daniel, I know you’re fresh out the Vault and short on caps, but I run a business, not a charity.”

Daniel steepled his hands together, reaching out for Moira as his tone was just one octave short of childish begging, “Please, Moira, don’t do it for me, do it for her.” He pointed in Twilight’s direction and got even whinier. “She’s lost in this harsh, cruel world, separated from all the friends and family she knows and love.” Daniel was practically leaning over the counter now. “So can you find it in your heart to give just a little, just a smidge, to this poor lost soul?”

Moira laughed, well, more of a dopy chuckle. “Sure, sure,” Moira giggled. “I can loan Twilight some gear. Just stop embarrassing yourself.”

Daniel jumped into the air, pumping his fist. Twilight simply rolled her eyes, thinking to herself, Daniel, you’re a goofball. He was by Twilight before she realised it, throwing an arm over her shoulders, “And that, Twilight, is how you negotiate.”

Twilight chuckled, hoping to embarrass him back for the dirty joke. “What, by being a total drama queen?” Now that Twilight said it, Rarity did win against the Diamond Dogs by whining. Maybe there was some secret tactic to it all. I’ll have to study that later.

“You can’t argue with results.” Daniel gave a fake cough and looked Moira’s way. “So, what can you spare?”

Moira reached under the counter and came back up with something that made Twilight sputter in shock. Moira placed on the counter a beat-up looking leather jacket adorn with half of a tire that was cruelly spiked with nails and sharpened rebar. A rusted chain looped from one end of the tire to the other, hanging under one shoulder. The jeans were ragged and stained with what Twilight hoped was oil, and two leather pads attached to the pants were covered in short rusted spikes.

Twilight just stared at the clothing on the counter. Rarity would puke if she saw that, that atrocious outfit. Looking to Daniel, he shook his head in disbelief while pointing at the jacket and pants. “Moira, are you seriously offering her Raider gear?”

Moira shrugged, saying uncharacteristically chill nonchalance, “Try to save some caps and get what you paid for. Which, I might add, is nothing.”

Twilight approached the counter, giving the outfit a wary look as she spoke. “Excuse me, but what’s a Raider?” Twilight put a finger to her chin, humming as she thought back to the bar, then added. “You called Jericho one.”

“You know those bad people I mentioned you needed to learn to protect yourself from?” Daniel said, reaching into his pocket to pull out a small brown cloth bag.

Twilight nodded as Daniel put the bag on the counter. His forlorn look sent a chill down her spine. “Raiders are those people, Twilight. They’ll kill you, or worse.” Daniel looked away, as if thinking about them brought up bad memories.

Twilight took a step back in shock. That’s horrible!

“Yeah,” Moira spat. It surprised Twilight to see Moira was capable of looking angry, but at that moment Moira was furious. “The only reason we keep that louse Jericho around is he’s a good shot with a rifle. Speaking of rifle,” Moira poured the contents of the bag into a cash register that was next to her. “These are yours.” She slid a single faded green metal tin towards Twilight, and a small rectangular metal box which was no bigger than the palm of her hand.

“One hundred caps for fifty rounds, with a bonus magazine.”

Twilight gave the tin a wary look, hesitating to touch it with her hand. Daring to open the tin, Twilight noticed something familiar. Brass tubes, much larger than the one Zecora found, but the same overall bottle-necked shape. Except that the ones in the tin had metal tips. “What are these?” Twilight asked, picking one of the tubes carefully out of the tin. It was about as long as her ring finger.

“Bullets,” Daniel replied, before half shrugging and adding lamely. “Or rifle cartridges.” He shrugged again, shaking his head. “I have no idea why some Wastelanders are so picky about what to call them.”

Taking the rifle off her back, Twilight looked back and forth a few times between it and the bullets. Pointing to the tin full of them, she asked, “I take it these are part of the rifle?”

Moira was the one to answer, “Yes they are. Now, time for you to get dressed.”

Twilight cast a wary glance at the clothes she had happily forgotten about with a pitiful look, her ears splaying down as she whined like a filly. “Do I really need it?”

<>~<>~<>

Zipping the leather jacket the rest of the way up to hide the new bra she wore, Twilight shivered with disgust. The entire getup made her want to hurl. Moira had taken her upstairs to her room where she gave Twilight a pair of underwear and bra as she made alterations to the leather jacket and pants. With her wings and tail poking out holes skillfully cut by Moira, Twilight gave a test flap. She rose a few inches and landed back down. Moira gave a cat-call whistle and clapped her hands while giggling like a filly in a candy shop.

Deciding to test her range of motion, Twilight squatted down. Her new pants clearly weren’t designed for her legs bending in multiple points, but they were wearable. A little baggy, but nothing a belt couldn’t fix.

Twilight rose back to full height, giving Moira a questioning stare. “Was helping me get dressed really necessary?” Twilight asked as she adjusted the tire on her shoulder so it wouldn’t interfere with the rifle. The rusted chain looping across her body rattled as she did so. “I could have cut the holes for my wings and tail myself, or have Daniel do it.” Looking from the spiked tire on her shoulder to the spiked thigh-pads on her pants, all the pointy metal was making her scared of herself… if that was even possible.

“No, it wasn’t,” Moira replied with a bubbly voice. “I just wanted to give you some underwear and get the chance to talk to you in private.” Moira’s face became as rigid as stone, the gravity of her following words making Twilight nearly stand at attention. “Daniel’s a sweet guy and all, but in the two weeks he’s been out of Vault 101, danger seems to find him.” Moira’s bubbly voice came back just a little as she tried to joke. “I’m going to be honest: about all that armor is good for is protecting you from public nudity.” Then it was back to all seriousness. “Stay safe out there. I mean it.”

“Daniel’s going to help me learn to protect myself,” Twilight said with a confident nod. A few seconds passed as her confidence rapidly fizzled away, giving way to an anxious rub to the back of her neck and kicking her hoof softly at nothing. “Actually, I’m a bit nervous about learning self defense in this world. I never used a rifle before. With my horn broken, all I have are my fists, and I’m too clumsy to fight with them.”

Moira beamed a bright bubbly smile. “Well in that case, good luck.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight’s first step outside of Megaton’s safe walls graced her eyes with a full-view of gently sloping hills among an endless sea of brown dirt. The rocky and barren scenery seemed even more desolate as Twilight followed Daniel towards a red rocket-shaped structure in the distance, passing copious amounts of junk and dead trees in a valley between two large hills.

“There’s barely any grass.” Twilight said, her hooves kicking up dirt. To their left was an old chain-link fence around a rusting water-tower. She winced as they passed a brahmin skull.

“Yeah,” Daniel replied with a solemn tone. “Not the fields of green I grew up looking at in pictures.”

The thought of living underground for years piqued Twilight’s curiosity. She couldn't deny her scientific side. Even beyond the habitat itself, she was interested in how someone like Daniel adapted to such a different and ruthless world. Moira had said he was only on the surface for two weeks, yet he acted like he had arrived months ago. Opening her mouth to ask about it, she cut herself off as they rounded a bend of the valley between the hills.

An entire town of ruined buildings stood before them, the burnt and rotting frames of the houses stood like skeletons of some long-dead giants. Only one single-story house was left intact past the giant red rocket. Twilight felt a shiver run up her spine. So this is what the end of the world looks like.

Words escaped Twilight, a tense feeling in her chest as she imagined a ruined Equestria. Unable to speak, the two silently made their way towards the town, but stopped as Twilight saw something silvery and spherical bobbing in the distance, floating about a meter above the asphalt. Daniel was already looking its way by the time Twilight pointed it out, saying to her. “It’s just an eyebot. Nothing to worry about.”

The sight of the odd sphere managed to knock Twilight out of her daze of horror, letting her gladly focus on something else. If Daniel says it’s okay, I trust him. Continuing onwards, Twilight kept an eye on the eyebot as they quickly came to a T-intersection running between the husks of old buildings. Picket fences and mailboxes were still standing in the yards of the households, albeit crooked and faded.

The eyebot floated close, allowing Twilight a good look at it. Several metal antennae jutted off the the beach ball-sized sphere like spines of some alien creature. From a speaker she couldn’t see, music flooded through, a pompous marching ballad full of trumpets, flutes, and clashing cymbals. The entire ensemble was followed by the percussion of drums.

The music cut out with one final crash of the cymbals, a voice as smooth as the finest silk wafting over the speaker, “Hello, my dear America, this is John Henry Eden, your president, and voice of reason in these cold, dark times.” Twilight smiled, he spoke with the grace of a friendly grandfather reading a story.

“Is President Eden your leader?” Twilight asked, listening intently in as President Eden went on a long tangent about baseball. It appears this nation is, or at least had, a democratic political system if this person is the president.

Daniel let out an almost maniacally mad laugh, drawing Twilight’s bewildered gaze as he slapped his knees. He calmed his wild laughing, shooting Twilight a bright toothy smile. “Sorry, you just reminded me how naive I was when I first came out of the Vault.” Daniel chuckled nervously, then frowned as all happiness seemed to drain from him. “The Wasteland has no form of government whatsoever. It’s just some old broadcast stuck on an endless loop.” Daniel stared off into space for a few seconds before snapping his fingers and asking, “So, tell me about yourself, Twilight. What kind of food do you like?” It was clear Daniel wanted to change the subject.

“Daffodil sandwiches with hay fries are a favorite of mine.” Then Twilight remembered something as Daniel walked again. “Though I doubt Humans can eat them.” Twilight chuckled half-heartedly. “I learned the hard way at Canterlot High that Humans can’t eat grass.”

“I’ll act like I have a clue about what you’re talking about,” Daniel remarked with a simple gesture of his hands. Tapping his chin as if in thought, he asked. “On the subject of food, you told me that back in your world that brahmin, well cows, are intelligent, right?”

Twilight nodded, stating in a voice fitting of a stressed-out teacher. “Yes, they are intelligent, but not quite. To be blunt, they’re a bit simple-minded,” Twilight cringed at her wording, but at the moment she couldn’t find a more honest and easy way to state the fact. “Of course, they can think and speak like you and I. It’s why I freaked out over eating brahmin meat instead of squirrel.”

Twilight sighed, shaking her head as she decided to give Daniel a full lecture. “If you’re interested, Cows live drastically different lives from Ponies, preferring to roam in pastures in large herds where they can freely graze. We give them land to graze on and guard them from predators, and they pay us with milk.”

“Well what about using them for meat?” Daniel asked, giving her a tilted questioning stare. Twilight winced at the mere mention of the question, her face curling into a displeased frown as Daniel remarked. “I’m sure there are intelligent carnivores in your world, right?”

Twilight shuddered, making a face as if she bit into something awful tasting. A sigh later she answered the question in a flat tone, “The Gryphons are omnivores, and yes… we do use Cows for meat. But it’s entirely their choice.”

Daniel muttered in disbelief, “They choose to be eaten by these Gryphons?”

Twilight snapped back, “The Cows have some... strange religious beliefs. To summarise it, the mortal body has to be consumed in order for the soul to escape its bonds. Now can we drop it. Talking about it makes me feel sick.”

“Okay,” Daniel replied defensively, glancing off before turning back to her. “So, when I found you, you had dried blood under your nose… any reason why?”

“I already told you that when the portal sucked me in, something hit me in my face. I woke up with a bloody nose and a bleeding horn. You’d be surprised that I looked even worse before you found me. It felt like ninety percent of my body was bruised to some degree or another. I didn’t want to waste any water cleaning the blood off my fur.” Twilight shuddered and looked away towards the single story house that was left standing in the town. It was almost baking inside that house, Daniel, I sucked up every drop of water I could find. Twilight winced and blushed. Even if some of it was from a toilet.

Daniel’s voice caught Twilight’s attention, “We’re here.”

“What?” Twilight sputtered, snapping her gaze back forward. Down a small incline, previously hidden from her view, was a building. The concrete walls were void of any paint, leaving the entire structure a dull monotonous grey. All except for little yellow letters above a set of double-doors which advertised Springvale Elementary. It looked like the second story had collapsed onto the first. Looking past the school, Twilight’s jaw dropped.

Across a river of dirty-green water was a city. Even though it looked like it was miles away, the leaning and broken buildings were apparent. That city is nothing but ruins. War really did destroy this place. Twilight felt weaker than when she had been irradiated. A cold sense of dread loomed over her like a shadow. And my friends are lost… in there. There’s no telling where the portal spit us out. I was in that town nearly two weeks because some Human was there with a rifle, I’m sure of it. At least, Twilight guessed it was a rifle that made that bang. The more she studied hers, the more it seemed like a small cannon.

“Whoa,” Daniel remarked flinching back and grabbing Twilight’s attention. “For a second there, you looked as pale as a ghost.” His tone grew sympathetic, “Anything wrong?”

Twilight slumped her shoulders, letting out a heavy sigh. “I’m just scared, Daniel, scared for my friends. They’re lost just as much as I am, and I spent two weeks stuck in that house!” Twilight kicked at a can by her hoof, missing and throwing herself off balance. Thankfully she recovered with Daniel’s help, his hand holding her by the shoulder. It’s all my fault the portal broke. I’m the one that messed with it. They’re lost in this world because of me.

“You’re still weak, Twilight,” Daniel reminded her. “I shouldn't've dragged you out here.”

Chasing away her self-pity, Twilight took another look at the school. “Where is here, exactly? Why did you bring me here?”

Daniel sighed, letting go of Twilight’s shoulder, “I wanted to show you some of the things that I’ve seen-” Daniel pointed towards the door, his face creased with anger, “-and through that door was a Raider camp.”

The mention of the name sent chills up Twilight’s spine. “W-was?” Twilight fumbled her words as the mental image of an entire room full of spiky-armored Jerichos played in her mind.

Daniel’s voice was calm and collected, like he had thought through every word he was going to say ahead of time. “I won’t beat around the bush lying to you; I killed them for all the crimes they had committed.”

“K-killed!?” Twilight backed away rapidly from Daniel. He had just admitted to, to murder of all things. “Vigilante justice isn’t justice.” It’s only revenge.

“You don’t know Raiders, Twilight.” Daniel said, his eyes more sunken and dim than usual, like he was much, much older and wiser. He paced towards the door past Twilight, pulling it open for a brief second. It looked like it was about to break off its hinges. “You need to see this for yourself.”

H-he killed people in there!? Is he seriously asking me to go in? Before she could object, Daniel was already inside, the door swinging closed. Hesitantly, Twilight opened the door herself and went inside.

<>~<>~<>

Her eyes saw it before the smell hit her. Rotting corpses hung from chains dangling from the ceiling, half of them bloated to twice the size they should be. Doubling over as the stench of death filled her nose, what little filled Twilight’s stomach came hurdling back up.

Bent over with her hands on her legs, Twilight panted for air. This can’t be real, this can’t be rea- she wretched again, nothing came up.

Blinking tears from her eyes, Twilight wiped her lips with the sleeve of her jacket, averting her eyes from the bodies impaled to the wall by rebar. Looking for Daniel, she only had to look in the center of the room. He was facing towards her, a large cage made of rusting metal bars to his back. A corpse on a mattress was on top of the cell, blood leaking through the fabric and dripping onto the bones inside the cage.

Blood was pooled all over the floor. Over half of the grimy floor tiles looked slick with blackening puddles. There was nowhere to look that didn’t show some form of death. Why in the name of Equestria would anyone do something like this?! Twilight yelled in her mind, desperately looking Daniel in the eyes for an answer, an explanation of any sorts.

Daniel gave none, his expression empathetic. Twilight looked away from Daniel and into the cage behind him. The bones of children lay piled almost a foot high in the bottom. Struggling to get her words out, she looked back to Daniel in absolute horror. "W-why... why did you show me this!?"

Daniel's voice was cold and deep, like he was burying his true emotions under ice. "I'm teaching you a hard lesson before you have to learn it for yourself." He paused, as if to let Twilight absorb all he told her. Then his mask of cold unforgiveness cracked, showing her his true emotions. A sad, lost gaze. "Twilight, I see how naive you are. Every reaction to something new I tell you is genuine. No amount of my skepticism can disprove you're totally unaware of how the real world works around here... I, I just don't want you to get hurt by not knowing something."

"What!?" Twilight screamed, slamming her hoof down hard enough to shatter a floor tile. "By showing me this!?"

“Twilight, I can explain-”

“You just did!” Twilight seethed, taking an intimidating step forward and almost spearing his chest with her finger. “If this hard lesson has taught me anything, you’re completely crazy!” Turning around, Twilight ran for the door, stopping just to yell to Daniel. “I’m going outside, and don’t you dare follow me!”

Twilight slammed the door on her way out, thankful for a breath of fresh air. Gasping, she drew in each breath as if it were a precious commodity to hoard, taking in all she could. It started to make her dizzy.

Has the world gone insane?! If the whole world was destroyed by war, then why aren't they trying to help each other survive!? Why go through all the trouble of decorating with corpses!? Letting out a frustrated yell, Twilight slammed a hoof on the ground, flaring her nostrils as she did. She could feel hot tears begin to force their way out of her eyes.

“What fuckin’ crew is the angry mutie from?” Someone grumbled. Twilight’s rage bled away to shock as the source of the voice came into her view. A human male, two in fact. Each wore various scrap held together by leather. Both of them gazed at her with their teeth bared as they scowled. It seemed like they hadn’t bathed in months, and the hair of one looked to be spiked into a mohawk with what Twilight hoped was hair gel instead of blood. From their foul language and even fouler appearance, Twilight knew she was looking at a pair of genuine Raiders.

“I dunno,” the mohawked one said to the other. “Wasn’t the rest of Boppo’s old gang knocked off last week?” Shooting Twilight a look that could only be described as outright lust, he suggested casually to the other. “Either way she’s not with us, and she looks Human enough to fuck. I’m get’n first pass.” The mohawk Raider already had his rifle in his hands and raised it towards her. Twilight fumbled with her own rifle, drawing it as fast as she could.

Closing her eyes in fear, a resounding bang echoed in Twilight’s ears as she dropped her rifle. Stumbling backwards in pain until she had her back against the wall, all she could hear was a high-pitch whine as it felt like her shoulder had been knocked out of her socket. Grabbing it with a wince of pain, Twilight kept her eyes shut and waited for the end.

Chapter 5: Regret

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Fucking idiot. Daniel cursed at himself as Twilight slammed the door behind her. Hitting a palm against his own forehead, Daniel berated himself even more. Idiot, idiot, idiot! Why on Earth did you think that would help in any way, you idiot?!

Anger coursing through him, Daniel couldn’t keep his chides contained within his thoughts. “Daniel, you stupid insensitive idiot,” He muttered, pressing his palm against his head again. “She has every right to be scared of you now, bringing her to see... this.”

Looking up and gesturing at a body hanging from the ceiling, Daniel gave an exasperated groan. Taking a deep breath, guilt and shame replaced his hot head with a knotted stomach. I must be the worst-

Daniel stopped as a single rifle shot rang from beyond the door, Twilight yelling in pain afterward. Rushing for the door, Daniel nearly rammed it off its hinges in his haste as he drew his 10mm pistol and bolted outside.

Daniel turned to his left, just in time to catch a glimpse of a dirty man in ragged armor before the man rammed his shoulder heavily into his gut. The sheer surprise of the attack sent Daniel’s pistol clattering away as his back smashed into the ground, the man straddling him.

The dirty man, a Raider, Daniel realised quickly, threw his hands around Daniel’s throat, gripping tightly. His foul breath could’ve peeled paint as he laughed and giggled, closing his hands tighter and tighter around Daniel’s throat. “Ha, ha, ha-ha! Oh, man, killing you will almost be as fun as raping your little mutie bitch!”

Like Hell you will! Struggling to escape, Daniel used one hand to try and break the hold around his throat while reaching for his pistol with the other. It was useless, the pistol almost a foot out of reach as his fingers curled in a vain effort to grab it. Pain seared his lungs as the time without air grew greater. Disregarding the pistol to try and rip away the Raider’s grasp, Daniel channeled all of his strength. It was of no use, the Raider was stronger than him. It was a losing battle for his life as each second sent darkness creeping along the edges of his vision.

Everything grew blurry as the strength to struggle fled him, his hands growing numb and limp as the darkness crept ever closer. All he could see was the Raider’s smiling face above him. Just as Daniel felt himself slipping away, a loud, ear-splitting crack echoed and the Raider’s hands left his throat. Blood flashed before his eyes as the gray sky revealed itself to him.

Gasping and coughing for air, finally able to fill his lungs, it was like a jolt of electricity hit Daniel as everything popped into crystal clear focus. His vision was overwhelmed with purple, Twilight sitting on her knees right beside his left arm. She had a look of absolute terror in her puffy eyes. Her tears cut a line in the dirt covering her fur as she grabbed onto Daniel's chest, sobbing something that sounded like “Please be okay.”

“Twilight?” Daniel asked, his voice strained as he leaned up. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling her face into his shoulder to muffle her sobs with the leather shoulderpad he wore. Taken by surprise, Daniel hesitated a moment before wrapping his arms around her. His previous thoughts were forgotten, and the embrace of Twilight made him feel lighter. “What happened?”

Twilight’s voice was already hoarse with sorrow. “I-I killed them...” she choked out in a whisper.

Letting her cry into his shoulder, Daniel rose to his feet along with Twilight, careful so they wouldn’t trip. The Raider that had tried to choke him lay on the ground, a large dent in the side of his bald and tattooed head. Bone jutted from the flesh allowing blood to seep from the wound. It quickly dripped onto the dirt and pooled towards the cracked stock of Twilight’s rifle.

Past the dead Raider, further away from the school building, lay another, his chest soaked with red. Blood and brownish-grey bits of lung and heart covered an old playhouse that was in the shape of a flying saucer. The Raider the pieces belonged to was slumped against a metal leg of the fake alien craft.

“I-I k-killed them,” Twilight repeated. She gripped onto Daniel even harder like a child clinging to their parent to hide from some fear. Her choked sobs grew even louder against his shoulder.

She’s terrified. It’s all my fault I dragged her into this mess. Daniel’s face flushed as he felt at fault for everything. All he could offer Twilight in the way of comfort was patting her on her back as he held her just as tight as she held him.

“Shhh~” he tried to comfort Twilight, but his voice came out a raspy hiss from his burning throat. She didn’t deserve this.

Gently, Daniel backed away out of Twilight’s arms, keeping his hands on her shoulders. The light of the setting sun cast an orange glint off her tear-filled eyes. The two glossy spheres were a mix of confusion and terror. Brushing away Twilight's tears with the back of his hand, Daniel couldn't help but notice just how soft her fur was. Even with the dirt and grime covering her face, the smooth coat felt almost like silk against his rough fingers. "Don't worry, Twilight. You did nothing wrong."

“But I-I killed them,” Twilight gently sobbed. Even though her hazy eyes were looking right at him, they felt hollow, as if she wasn’t seeing him. Lost in her own thoughts. “Celestia is going to be so angry with me. And what are my parents going to think? My friends?” Twilight closed her eyes, wincing as her tone shifted to hate. “I’m a murderer now.”

“You only did it to protect yourself, Twilight,” Daniel stated as shame flooded over him. Yes, she did do it to protect herself, but Daniel had no idea who this Celestia was, or what her parents were like. Gripping Twilight’s shoulders hard enough that she gave a small gasp, Daniel’s voice was calm and somber. “Raiders can’t be bargained or reasoned with. They’re animals that attack anyone who isn’t with them.”

“I cleared the place out last week, I had no idea those two would show up.” Daniel said as he lessened his grip, a sigh escaping his lips. Sliding a hand down Twilight’s arm as a memory resurfaced, Daniel gave a halfhearted smile, trying to think of a way to reassure her. “Even though you killed them, I’m sure Celestia, your parents, and your friends would accept that you had to do what you did. But telling them will come later; right now, all that matters is that you’re safe.”

Twilight blinked a few times, her eyes seeming to finally see him for the first time since she had saved him. With the sleeve of her jacket, Twilight wiped the tears that remained out of her eyes, nodding calmly. “Thanks, Daniel.”

As soon as Twilight finished, she grabbed her shoulder, wincing in pain, “Urgh!”

Worry flooded through Daniel as he closed the small distance between them in a single stride. Frantically, he grabbed Twilight’s arms and looked for any sign that she had been injured. “Where are you hurt?”

“When I pulled the trigger on the rifle like you showed me, the back of it hit me hard enough that I dropped it.” Twilight massaged her own shoulder with her hand, rolling the same shoulder as she did. Splaying her ears down in shame as she looked to the ground, Twilight continued, “Then after my ears stopped ringing and I opened my eyes, I saw that Raider choking you. I-I did the only thing I thought I could to save you... I only meant to give him a concussion, n-not kill him!”

Twilight seemed to be on the verge of tears again.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Daniel apologized. It was out of his control. Looking away from Twilight to the dead Raider closest to them, the rifle Twilight had been using lay next to him, his blood soaking it. The stock was cracked and the barrel seemed to be bent.

Great, I guess it’s time to teach her another lesson. Looting for essentials between the parts where you’re fighting for your life. But she’s already been through so much. I don’t need to traumatize her any more than I have already.

Twilight gave a small, pitiful chuckle, trying her best to not look at the dead Raider. “Daniel, I’m fine... really.”

From her weak, unconvincing tone and teary eyes, Daniel could tell she was lying.

She’ll have to learn eventually. With his mind decided, Daniel took a large step over the blood puddle to squat beside the Raider. He waved Twilight over to him, “Twilight, come here a second, please.”

“Y-yes?” Twilight asked, hesitantly compiling as she slowly stepped around the puddle of blackening blood. She shied her vision away, ears splayed down and mouth creased into a solemn frown. Her expression was a look of concern and worry. Like she was anticipating him to do something even worse than showing her a dead Raider. Perhaps it was.

Daniel stood to full height, trying to make his expression and voice as stern as his father’s, “You may not like this, but you need to search him.”

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, visibly shocked. Seconds passed as Twilight seemed to slowly process what he had asked her. Her jaw went from half open, to closed, then her lips curled into a frown, face reddening as she violently stomped her hoof down, "I'm not going to loot a dead body!"

Redoubling his stern tone and expression, Daniel felt the corners of his lips curl into the faintest of angry frowns. Staring Twilight down, he replied in a calm yet strict voice, "I'm not going to hold your hand, Twilight. You want to find your friends, you have to get your hands dirty." Daniel sighed, ditching the stern act for a friendlier, almost apologetic tone. "Sometimes literally.”

<>~<>~<>

Resting her back against a concrete wall, Twilight stared aimlessly at the rifle she cradled. Daniel sat with his back against an adjacent wall. He would often look at her, frown, then turn his head away. Like he had something to say.

Twilight didn’t feel much like talking.

Your friends are out here, Twilight, stuck in this mess. Twilight gripped hard against the stock of her rifle, gritting her teeth as she rested her head back against the wall. You need to face the facts. You killed two people today. I’m sure Celestia would understand, it’s not like I wanted to kill them, but you heard what they… Twilight stopped and shuddered, trying not to think about it.

Placing the Raider’s rifle on her lap, Twilight closed her eyes. It was you or them, they gave me no choice. No matter how much she tried to rationalize it though, Twilight couldn’t escape the thought that she was both a murderer and a grave robber. Her new satchel bag and belt felt heavy, like it was weighed down with rocks.

Casting another somber glance at her new weapon, she shifted the rifle around in her lap. Reaching down to her side, she drew her knife. Like the belt and the knife’s sheath, it had belonged to the Raider. The grimy blade of the knife was pitted with rust and the edge was chipped from overuse. The shoddy condition didn’t stop Twilight from scratching two short marks into the stock of her rifle.

Twilight’s ears splayed down as Daniel finally spoke up, his voice just as somber as her mood. “You know it’s not healthy to do that,” he stated flatly.

“I killed them,” Twilight replied, replacing the knife in its sheath before looking towards where Daniel sat. He was messing with a fire starter, trying to ignite twigs and dead grass placed inside a ring of broken concrete chunks.

Daniel’s face was stern. The very same flat expression he had when he was trying to teach her about the cruelty of the Raiders. “They tried to kill us,” he explained. “Like I said before, they aren’t worth the weight on your conscience.”

“No,” Twilight’s face creased into a scowl as she cycled the bolt of the dead Raider’s rifle, chambering a round before poking her own chest with her finger. “Their blood is still on me. I need to find my friends as fast as possible.” Twilight’s cold determination shriveled away as she sagged her shoulders. “I’m two weeks behind, and… and I’m terrified, Daniel. I had to kill two living, thinking people.”

Twilight closed her eyes, barely holding back a sob as tears cut a wet path down her cheeks. Twilight grabbed her chest over her rapidly beating heart. “Two… just to keep myself from being raped and killed, and… and you’re talking to me like it’s normal, because in this world it is normal. I have no idea if any of my friends are safe other than Fluttershy, but even then I can’t be sure because I have no idea what this Brotherhood of Steel even is!”

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Daniel reassured in a soft voice, breaking away from his work to console her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, “We’re almost to the city, camping a bit closer to it than I’d like. Just a quick walk in the morning to a metro tunnel, a brief time underground, and then we should get to the Brotherhood of Steel.”

“Okay...” Twilight muttered lamely. It was good news for sure, but there was just no way to tell for sure if Fluttershy was safe. Hopefully she can help me find the others… I just have to keep optimistic.

The conversation ended there, Twilight sighing heavily as Daniel broke away to refocus on getting a small fire going.

<>~<>~<>

The fire cast a dim glow against the heavily worn walls of the building. Despite the crackling flames dancing inside the fire pit, Twilight only felt lukewarm as the weight of what she had done still pressed heavily against her mind. A cold, dreadful sensation worked its way through her. Starting at her hooves, the chill rapidly spread all the way to the tips of her fingers.

Before long, Twilight was outright shivering. Whew, it’s cold tonight. Twilight thought in a vain attempt to get her mind off what she had done to the Raiders.

Oh, who am I kidding, Celestia is going to hate me...

Twilight gasped as Daniel suddenly sat down beside her with a heavy thump. As soon as the shock wore off, Twilight realised he was holding something out to her, shaking it slightly.

A bottle of clean, clear water.

Graciously accepting the bottle - as well as an unopened can of food - Twilight nodded with the faintest ghost of a smile.

“Thanks,” she said, quickly unscrewed the plastic lid and drained the bottle halfway in a massive series of gulps. She pulled the bottle away just before she choked herself. “Whew, I needed that.”

“Thirsty, much?” Daniel tried to joke. It seemed he wanted to get her mind off her worries as well.

“Sure, sure. Nothing like walking to work up a sweat?” Twilight gave a few nudges with her elbow to Daniel, halfheartedly chuckling as he shifted his can of beans in front of him. Daniel drew his knife, and before she could question what he was doing, Daniel stabbed the top of the can.

Twilight’s curiosity seemed to outpace her worry. Tapping him on the shoulder she asked with concern in her voice, “Is that even safe?”

Daniel shrugged, rolling his eyes, “Probably not.”

Daniel stabbed the lid a few more times before she could complain, working all the way around the lid. Prying the lid open, Daniel set the can of beans onto some coals in the nearby fire. Chuckling, he pointed to the can, “You know, they don’t teach you tricks like that back in the Vault.”

Twilight had heard Daniel mention the place a time or two, although briefly, and she hadn’t had the chance to really inquire about the place. “What’s this Vault you keep mentioning? All I know is that it’s underground, and you used to live there.”

Daniel gave a half shrug as his face was almost a blank slate. “It was home, I guess. My father, my friends,” he sighed, “Amata.”

“Friend of yours?” Twilight asked, ears swivelling towards Daniel as she shifted her weight around to sit up straight. Moving the rifle from her lap, Twilight rested the butt on the ground while leaning the forestock against her shoulder.

“Yeah,” Daniel said lowly, before smiling. “She was a real close friend of mine. My only friend in the Vault, really. We grew up together, and we both stuck up for one another.”

Daniel gave a hurt sigh, Twilight’s heart skipping a beat as she nearly grabbed him to check if he was okay, but Daniel stopped her dead as he spoke with sadness in his voice. “She had this adorable little laugh,” Daniel sighed again, frowning. “Her father was the Overseer and never liked for us to be together.”

Twilight’s response was a simple, “Oh.” Must have been his marefriend.

Before Twilight could ask what an Overseer was, Daniel used a piece of old cloth to keep from burning his hand as he removed the can of beans from the coals, presenting it to Twilight. “Eat up, it’s a long walk tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Twilight responded, taking the can of beans, careful to keep the cloth on the can.

<>~<>~<>

On the second story of the ruined building, Twilight gazed out into the darkness of the Wasteland. Even though she could not see very far past the window-frame she leaned against, the sounds and smells of the Wasteland didn’t slip past her senses.

The cold night wind blew in a soft whistle, carrying other sounds with it along with the smell of smoke. Off in the direction of the city, a strange staccato of bangs and yells of anger… or perhaps pain... warned her that tomorrow was going to bring a brand new challenge.

Don’t worry Fluttershy, Twilight thought, her stoic gaze as unyielding as a mountain, I’m coming for you.

Chapter 6: Metro

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Crouching beside the firepit, Daniel stirred the remaining embers as the morning sun warmed his chilled bones. Looking over to where Twilight lay, she was on her side, back towards the firepit. She was wrapping herself with her wings like a cover. Beside her lay the old spiked tire that was part of her armor, along with a satchel.

It had belonged to one of the Raiders Twilight had killed. She hadn’t even looked through it. Perhaps she was afraid of what she might find. Daniel didn’t know, but what he did know was that Twilight had fallen asleep staring at the butt of her rifle as it leaned against the wall. The two tallie marks were dug deep into the wood. They were shallow compared to the wounds he knew he had inflicted on her.

It’s my fault she put those marks there. Like a dark cloud, the fact loomed over Daniel, sapping what little energy last night’s meal had given him. Lethargically he poked at the embers of the fire with a stick once again. A small flame leapt up from the coals into the broken twigs and old wood he had scavenged before the sun had even arisen. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do for a cooking fire.

Giving a cautionary glance at his Pip-Boy, his rad count was a meager ten rads. About to be more with breakfast. Daniel opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself. Twilight was barely moving, her soft snores and the occasional twitch of one of her ears the only hint she was alive.

I’ll give you five more minutes Twilight, you need the rest. I have to get breakfast ready anyways. Reaching into his bag, Daniel pulled out a tin of cram before he dug inside, shuffling a few loose items around. His efforts rewarded him with the last of the water bottles he had brought. Well, shit, I’m not used to packing for two.

Cursing himself for his own lack of foresight, Daniel set the cram and water aside for Twilight, choosing to warm his stiffly-cold hands with the fire. Twilight needed the food more than he did. The black leather jacket she wore did little to add to her miniscule bulk. She still looked as thin as the day he had found her.

Brushing off the somber thought, Daniel leaned closer to the fire as he took a seat in the dirt, checking his Pip-Boy again. Cram didn’t need to be cooked, giving Daniel ample time to plan their route into the city.

The soft sound of Twilight rolling over drew Daniel’s attention away from the screen on his wrist. She looked terrible, her thin face was haggard despite the fact she was asleep. Daniel’s breath hitched in his throat as tears began to force themselves out of Twilight’s eyes. She rolled again, this time onto her back. Even from where he sat he could hear her whimper in her sleep.

<>~<>~<>

MURDERER!

Blood painted those cruel words on the peeling paint of the wall.

“No, no I… please…” Twilight let out in a muffled cry.

The mutilated corpses of the dead were suspended on spiked chains that hung from the ceiling. Their crushed-in heads turned to face Twilight as she fell backwards, landing on the rotting, bloodstained carpet.

MURDERER!

Those same cruel words were written on the ceiling with blood, dripping onto Twilight’s broken and nude body.

“I had no choice.”

Two corpses grabbed her by the throat. One was missing half his face, the other with a fist sized hole in his chest.

“Murderer.” A chorus of voices whispered in her ear.

The world grew into a blurry haze. Her entire throat felt raw and tears dimmed her vision as hands kept hold of her.

“GET AWAY!” Twilight screamed.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight was screaming and kicking as Daniel tried to wake her up. He recoiled as her fist firmly impacted his jaw, right before a hoof caught him in the leg while he stumbled backwards.

Hissing in pain Daniel clutched his jaw with one hand and his knee in the other. By the time Daniel looked back to Twilight, she sat up, hiding her face behind her legs.

“Twilight?” Daniel asked, ignoring the pain in his knee and jaw. As he approached her slowly, a grim thought passed through his mind. She had a nightmare. And it was my fault.

Daniel was brought out of his self-pity by Twilight mumbling weakly through sobs, “I’m so… so… so sorry…”

Daniel guessed that she was apologising for hitting him. His jaw and leg still stung, but the pain was nothing compared to how he felt inside. To some, Daniel seemed like a tough-guy, to others a suave talker. To himself, at that moment, he felt like a monster.

I only wanted to teach Twilight… but what was the old saying Dad always said? Yeah, ‘The way to Hell is paved with good intentions.’

“It’s okay, Twilight,” Daniel tried to sooth her, closing the distance even more, “I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

Twilight had calmed down enough to peek up at Daniel, her puffy, bloodshot lavender eyes were almost childlike in innocence and fear. “I-I was back in the house where you found me, but there were dead people an-”

“Say no more.” Daniel interrupted, finally close enough to Twilight to put a hand on her shoulder. “I had bad dreams the first few nights I was out here. After the first time I killed someone... it was a Raider.”

Twilight closed her eyes, her breath hitching slightly as she nodded in sympathy, or just the experience of going through the same ordeal as he had. “D-did you feel bad?” Twilight asked, her shaky voice cleared somewhat as her eyes drifted from him to her rifle. “Killing for the first time?”

Daniel thought back to the fear, the uncertainty, the smoking 10mm pistol in his shaking hands.

“Yeah,” Daniel said. It was a simple reply, but enough for Twilight who just nodded her head and rose to her hooves. What few tears that had been on her face were already drying in the cold wind that whistled around. With her thin, bony face and broken horn, as well as the spiked Raider gear she wore, Twilight looked as much a part of the Wasteland as anyone else.

Daniel could only describe Twilight’s expression as fierce determination. “Now that that’s over with, let's get Fluttershy back.”

Daniel looked over to the fire pit, and the can lying near it, then back to Twilight. “Are you at least going to eat breakfast first?”

It was at that moment, Twilight’s stomach decided to growl.

<>~<>~<>

Why do humans put meat, of all things, into cans? Why not a can of peaches or something? Twilight grumbled in thought as she followed behind Daniel. Breakfast had been a meal of cold slices of some sort of canned meat, which according to Daniel, was pork.

At least it wasn’t from a cow. The mere thought sent a knot into Twilight’s stomach. It’s okay, Twilight, the ones here aren't like the ones back home. Remember that Daniel said they’re as dumb as rocks.

Forcing herself to think about something other than her horrible breakfast, Twilight looked past Daniel. The city past the massive river was even closer than before, letting Twilight see more details. The scale of the destruction was breathtaking. Jagged monoliths of cracked concrete and glass stretched for miles left and right, while other buildings were canted over to the point they were smashing into each other like dominoes.

It’s hard to believe that all of this was from Humans fighting Humans in a single day. Twilight thought to herself before she passed by a half-buried skeleton. Twilight shuddered. It’s okay, you’re safe now. You are no longer in that town.

During their half-hour of walking, the dream had remained as fresh in Twilight’s mind as if she had just woken up. No matter how hard she tried to forget it, something reminded her of the dream, and the two Raiders she had killed.

It wasn’t my fault, I killed them in self defense. Twilight tried to rationalize, grinding her knuckles against her brow. I wouldn’t even have been there if Daniel hadn’t made me. If it’s anyone’s fault, it should be his.

Twilight crossed her arms in a huff. Of course it wasn’t her fault, Daniel had led her right into an impossible situation.

“All this silence is getting boring,” Daniel groaned up ahead. “Mind if I cut on the radio?” Daniel held up his left arm to show off that thing he always wore.

Twilight’s curiosity outweighed her anger. So it’s a radio? I never really asked him about that device.

“Sure,” Twilight said, a bit more roughly than she would have liked. She hadn’t totally forgiven Daniel, but she hoped that a little music would help forget her sour mood.

Before long Twilight could hear music playing out of the radio on Daniel’s arm. It was a noisy little tune about being naive and finding a wonderful guy. Twilight couldn’t help but hum along, her stress and anger melting away as she lost herself in the song.

After the chorus began to repeat, Twilight’s humming evolved into singing. “I’m as corny as Kansas in August, I’m as normal as blueberry pie. No more a smart little girl with no heart I have found- what!?” Twilight stuttered as Daniel laughed up ahead, “I’m just singing.” For some reason she couldn’t place, Twilight felt embarrassed.

Was my singing that bad?

“No-no, please, continue,” Daniel called back, not even turning his head to look over his shoulder. “I like your singing. It’s cute.”

If Twilight wasn’t blushing before, she knew she was now. “T-Thanks,” she stuttered.

Dropping her hand down to her side -- Wait, when did I start playing with my hair? -- Twilight cleared her throat and started to sing along once more.

“I’m as corny as Kansas in August, I’m high as the flag on the Fourth of July. If you’ll excuse an expression I use I’m in love, I’m in love, I’m in love, I’m in love, I’m in love… with a wonderful guy!” The music ended with a flare of trumpets.

Twilight looked up to Daniel, he had turned around to face her as he walked backwards, clapping and smiling. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but a familiar voice from the radio cut him off.

“Hellooo, Capital Wasteland, it’s meeeeeeee, Three-Dawg, how’s everybody doin’ today? Today’s forecast, cloudy with a chance of stepping on a land-mine, so look out below. Now for the real news.”

The only pause Three Dog gave was to take a breath, before continuing his broadcast, "It seems the Pale Horse of the Apocalypse prefers scotch if the reports coming in from Rivet City are anything to go by. Sketchy sources claim that about two weeks ago, a mysterious white-furred mutant by the name of Rarity arrived and shared a drink with someone at the Weatherly Hotel. Now, I’m only giving the rumors credit after seeing that Fluttershy girl right in front of my eyes fightin’ the good fight with our boys in power armor."

There was a brief pause and the sound of papers shuffling could be heard before Three Dog was back, "Seem’s that’s all I have for now kiddies, but listen up. If you see a mutant that walks on hooves like a brahmin, but has the figure of a gal out of your wildest Jet dream, think before you shoot. Now for some music."

“Into each life, some rain must fall~”

Daniel cut the radio off, his eyebrows raised, “Another one of your friends?”

Twilight could only nod in numb shock. Rarity was alive as well! Not only that, she had been spotted in a city, even had a drink with someone in a hotel. That’s definitely Rarity, Twilight thought, smiling in a warm haze of joy, always wanting to appear as upper-class as ever.

“We have to find her too, Daniel!” Twilight shouted in pure joy. “Where’s Rivet City?”

Twilight’s joyous mood deflated as Daniel shook his head, “I know where it’s at, but I’ve never been there. I’ve been trying and failing to get to the Galaxy News Radio station ever since I got out of the Vault.”

“Oh,” Twilight mumbled. Daniel turned back around and offered no retort, leaving Twilight in a dim haze of shock. Then Twilight felt her blood begin to boil. Rarity is so close, but so far away that it’s not even fair! At least I know she and Fluttershy are safe.

Twilight forced herself to end that line of thought with a little positivity. Attempting to distract herself from the lingering anger, disappointment, and fear at knowing where another one of her friends were, but not being able to reach them, Twilight focused on something else. Looking to the satchel she wore, Twilight remembered she hadn’t opened it yet. Part of her didn’t want to open it so she could keep herself from benefiting from the death she had caused.

A quick look at the sea of dry dirt and the ruined city ahead changed her mind. Well, now or never.

Pulling open the flap, Twilight carefully stuck her hand in while looking into the pouch. She didn’t know what a Raider might keep in their bag. Maybe broken glass? Used syringes? A severed head?

Twilight shuddered, cautiously taking out the first thing she saw. She at least had been right on the used syringe part. The proper procedure for dealing with used syringes would be storing them in a biohazard container. With no container available, Twilight discarded the used syringe onto the ground before returning to her search.

Her search rewarded her with two more syringes, but they were different. Where the first had been a grey metal syringe with a plunger, the other two were made of grey metal as well, but had a gauge on the top like a bicycle pump.

“What’s this?” Twilight asked, holding up one of the gauge-topped syringes. If she was reading it correctly, the needle was at full pressure. Or maybe the gauge was for how full it was? The lack of markings meant Twilight couldn’t tell.

Daniel turned around, “That is a stimpak. You want to keep as many as you can carry because you’ll probably need one sooner or later. Mends open wounds and speeds healing. Some fancy super-concoction of healing agents and antiseptics. Supposedly works on all blood types, too.”

Huh, so it’s like a potion you inject instead of drink. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Twilight thought, attempting to stick with her positive outlook while trying to push away the thoughts of mending her caved in head or a hole-

Stop thinking about it.

Replacing the stimpak, and continuing her rummaging. The only other items in the bag were a new magazine full of cartridges that would fit her rifle, and a folded piece of paper.

The paper itself caught her eye, and she removed it from the bag. The edges glowed with a faint violet hue that was almost invisible in the light of the sun.

Twilight couldn’t escape the feeling that it was somehow important, and despite belonging to a Raider, she couldn’t resist the urge to read it. Opening the folded page, Twilight skipped over the crude scribbles in the margins to read the words to herself, immediately displeased with the colorful language.

August 8th, 2077
I fell into a goddamn hole, got ejected from the fucking castle, fell into another damn hole, nearly got shot by a jumpy trooper after emerging from a secret passageway, took the wrong fucking turn and ended up trapped for an hour, and then I got ejected from the goddamn castle, AGAIN! In short, I hate this place. I'm stuck as a horse, writing shit down with my mouth, the castle above us is booby-trapped to hell, and everytime I eat a ration that has meat in it, I get a case of the runny shits. Which is all of them.
Fuck it, I'm growing a farm if Command is going to have us do a long-term recon of this place.
"Being turned into a horse is an acceptable side effect of infiltrating Communist territory". Bullshit, I'd like to see Colonel Evans trot his ass through here.
Trot... trot... I used trot in a sentence because I'm a horse.
Fuck this place, I hate it.

Twilight read over the note two more times. The writer plainly described encountering traps in a castle of sorts, and that he had been turned into a pony, but the Raider shouldn’t have been able to make it into the Castle of the Two Sisters through the broken mirror, if she was interpreting that right. But then again, the writer had mentioned a Colonel Evans, as if he were under his command. That hinted he was part of a military of sorts.

Thinking back to the cave, realization hit Twilight as she thought back to what they had found inside. Armor and things from this world. From what the writer described, and the few references that he was military, Twilight guessed the person was a soldier… but that would have been before the war.

Twilight frowned at the thought. That meant the writer was dead for almost two hundred years. Folding the note back along the creases, Twilight put it back in her satchel.

<>~<>~<>

The sun was just beginning to reach midday when Daniel checked behind him to see if Twilight still followed. Something was wrong with her, Daniel could tell. She hadn’t spoken or asked questions about the Wasteland, and every time he looked at her she would frown.

Daniel decided to not push the subject and apologize when she seemed less - Daniel checked behind himself again, Twilight catching him with a glare - irritated.

“What is it?” Twilight asked in a harsh snap, speaking to him for the first time since finding out another one of her friends was alive. Daniel stopped and faced her, a low wind carrying with it the overpowering stench of carrion to the concrete they stood upon.

Daniel’s father, James, had taught him to read expressions in order to tell if a patient was telling the truth or not. Twilight was presenting emotions like an open book with her brow still furrowed and lips curled into a semi-frown. She was angry. He didn’t need fancy skills to tell that.

Daniel fully accepted it. He deserved Twilight’s anger in full, maybe even more. It was his stupid idea in the first place to take Twilight to that Raider camp.

“Nothing,” he lied, then added truthfully. “The metro entrance is just down here.” He pointed to the worn steps descending into the concrete ground.

According to his Pip-Boy, they were standing outside the entrance to the Farragut West Metro Station. Daniel had been trying to get into this particular metro for the past two weeks, but kept getting chased off. Thankfully the Super Mutants and Raiders had left.

After crossing the river where a thin tract of land poked above the water, then looping back towards the Metro, Daniel had seen that the Muties had moved on. The Raiders that had been harassing him were dead in the nearby parking lot, but Twilight hadn’t noticed them, or just didn't care. With the danger gone, it saved them the long trip of taking Gob’s route.

Without giving so much as another word, Twilight walked down the stairs towards the entrance of the metro, her flat hooves echoing on the concrete. The scissor-joint gates were open just a crack, allowing Twilight to enter without hesitation. Daniel followed, his eyes catching a symbol of three cogs behind a sword with an arrow pointing to the metro entrance. Painted along with the arrow and symbol were the words: To GNR Outpost.

Well, seems like we’re on the right track.

Inside the air was already several degrees cooler without the light of day gracing his skin. Daniel could feel goosebumps starting to rise underneath his synthetic-leather jumpsuit. He suppressed the urge to shiver.

The Metro entrance was a dimly lit tunnel. Instinctively, Daniel held a button on his Pip-Boy. Within seconds a pale green light beamed out of his wrist-mounted screen, bathing the dirty beige brick walls in a sickly green glow. With light cutting through the darkness, the refuse lining the slate-grey floor became clearly visible. Tin cans, old soda bottles, even pieces of the ceiling.

But that was nothing in comparison to the skeletons. Their pale bones seemed even more ethereal as the ghostly green light washed over them, like a taut skin. Some clutched each other, some just lay on the floor, one even lay peacefully on a bench, hands under their skull like a bony pillow. While the positions were different, their similarities were glaring. They all wore clothing from before the war.

This is where they died when the world ended, Daniel thought in numb shock. In his two weeks out of the Vault, Daniel had never been in a metro. He reached for his pistol, the sheer number of skeletons putting him instantly on edge, This is nothing like stepping out of the Vault.

Twilight was by a locker. She seemed surprised, but quickly brushed it off as she stooped over, picking up a helmet.

“What are you doing!?” Daniel hissed in a whisper, as if the dead could hear him.

Twilight discarded the skull that was inside the helmet with little care, placing the headgear onto her head and strapping it into place. Her broken horn put the helmet at an odd backwards slant. “Well, it’s obvious he didn’t need it.”

Looting dead Raiders was one thing… but skeletons. Something in Daniel's gut always resented taking from the really old dead, but Twilight was right. Still, it took every ounce of Daniel’s self restraint and a little bit of tongue biting to keep from saying what was on his mind. Daniel didn’t want to escalate Twilight’s bitter mood.

With that conversation stopped just as dead as the skeletons around them, Daniel took the lead. Following the tunnel, a few sputtering lights crackled overhead as a low hum filled the air. Generators. The sound of even more out of sight machinery and the rattle of pipes gave the unnerving impression of descending into something very alive.

The unnerving feeling was made even worse as a radio off in the distance echoed with a distorted hiss of static, “I don’t want to set the world on fire.”

Turning to look behind him, Twilight had drawn her rifle. Every trace of anger that had etched her face since her rude awakening was replaced with wide-eyed worry. Daniel noticed her eyes kept darting around from place to place where his Pip-Boy light didn’t reach in the inky black darkness.

Rounding a bend in the tunnel, Daniel passed more refuse and an old ticket gate before stopping. Up ahead his light fell upon a mound of rubble blocking their way.

Twilight was right beside him. Her questioning stare seemed to analyse every piece of the caved-in tunnel. “Collapsed,” She muttered.

Daniel could feel his heart beat faster. He was so close to finding where his dad had went, “There has to be another way!”

Twilight pointed behind her.

It was a blue door marked Metro Staff Only. A thought struck Daniel, filling him with renewed hope, “Maybe we can find a maintenance tunnel into the metro. Like back in my vault. There were all these side tunnels for people to fix the wires and pipes.”

Twilight was smiling, Daniel noticed, her smile shining just as bright as his light, “Yes! Let’s hurry!”

Before he could stop Twilight, she had already crossed the short distance to the door. As soon as the door swung open, an angry, inhuman shriek pierced Daniel’s ears. A split second of panic passed before he caught sight of the snarling creature on top of Twilight.

The pink-skinned mole rat was no larger than a dog, but it was just as dangerous as a rabid mutt with it’s oversized, razor sharp teeth.

Twilight’s scream could be heard over Daniel’s frantic running as he kicked the thing off of Twilight. Leveling his pistol, Daniel put an entire magazine into the mole rat before stopping.

“WHAT WAS THAT THING?!” Twilight yelled. Her panic was evident as her shaking hand struggled to pull her up.

Daniel took hold of Twilight’s other arm and helped her up. His voice shook with adrenaline, his heart beating like a drum in his ears. “It was just a mole rat. You hurt?”

Twilight shook her head, her chest rapidly rising and falling as she panted, “No… thanks.”

Twilight took one deep breath, then slowly let it out. She seemed less frazzled after that, her voice sounding almost confident, “Let’s keep going.”

<>~<>~<>

Somehow the maintenance tunnel was even darker and gloomier than the metro entrance. There were no lights set up, and the sound of machinery kept the tunnel filled with a constant hum as steam hissed out of ancient pipes. The air was hot, and the steam added to the humidity, making the tunnel feel like a claustrophobic oven as Daniel struggled to take in every breath.

Each one felt as if a wet fist was gripping his lungs.

Still, it was better than fighting mole rats. At least a little steam didn’t send Twilight into a panic. They had encountered only two more in their descent into the maintenance tunnel, and both had been killed by Twilight. She looked as miserable as he felt. Every part of her exposed fur was damp with sweat and caked in grime. She tugged at her collar, sweat glistening on her hands in the light of Daniel’s Pip-Boy.

Daniel decided to break up the mood, tapping Twilight on the shoulder and smiling as he said, “Want to hear a joke?”

“Sure,” was Twilight’s clipped response.

Daniel grinned, thinking back to a joke Wadsworth had recently told him. “Two atoms are in a bar. One turns to the other and says, ‘I think I lost an electron,’ the other asks, ‘are you sure,’ to which the first one replies, ‘I’m positive.”

The light from Daniel’s Pip-Boy wasn’t super bright, but it provided enough illumination to clearly see Twilight’s straight-forward expression as they walked side-by-side. The corner of her lips twitched, and Twilight started biting her lower lip.

It was a small victory, Daniel knew he wasn’t back on Twilight's good side yet, but at least she seemed to think he was funny. No matter how hard she tried to look straight down the service tunnel, that faint twitch was a clear sign she was hiding a smile and a laugh.

Despite Twilight not showing how she felt, just having someone to travel with and crack jokes to was good enough for Daniel. Even if she was a bit grouchy at the moment.

Letting out a near-silent sigh, Daniel accepting fully once more that it was his fault Twilight was angry, but his smile never left his face. Daniel certainly wasn’t going to let the small victory go uncelebrated.

Twilight pointed ahead, “Daniel, I think I see a light ahead.”

Daniel checked forward. There was indeed a light at the end of the hall. A flickering orange light. Extending his arm straight across, blocking Twilight’s way as he stopped, Daniel whispered, “We need to move carefully. It looks like it may be a fire, and fires usually mean someone is around to light them. There’s no telling who's ahead. And even if they aren’t hostile, I doubt a non-human charging straight into view of everyone dressed as a Raider would send the right message.”

Twilight scrunched her face like she had some retort, but stopped, then nodded in agreement, “I admit that mole-rat… thing... surprised me because I got overexcited.” Twilight gave a sigh and tapped a finger to her helmet, “And yes, I need new clothes. I don’t want to look like a Raider any longer than I have to.”

“Well, for now, save any bottle caps you find,” Daniel said, dropping his arm from Twilight’s chest. “That’s the currency of the Wasteland.”

“Bottle caps, seriously? The entire economy is based upon stamped pieces of steel that top soda bottles?”

“In layman’s terms, yes, but we can talk about that later. As for right now…” Daniel pointed down the tunnel.

“Right,” Twilight agreed with a sheepish smile.

The large, open area of the metro was a mixture of dark shadows and blinding columns of light. Scanning the area, Daniel could easily see that parts of the ceiling had fallen in. Sunlight cascaded down from the gaps to bathe parts of the room in warmth and light. About the only place shadows found total refuge from the light was by the walls, and the subway cars that were still on their tracks, forever unmoving as they waited for passengers that would never come.

Twilight walked beside Daniel, both of them looking cautiously around for any sign of life, passing the half-barrel someone was using as a firepit.

“I-I think I see a body.” Twilight said in a fearful whisper, tapping Daniel on the shoulder before pointing towards a broken escalator. The steps went from the waiting area of the station to a concrete bridge above the tracks.

Moving a little closer towards the body, Daniel could tell even at a distance that it was the corpse of a man. He had died with his back to the railing of the escalator. Daniel guessed that he’d been dead for a while. The skin of the corpse was taut against his muscles and bones, looking like it had a similar texture to leather. There wasn’t even a smell coming off the corpse.

Daniel stopped and tilted his head, studying the details. The corpse looked mummified, and with the cartilage in his nose decomposed away, it almost looked like Gob.

Jerking at the realization of not seeing the obvious sooner, by the time he recovered Twilight was halfway to the escalator.

“Don’t trust the corpses!” Daniel yelled, drawing his pistol before firing a round into the corpse's head.

The feral ghoul died with a throaty, gurgling, cry of anger; the lone pistol shot echoing off the walls.

A shuffling came from his left. Turning, he saw another feral ghoul was crawling out from underneath a pile of rubble, a few more coming around from behind a subway car.

Five, six… eleven! Daniel had never encountered so many feral ghouls, his only experience being a rogue one walking on the surface.

“What are they!?” Twilight yelled in horror, her rifle shots sounded like a cannon inside the metro. The unlucky ghoul that happened to be in her line of fire collapsed as an arm was torn free from its semi-rotten body.

Daniel dodged left as the ghoul that had crawled from underneath the rubble lunged at him. Spinning on his heel, Daniel shot the ghoul three times in the back of the head.

Not waiting around to watch the ghoul he had just killed hit the ground, Daniel quickly turned back towards Twilight. She had already shot dead two more ghouls.

The click from her rifle echoed just as loud in the chaos as a rifle shot. She was out of ammo. Three more ghouls were coming at her.

Daniel watched, rooted in place by horror as the first ghoul reached Twilight. In a desperate fury she clubbed the ghoul with the butt of her rifle. Stumbling backwards, the ghoul was bowled over by the other two behind it, sending them all to the ground in a tangled heap. The one Twilight had hit was missing its jaw from the force of the impact.

A ghoul jumped on Daniel’s back, its rotten breath was hot as it snapped at his ear. Grabbing the squishy wrist of the ghoul, Daniel moved like he was crouching and shifted his weight, throwing the ghoul off of him to impact heavily with the floor. His pistol did the rest.

Knocked out of his stupor, Daniel set out in a full sprint to close the distance between him and Twilight. The three tripped ghouls had untangled themselves from each other and all seemed to have forgotten how to walk as they rushed towards Twilight on all fours.

With his pistol, Daniel made sure they didn’t get back up.

By a subway car was another pack of three that had been keeping their distance, like they were letting the others do the hunting. Cheated out of an easy meal, the three growled and yelled as they charged. Daniel gave a quick sidelong glance, Twilight was fumbling in her satchel for something and came out with another magazine of cartridges in her hand.

The three angry ghouls were already in spitting distance. The first collided with Daniel, knocking him over as they both tumbled to the ground, his pistol was trapped by the ghoul’s surprising weight. Grabbing the knife by his side, Daniel stabbed the ghoul through the neck. It stopped thrashing only after a second stab to the side of the head.

Trying to throw the dead weight off of him, he could only watch from the sidelines as Twilight tried to push away one ghoul with the side of her rifle. The last remaining ghoul began to circle around behind her, like a wolf in the stories from his vault. Twilight’s magazine of ammo lay near her hoof. She hadn’t managed to reload.

Daniel pushed and rolled, finally finding the right leverage to get the ghoul off of him.

“Behind you!” Daniel shouted.

With a mighty shove, Twilight threw the ghoul in front of her away, her wings spreading wide as she lept in the air. By the time the ghoul behind her reached where she was, he could only swipe uselessly at her hoof.

The two ghouls stood under her, grabbing at air as Twilight was just out of reach.

Daniel raised his pistol. Two muzzle flashes later and the fight was finished.

Resting his hands on his knees, Daniel doubled over for breath. The fight had taken so much out of him in such a short amount of time, it felt as if his legs were going to give out from under him.

Looking up at Twilight, Daniel watched in a daze of amazement as she gracefully landed, her hooves making a soft clop as she did. His amazement fizzled out when he saw her expression, the sheer, terrified panic in her eyes as she shook, gripping her rifle tightly in her hands.

Seeing Twilight so unnerved seemed to remind his body that he was as tense as a wire. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest loud enough for him to hear it. His hands shook, and every subtle movement he made took an extreme effort as the adrenalin wore off.

All that remained was the sound of the wind blowing through the holes in the ceiling. Daniel tensed himself even more, ready for anything else to jump out at them and interrupt the silence.

Nothing did. Twilight and he were the only two left alive in the metro. She was still shaking, muttering to herself as she turned in a small, slow circle, gazing at all the bodies. Her horrified look only seemed to grow.

How could he explain what had just happened? The answers painfully eluded him. Daniel clenched his fists tightly before sighing.

Twilight was facing away from him as he reached out for her. She jerked in fright when his hand touched her shoulder and she spun around to face him. Her look was hauntingly lost, a mix of confusion and frustration.

“WHAT THE TARTARUS WERE THOSE THINGS!?” Twilight yelled, her confusion now scathing anger.

Daniel withdrew his hand, still looking for some way to explain to Twilight what happened. “They-”

“SHUT UP!” Twilight yelled, her purple fur was almost red with anger as the emotions she had seemed to bottle up exploded out, “All I have done while travelling with you is kill or nearly get killed. I’m done following you!”

Twilight spread her wings again before flying towards the bridge above the tracks, and the metro entrance it led to.

Daniel had no words. Twilight had flew away so fast it took Daniel a second to realise what had happened. When he did, it felt as if his legs were going to give out.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight landed once again, panting from exertion. She needed to keep flying to a minimum, it burnt too many calories.

But at the moment, Twilight couldn’t care less, her blood was boiling. All Daniel had done was lead her from one bad situation to another. First it was the Raiders, then it was an underground train station full of zombies.

Stomping a hoof on the ground, Twilight gripped her rifle hard enough that her knuckles hurt. Everything hurt. Her broken horn throbbed, every muscle ached, and her stomach pained with hunger. Nothing was right anymore. It was all wrong, everything!

With a heavy sigh, Twilight half-walked half-stumbled towards the light at the end of the tunnel, passing more bodies. Gripping her rifle, Twilight readied to defend herself at the slightest hint of movement, but nothing stirred.

It seemed like all of them were dead. Keeping a watch on the corpses, Twilight jerked in horror when she noticed a few fresh bodies.

They wore black armor and looked like the ghouls had torn them apart. Meat and gore decorated the tunnel towards the exit. The closest one to her was missing chunks of his legs, revealing bone. With a shudder, Twilight looked away. She thought she had seen teeth marks on the visible bones.

Beep, beep, beep...

Twilight looked down to see a beeping metal disk by her hooves.

Chapter 7: Wounded

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“No-no-no!”

Daniel’s yell echoed through the abandoned subway as he raced up the unpowered escalator. He didn’t hear any screaming. That was a bad sign. He had recognized the unmistakable short and bassy crack of a fragmentation mine going off. It was a danger Daniel hadn’t thought to warn Twilight about. It was a danger he had only recently learned to appreciate himself in Minefield.

Twilight couldn’t be dead. She just couldn’t. Not after their argument. He had to mend fences with her.

Reaching the concrete balcony over the metro platform, Daniel sharply turned and bound down the corridor. At the end was the scissor gate that marked the exit of the metro. There he saw Twilight. She was… fine?

Slowing his frantic run, Daniel took a few breaths as he approached. Twilight had her back to him as she leaned against the wall with her right shoulder. Her right leg was slightly raised to keep her hoof off the ground, and she was hissing in pain.

So, she wasn’t okay. Hurt and alive was unbelievably better than the shredded chunks he had feared he would find.

“Twilight?” he called out.

His heart still thundered in his chest, but it was calming. Seeing Twilight was still upright was a balm to his frayed nerves.

“D-Daniel,” Twilight groaned in pain. She rolled against the wall so her back was against it. As she faced Daniel, his heart skipped a beat and the thunder of panic resumed.

“Fuck!” Daniel cursed. She wasn’t as fine as he had thought. He was by her in moments to access her condition.

A dozen bleeding holes were opened up on Twilight’s torso, arms, and legs. Even having helped his father in the doctor's office of the vault, the sight of the three inches of metal poking out of Twilight’s right knee made Daniel blanch.

Taking a deep breath to steel himself for another look at her, Daniel noticed her whole body trembled. She was holding her left wrist with her right hand, squeezing hard as she stared at something. It was her left pinky dangling by a tattered string of furred flesh.

“Help me,” Twilight whimpered. She was going pale under her fur already. Shock was setting in. Her breathing rate rapidly increased until Twilight was shallowly panting.

There were two things Daniel knew he could do right away. Reaching into one of his many pouches on his armored vault suit, Daniel extracted a syringe of med-X. It was a potent painkiller. He plunged the needle into her right thigh. Twilight’s full-body shaking and sharp breaths slowed a few seconds after.

Tossing the spent needle away, Daniel pulled out a stimpak and plunged the second syringe into Twilight’s thigh.

Daniel had never seen someone else use a stimpak this close to him outside of a firefight. With grisly curiosity he watched as most of the wounds expelled the fragments of metal buried into her flesh before slowly closing. All of them except the one lodged in her knee. That was a bad sign.

Twilight’s breathing had slowed enough for her to speak.

“W-what about my finger? Can stimpaks heal those?”

Daniel shook his head as he pulled out a roll of gauze. The stump that remained of her pinky scabbed over as it closed.

“Stimpaks don’t reattach severed limbs unless you stitch them back on first.” Daniel said. He withdrew his combat knife and cut the tattered strand of skin keeping the finger on. He rolled the severed finger up with some of the gauze before putting it in one of his pockets. The rest of the roll went to wrapping her leg.

“We need to get to the radio station,” Daniel said quickly. “We might be able to reattach it if they have supplies.”

“Why didn’t it fix my knee?” Twilight asked with a whimper. The white cloth being coiled around her leg was already soaking through.

“Same as the finger,” Daniel replied, forcing himself to remain calm and clinical. Like he was talking to a patient back in Vault 101 with his dad. “Stimpaks are amazing, but some injuries are too much for them. I think the shrapnel might have snagged bone.”

Twilight’s stomach nearly flipped at the mental image of what was going on inside the wound. Her head felt light and she tilted forward, nearly hitting the ground before Daniel caught her.

“Whoa, maybe the radio station has some heftier medical supplies than what I’m carrying. Come on,” Daniel said, throwing Twilight’s right arm over his shoulders so she could stay off her leg.

“You still want to travel with me?” Twilight asked. The feeling of faintness was subsiding.

“I’m not going to let you go out on your own with your leg like that, so I guess you’re stuck with me for a little longer.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight’s body felt numb. It wasn’t to the point she couldn’t feel anything. It was more like there was a fog coursing through her, making everything feel as if she were flying without using her wings. It kept the pain in her right knee down to a dull throb, yet she could still feel that her jeans were soaked through with blood. The warm and sticky sensation spread as the crimson ran down the inside of her pants. It soaked into her fur like a sponge. And like a sponge, once the fur was full, the blood ran until it found any dry spot it could.

Every errant move of her right leg aggravated the wound the stimpak had closed, staining the gauze red as it unsealed the hole in her leg. The jagged diamond of metal had punched through her knee as effortlessly as her horn through the skin of a tomato.

If she hadn't flown back at the last second…

Twilight forced the intrusive thought out of her mind as Daniel supported her meager weight. She was glad for the assistance. With how numb she felt, Twilight doubted she would be able to coordinate her wings together to fly. With her right arm over Daniel’s shoulders so she could keep her right leg bent, they hobbled their way past the bodies and through the scissor gate.

Warm afternoon sun beamed down at them both through an arched awning over the metro station. Every pane of glass the awning had once held had long since shattered. The remains covered the landing and concrete steps up to the surface in a layer of prismatic shards that gleamed in the sun.

The shards crunched under Daniel’s boots and Twilight’s hoof as the pair ascended the stairs step by step.

Four decorative yet rusting metal pillars greeted Twilight’s eyes. The metro resided in a courtyard flanked on three sides by buildings. The pillars dominated the center of the courtyard and were arranged evenly from one another into a square. Together, they held a horizontal metal hoop with almost spike-like decorations overhead. Metal poles similar to the spokes of a wagon wheel ran from the hoop to an aged brass globe in the center.

Past the rusting art piece was more destruction. Leading away from the pillars were two rows of burned and shriveled trees which led to a road. Beyond it were buildings three or more stories high. They stood half-crumbling in on themselves. Through a gap in the buildings past the road, Twilight could see an immense obelisk dominating the skyline. However between the obelisk and the metro was a three story building with bold letters proclaiming ‘GNR’. A slightly bent metal tower topped the building. It was a radio tower. They were so close. It only looked like it was a block away.

“It’s just ahead, looks like we might have a straight path,” Twilight said. She wrinkled her face and shook her head in an attempt to ward off the fog and refocus on the task at hand. It only succeeded in making her dizzy.

“Ugh,” Twilight bleched, “I know I should be grateful for the pain medicine, but it's really hard to think.”

“I’m glad you dislike it,” Daniel said as they limped underneath the giant brass globe. “Med-X is dangerously addictive because it makes you so numb. It makes it easy to forget the world and reach for it for every minor ache and pain.”

Becoming dependent was a grim thought Twilight didn’t want to entertain. Filing the dangers of Med-X away for later, Twilight looked ahead and her heart fell. The path she had thought was open was actually blocked by a building’s worth of rubble and debris past a large ruined foundation. Whatever the building had once been was now erased on an irrevocable level. All that was left of the building that wasn’t a heap blocking the street were a few chunks of floor over a basement largely exposed to the sky and part of a freestanding wall.

Twilight had seen ruins before, even back in Equestria. But at least those had been mostly recognizable as buildings. Here, inside this city, was destruction on a truly apocalyptic level. But to actually see the word brought to life was chilling. It was like looking at the result of every major disaster Twilight had read about or had been a part of combined into one bleak palette. What made it worse was that according to Daniel, scenes like this had been spread to every city as the closing chapter to a war now over two centuries ago.

“There has to be a way around,” Daniel said, snapping Twilight out of her depressing thoughts. As they approached the road he added, “Tell me if you spot anything.”

Twilight scanned her gaze over the rubble. Even as she spotted the winged-sword and three gear marking, her reaction to it felt floaty. Like her thoughts and actions were desynchronized.

“Already see something,” Twilight said. Her hand rose seconds after she had thought to point at what had been one corner of the collapsed building now cutting off their path. The gold painted marking included an arrow directing anyone seeking the GNR station to an alley between the ruins and a still standing brick building.

“I see it,” Daniel said as they moved onto the street.

It was slow going. Twilight felt like dead weight as she held onto Daniel. She cursed herself for storming off on him… again. Once at the school, then the metro. Both times had nearly cost her her life. Now she had to hang from him like a parasite, leeching his strength to supplement her own.

Twilight growled internally at herself. The foggy soup her brain had become was making it dangerously easy for sour thoughts to take a bitter hold. Closing her eyes, she took a calming breath.

While Twilight focused on meditating away her coming panic attack, a sound on the wind shattered her focus as her ears twitched.

“Stop… can you hear that?” Twilight asked as she looked around. Once they were stopped Twilight closed her eyes again to focus on listening. She didn’t have to wait long before the sound played out again. A staccato of sharp cracks echoing off the valleys of concrete and steel.

“Gunfire,” Daniel said grimly. “I’m no expert but it sounds close.”

The sound of Daniel drawing his gun caused Twilight to open her eyes once more. She looked down to see Daniel was holding the pistol by the barrel so the grip hovered close to Twilight’s left hand.

“You want me to take your gun?” Twilight asked, staring down at the diamond-patterned black grip

“I do,” Daniel said, nodding his head slowly. “Neither of us have enough arms to use your rifle, and I’m not going to risk dropping you by letting one of my hands focus on anything other than holding you. I don’t know how much I could hurt you if I were to drop you on your knee.”

Daniel’s voice was firm. A doctor giving their patient explicit orders. Twilight understood and grasped the gun. The grip was uncomfortable with only three fingers and a thumb.

“FOUND YOU!” a bass-filled voice screamed, accompanied by the boom of a rifle. The air around Twilight’s ears cracked as a bullet passed close enough the shockwave tossed her hair.

Despite the fogginess Twilight reacted quickly. She ripped the pistol in the direction she had heard her attacker.

It was not one, but two attackers. Both wore scrap metal armor much like raiders, but they only shared vague similarities to the drug-crazed humans. The most obvious difference was their size. They were nearly eight hooves tall and with a broadness to match their height.

The one with the offending rifle was at the top of a small concrete porch. It grunted in frustration as it tried to cycle the next round. Thankfully, its poorly maintained weapon was jammed. As it fumbled with the bolt of its rifle, the other equally massive creature charged with a length of board spiked with nails. It held the club over its head for a downward crashing swing despite being all the way across the street from them.

Twilight felt like a rabbit being run down by a timberwolf. The green giant closed in faster than anything that big should be able to move. It was as if a small tower of yellow-green flesh was running their way.

Twilight jerked the trigger as she swung her aim towards the charging one. Recoil and poor grip let the gun fly from her crippled hand. To add insult to injury, the frantic shot missed the mutant entirely and connected with a mailbox across the street.

They were going to die. Twilight felt her body tensing for the coming blow.

The blow never came as a sudden cacophony of bangs was accompanied by a hail of bullets. The giant gave a single cry of pain before it collapsed like a sack of dropped apples onto its face. Its partner was already falling limply over the rails of the concrete porch.

Blinking, Twilight’s breath came out in shaky exhales as her heart thundered in her ears. She stared at the three armored figures who had suddenly appeared, their weapons raised. They had arrived from the direction Daniel and Twilight had intended to go. Their armor was like the set Twilight had seen in the cave weeks ago, though these sets were polished and pristine. One of them, a blond woman carrying some sort of boxy rifle, was without a helmet.

“What the hell are you doing out here? This place is- oh,” the woman had started to shout, but cut herself off to calmly ask, “You’re looking for Fluttershy?”

For Twilight, hearing Fluttershy’s name was like having a whole barrel of ice water dumped on her. Everything came into crystal-clear focus.

“Yes, have you seen her!?” Twilight almost pulled away from Daniel in her excitement. Daniel gave a grunt as he adjusted himself, keeping her supported. Twilight had to force herself to be still, remembering Daniel’s warning about staying off her right leg.

“I have,” The blond woman said, “She’s up ahead with the rest of our group. We were out on a patrol of the area when the muties hit GNR hard. We circled back to give our brothers at the station some backup. My advice is wait until the fight is over. You’re injured.” The woman nodded to Twilight's still bleeding leg. The blood was dripping off Twilight’s hoof.

“I’m fine,” Twilight lied. Twilight knew the only reason she wasn’t screaming in pain from the metal spearing her leg was the too-potent painkiller she was currently on. “When it comes to my friends, I could be missing all my legs and arms and wings and I’d still find a way to reach them. Lead the way, uhm-”

“Sentinel Sarah Lyons of the Lyons’ Pride. We’re from the Brotherhood of Steel,” Sarah Lyons said.

So this was the group Fluttershy had joined. The name sounded like some sort of knightly order, and the Sentinel in front of her had the armor to match the expectation the word ‘knight’ put into Twilight’s mind. It somewhat set Twilight at ease, knowing people dressed in a carriage’s worth of metal were helping her friend.

“Ready?” Twilight asked Daniel. No matter what state she was in, Twilight was going to see Fluttershy.

As she turned her head his way, she saw he looked just as scared as she felt. It had been easy to ignore her companion’s reactions to things with her brain all fogged from the painkiller.

Of course he was scared. They had both almost died and narrowly avoided it yet again.

“Y-yeah,” Daniel shakily replied. “You think we can bend down and pick up my gun?”

“Oh, sorry,” Twilight apologized with a sheepish grin. She had already forgotten about the gun.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” one of the armored figures with Sarah said. Twilight looked up from the gun to face him, but he spoke to Sarah instead of her. The man wore a tan cloth and metal hood instead of a helmet. “We can’t waste time with civilians. The rest of our squad needs to push now or we risk even more muties slipping behind us.”

The third figure among their group gave several impatient nods of agreement. Twilight had no idea who the person was, as they were the only one wearing a full helmet.

“I know, Vargas, but these aren’t normal civilians. Look at his suit, that’s got to be the kid from the Vault that Three Dog keeps talking about.” She pointed an outstretched hand at Daniel, then pointed at Twilight. “And of course she’s one of Fluttershy’s friends. Three Dog will want to see them both,” Sarah Lyons countered. She bent down and picked up Daniel’s pistol, offering it to Twilight. “Try and keep up. We have medical supplies at the outpost.”

“We’ll try, Sentinel,” Daniel replied.

Sentinel Lyons turned and almost everyone followed. Twilight was glad Sentinel Lyons was considerate enough to move at a slow enough pace that she and Daniel could keep up. The helmeted member of their team gave a loud sigh and rushed ahead.

“Damn it, Reddin,” Sentinel Lyons cursed. “Don’t rush ahead!”

As Reddin fell back into formation, Twilight could sense there was some friction between the two. Sentinel Lyons was the commander if Twilight’s guess was correct, so Reddin’s attitude came off as impatient. Maybe even cocky. The suits the Brotherhood of Steel soldiers were wearing made each of them stand almost as tall and broad as one of the ‘muties’. Maybe Reddin felt invincible.

Twilight didn’t know how protective their riveted suits of metal armor were. She did know that the battery powered armor held internal machinery that assisted the armor, based on the testing she and the other girls had done in the cave. Hearing the hiss and clang of several sets walking at once was awe-inspiring.

With Reddin heeled, Sarah led their impromptu group into the alley the powered armor soldiers had emerged from. One building, a tall concrete monolith, had columns supporting the jettied-out upper floors. Due to the bottom floor being narrower than the upper ones, and how close the buildings were, the alley formed a short tunnel.

Rounding the first corner in the tunnel, Twilight saw a mattress down at the end of the next section of the corridor near another ninety-degree bend. A helmetless man in one of the large suits of powered armor was laying on the mattress being tended to by a second person in a near identical suit of powered armor. Although unlike the man the second had a helmet on. The man’s helmet was off so the second person could hold a rag against the man’s throat.

The rag was soaked through with blood, and even with her foggy brain, Twilight could tell the man was too pale for a normal human complexion. Twilight wondered if the medic knew their charge was already gone.

Past the dead man and the medic, a third armored figure was crouched at the very end of the corridor. They peeked around the bend and were lucky to be wearing a helmet as something sparked off the curved dome at high speed with a sharp ‘clang’.

With identical armor and helmets, Reddin, the medic, and the one who had just blocked a rifle shot with their face without flinching looked almost identical.

Sentinel Lyons jogged ahead of the group, her powered armor hissing as the mechanisms inside sped up their movement. She came to a stop behind the third armored figure.

“What’s the situation, Colvin?” Sentinel Lyons asked the one crouched at the corner.

The third figure, Colvin, didn’t answer, remaining crouched as they leaned far past the corner and performed several slow deliberate shots. Crimson beams lashed out from the boxy rifle with a crack of superheated air. The smell of ozone was thick enough in the air it reached Twilight and the others before they had even finished getting close.

Twilight wondered if the strange rifle may have been some sort of magic projector.

Colvin stopped firing and stood to face Sarah just as Twilight and the others caught up.

“All clear, Sentinel.” A male voice came out of the helmet speakers in a quick military cadence. “Five mutants released from their torment, with the rest keeping their heads down.”

“Good. The situation behind us is resolved. Only two were smart enough to flank us,” Sentinel Lyons reported. “We’ve dusted them and picked up some strays on the way.”

The figure crouched by the man on the mattress gave a heavy sigh. Their shoulders slumped and hands fell away from the bloody rag as they too stood up and faced Sentinel Lyons.

Twilight’s jaw nearly unhinged in shock as Fluttershy’s voice came through the speaker of the helmet.

“Initiate Jennings is… gone.” Fluttershy said after a moment of hesitation. The soul crushing despair in Fluttershy’s voice sent Twilight’s heart aching. It was as if someone had twisted a knife up through her guts and under the ribs. Fluttershy continued the report, “One of the greenies got lucky and found a gap. I stopped the bleeding as best as I could, but he faded before the stimpack closed the wound enough to save him.”

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. She couldn’t believe Fluttershy was under all of that metal. Something about seeing Fluttershy in the middle of a warzone felt wrong on an almost indescribably fundamental level. Fluttershy was no soldier. Yet here she was. It made some small sense at least that she was a medic.

“Twilight!?” Flutterhsy squeaked in an alarmed shout. “Oh no! It’s not safe here and you’re hurt already. We’ll get you to the station soon.”

Twilight’s confusion turned into bewilderment as Fluttershy sharply turned and willingly snatched up a rifle that had been leaning against the wall near the dead man. It was a type Twilight hadn’t seen before. It had a telescope mounted to the frame running parallel over the barrel.

As far as reunions went, Twilight had hoped for far better circumstances.

“Alright,” Sentinel Lyons called out. “With the mutants off our tail, it’s the usual drill. It’s just one more building until we reach the station. Reddin, you’re with Vargas. Fluttershy, I trust you’ll protect the civilians.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Fluttershy cried out. She yanked the slide back on the rifle to chamber a round in a quick movement that spoke of having familiarity with the weapon. “Now let’s show the big greenies that we’re the biggest meanies of the wasteland.”

“That’s the spirit!” Colvin cheered. “Come on, everyone, let’s give the muties hell!”

Sentinel Lyons, Reddin, Vargas, and Colvin all rounded the last corner of the tunnel Colvin had previously been firing down. Fluttershy was left standing by Twilight and Daniel.

“You joined the military?” Twilight blurted out. She was staring at Fluttershy as her mind began to swim again. The fog was rolling back through her brain as the idealized reunion with her friend shattered on meeting reality.

Fluttershy’s sigh was amplified as well as distorted by the helmet’s speaker. It made Fluttershy sound robotic and almost emotionless.

“I’ll explain later,” Fluttershy deflected. The sound of full auto rifle fire and the sharp cracks of the energy weapons warned Twilight that the ‘muties’ were no longer keeping their heads down. Fluttershy’s inclined head showed she had heard it too.

“Stay behind me,” Fluttershy quickly spoke as she approached the corner. “I mean it. Whatever happens, I’ll be your shield.”

Flutterhsy then turned the corner, stopped, and raised her scoped rifle. Daniel and Twilight had barely moved before a blast ripped out from Fluttershy’s gun. A spinning chunk of hot brass flicked Twilight in the nose.

“Ow,” Twilight hissed and rubbed her face with her arm to soothe the sting. By the time she looked to see where Fluttershy had been, her friend was already mid-way down the last section of tunnel. Daniel was half-pulling Twilight along to keep up.

Ahead the tunnel exited out onto a sidewalk. Twilight could see past the sidewalk was a road, another sidewalk, and finally a playground near an elementary school.

Twilight felt woefully under-armed and armored as the armor-clad soldiers who had gone ahead fought their way past rusting human carriages on the road and into the playground of the elementary school. Their armor pinged and sparked as the suits deflected shots coming at them from the second and third story of the elementary school building. Fluttershy lagged behind the other soldiers at a steady pace just below a jog. It was fast enough that she could keep up with her comrades, but slow enough that she could stay in front of Daniel and Twilight.

Nothing seemed to stop the progress of the heavily-armored soldiers. Three mutants charged out the double doors of the school with sledgehammers and spiked clubs. The mutants were quickly dealt with. Their deaths only served to give the soldiers an easier way into the building to continue their armored rampage through enemy ranks.

Twilight was beginning to understand why Reddin likely felt invincible and eager to rush into the fray. More than a few times, Twilight saw Fluttershy’s armor spark from deflecting a shot. It was quickly countered by Fluttershy raising her rifle again and firing.

Fluttershy wasn’t just a good shot. She was scarily accurate. Every pull of her trigger opened up two holes in the head of a mutant. One entrance, once exit. The exit was a bloody mess of pink mist and bone fragments spraying out in a cone that painted any surface behind the mutie.

Daniel and Twilight followed Fluttershy into the school. Blood and mutant bodies littered the ruined hallways. With the four other heavily armed Brotherhood of Steel soldiers having quickly outpaced them, there were no more enemies left for them to fight by the time they had caught up.

With the school cleared, it was less than a minute before Daniel and Twilight followed Fluttershy out into a large plaza in front of the massive GNR radio station. Other equally-armed and armored Brotherhood of Steel soldiers were shooting from balconies or from behind sandbag emplacements set up on the steps leading up to the front doors of the broadcast station.

The mutants in the plaza were too busy fighting the soldiers at the station to notice the elementary school firefight, and swiftly died with hot lead and ruby light striking their backsides.

“Hah! That’s right, muties, we won!” Reddin yelled, revealing she was a female, based on her voice. She broke off from their group and ran towards the body of a mutant close by two long and tall human carriages made for hauling lots of passengers in bench seats.

Reddin quickly ripped open the satchels on the mutant. She didn’t waste any time plundering the corpse for spoils.

Twilight gave a sigh of relief, seeing the fighting was done. Looking up to Fluttershy who stood nearby, Twilight watched Flutterhsy slowly pan her head from left to right like she was observing the battlefield their group had entered. Fluttershy stopped and stared at one armor clad soldier who had collapsed into a dried out fountain.

“You okay, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked as Daniel helped her hobble to Fluttershy’s side.

Before Fluttershy could give an answer, a resounding clang echoed through the plaza. Twilight’s ears splayed down as more clangs echoed out. Reddin had backed off the body and lifted her rifle towards the clangs coming from the large carriages.

“Twilight, get back inside the school,” Fluttershy ordered in a single breath.

Daniel backed away while cursing up a storm, Twilight forced to follow her support. There were more clangs and one of the carriages shifted slightly. Something big was on the other side of them, just out of view. The fur on the back of Twilight’s neck bristled.

Whatever was on the other side gave a guttural, almost draconic roar before the carriages exploded in small mushroom clouds. A large chunk of one passenger carriage slammed into Reddin. Her body was sent flying as the king of all mutants pushed through the flaming wreckage.

Twilight looked up… and up…

It had to be twenty or more hooves tall. An old boxcar door was tied to its left arm by chains, serving as a shield for the giant. Dozens of rotting severed heads hung from the ropes coiled around its massive torso. It was also armed. In its right hand it carried a length of railroad track. Welded to the end were dozens of thick chains, forming a flail the height of a small building.

The cry of one Brotherhood of Steel soldier described the creature perfectly.

“Behemoth!”

The plaza erupted into chaos as the surviving Brotherhood of Steel soldiers fired at the beast. It turned slightly and swept its weapon over the left-most balcony of the GNR station. The chains hit the soldiers who were merely pestering the creature with their bullets so hard their armor shattered like dry clay pots.

It didn’t stop at just shattering the armor. The multiple chains hit with enough force the blunt edges broke skin like extra wide knives, causing the soldiers to explode into a shower of gore.

A torso clad in crumpled metal sailed through the air while trailing a streamer of guts. The destroyed power armor hit the ground like a meteor with an almighty clang between Twilight and Fluttershy.

Twilight felt faint as the remains were no longer held in place by inertia and oozed out the cracks in the armor.

“Someone get to the fountain!” Sentinel Lyons’ voice sounded like it was being shouted underwater. A high pitch ring screamed in Twilight’s ears as her heart pumped blood faster than it had ever pumped before. Twilight hoped someone else had heard as Daniel finished backing both of them into the school.

Weakly, Twilight looked away from the torso to see if Fluttershy was okay.

Fluttershy had dropped her rifle and sprinted away. Twilight didn’t blame Fluttershy. The men on the balcony had been whipped into bloody chunks with a single swing. Running was only natural. If Twilight’s leg worked, she would be running too.

Twilight stared at Fluttershy as her friend defied all logic and stopped running away. Fluttershy had stopped at the fountain and was bent over. She was grabbing something just out of view near the dead soldier.

Moments later, Fluttershy wrenched a sled-like contraption with small gas cylinders mounted to it over her shoulder. It was already loaded with a vaguely egg-shaped metal projectile with stabilizing fins on the back. Two curved metal guide rails running the length of the device held the projectile in place near the rear of the weapon.

Time seemed to slow as Twilight watched Fluttershy carefully aim, then squeeze the trigger. The weapon let out a massive ‘shunk’ sound as a piston launched the projectile, filling the air with a shrill whistle that hauntingly overpowered the sound of combat. The screaming projectile moved slow enough that Twilight could follow its arc until it landed between the behemoth's feet.

First came the light. A retina-burning flash followed by the air-rippling shockwave. The concussive wave kicked up dust and debris. Brotherhood soldiers too close to the behemoth were knocked back, yet the behemoth fared much worse. Skin blistered, popped, then peeled away to reveal muscle, then bone as the pressure wave ripped through the air. Heat from the rising mushroom of fire charred the behemoth’s garland of severed heads, burned its stomach, and incinerated its flayed legs into dust.

Blinking the afterimage of the flash out of her eyes, Twilight stared at the dead behemoth collapsed onto the ground for several moments before her gaze drifted back to Fluttershy.

Letting out a broken laugh at the absurd sight of Fluttershy with a nuclear catapult, Twilight wondered—what had this world done to both of them?

Chapter 8: Angel

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Twilight’s mind filled with questions as she stared at Fluttershy. They piled up one after another until there was no more room, and her brain figuratively burst at the seams. A stream of half-formed words dribbled from Twilight’s mouth like a newborn foal.

Locked in a dumbfounded trance, Twilight only half-watched as Fluttershy hefted the spent weapon off her armor-clad shoulder like it weighed nothing. She gently returned that—thing—back to whom she had retrieved it from, lingering over their corpse only long enough to retrieve two metal tags on a length of beaded chain from them.

Fluttershy sharply turned Twilight’s direction, then approached. Her metal armor clanked and hissed the entire way until she stood in front of Daniel and Twilight who still hid inside the school.

“What happened, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked quickly, concern lacing her words.

“Landmine,” Twilight responded, looking up at the impassive helmet staring down at her, “I’m glad you’re safe, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy’s helmet tilted a few degrees to the side as Fluttershy cocked her head.

“Safe is questionable when it comes to the DC ruins. Which is why I want to know, why the fuck are you in raider gear?” Fluttershy asked. She gestured frustratedly up and down with her hands at the spiked thigh pads and leather jacket, “It’s as protective as wishful thinking and a great way to attract friendly fire.”

“It was all we could afford on a budget,” Daniel replied without hesitation.

Twilight blinked as she did a double take of what Fluttershy had said. It had to be the blood loss making her hear things. Fluttershy hadn’t cussed, did she?

“Does the Brotherhood have any qualified doctors?” Daniel asked, continuing the conversation. “I’m only a doctor’s assistant.”

“Yes and no,” Fluttershy said with a rough shrug that rattled her suit. “You’re from a vault so you may have more experience than many of our medics. Back home, I let professional veterinarians take care of anything serious with my animals.”

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. “Did you just curse?”

“Did I curse?” Fluttershy asked as her entire posture changed. She roughly turned on her heels to face Twilight with a sharp snap. She shoved an outstretched hand in the direction of the mutilated torso on the ground.

“That was Knight Henry. Was,” Fluttershy punctuated with a shake of her arm. The tags she had collected rattled like broken windchimes in her fingers. “You saw me in the alley with Jennings after the fact. You completely missed where I held his throat together just long enough for him to have enough time to realize he was a dead man. ‘Did I curse’? This isn’t Equestria, Twilight.”

Fluttershy peaked the microphone in her helmet with an exasperated sigh that sent Twilight’s ears folding against her head. Fluttershy, meanwhile, didn’t stop as an unfiltered stream of pent up anger escaped her.

“I’m sick, Twilight, so fucking sick of this diet of shit sandwiches.” She waved a hand at the body again, the metal tags swinging like a pendulum. They clinked against her gauntlet. “Half of the people I’ve trained with are dead. A quarter of them ended up buried in rubble, or muties stole the body. I’m a medic, so it’s my job to tell people that the chunk of dead person on the ground used to be somebody they liked more than this mutant.”

An exhale through clenched teeth escaped the helmet as Fluttershy choked back a sob. Twilight could see her friend was fighting a losing battle to keep from breaking down. Fluttershy had been through so much in so little time.

Twilight was watching one of her best, most kindest friends have a mental breakdown right in front of her.

Twilight limped forward, pulling Daniel with her. Closing the gap between Flutterhsy and them, Twilight wrapped her left arm around the cold suit of armor as much as she could. Daniel joined in the hug.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight apologized, pressing herself against the suit. The cold, sharp edges of the armor dug into her.

There was a short pause, as if Fluttershy was collecting herself or considering what to say next. She resolved to slump her shoulders with another, less explosive sigh.

“It’s okay,” Fluttershy said, her voice much calmer but still raw with trapped emotion. “We can deal with my shit later. Let’s get you inside and fixed up.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight stared down at the wooden plank her leg was belted to. According to Daniel it was necessary to keep the leg straight for what was coming. However, despite all the assurances and soothing words he offered, Twilight’s mouth felt dry.

No anesthetic meant she was going to have to be awake as the metal was pulled out her knee.

Even though Twilight was sitting up on a gurney adjusted to let her do so, she felt faint. The pounding drum of her heartbeat drowned out the radio sitting on an end table by the door.

A side room of the GNR station had been taken over for use by Brotherhood of Steel medics. Currently Twilight was the only one occupying one of the many gurneys in the room, though she hadn’t been the only patient. The three knights that Fluttershy had caught with the shockwave of the small nuclear bomb had already left.

Fluttershy had given them a half-bag of RadAway each while Daniel had immobilized her leg. Fluttershy had stepped out afterwards to go get the last few things Daniel needed.

Ten minutes had passed and she was still gone. Twilight wondered what Fluttershy was doing, but that came second to the building dread. Daniel’s request for ‘pliers and something for her to bite down on’ had sent the hairs on the back of her neck on-end.

Just thinking about it sent another wave of nausea and vertigo racing through Twilight. Her head bobbed a split second before she recovered consciousness.

“Still numb from med-x?” Daniel asked from her bedside. He adjusted the belts keeping Twilight’s leg strapped down so they were just tight enough to keep her leg restrained, but not act like a tourniquet

“Yes.” Twilight answered, out of breath from worry. “Are you sure there isn’t any way I can be asleep for this?”

“You’ll be fine,” Daniel said gently. “I’ve asked every wasteland doctor I’ve met so far for their insights and experiences. According to them, many people do just fine with med-x and alcohol for pain as they get bullets dug out of them.”

“Don’t stimpaks clear the wound, though?” Twilight asked. “Like with the shrapnel?”

Daniel nodded, paused, then held up a hand and shook it side to side.

“Ehhhh, ninety-nine percent of the time.” He then nodded to the spear of metal in her knee, “It’s that last percent that gets you.”

“Right, I’m sitting here with a prime example right under my nose,” Twilight said. All the medical talk thankfully pushed her mind to other topics, like, what exactly were stimpaks? They healed as powerfully as a healing spell or potion, but Daniel had scoffed before at the thought of magic. Yet Twilight had encountered things that made her think magic existed in this word.

Twilight grit her teeth. If only her horn worked. Things would be so much easier if she could just wave her horn and do something as simple as scan things.

“So, what exactly are the muties?” Twilight asked, quickly trying to think of something else once it drifted to her broken horn.

“Evil,” Fluttershy said from the doorway, catching both Daniel and Twilight’s look. “Sorry I took so long. Had to park my armor.”

Fluttershy rounded the opening door and Twilight’s mind exploded for a second time with questions. Without the bulky armor, Fluttershy moved silently. She gently closed the door behind her with a booted foot.

Fluttershy looked closer to a human than Twilight. In fact, it would be easier to say Fluttershy was a human with some pony traits rather than the other way around. Her pink mane had been buzzcut until nothing remained but short stubble atop her head. Her skin was caucasian, trending pale white from being sealed inside her armor. Her ears were yellow-furred and shaped like her old Equestrian self, but lower on her head to match where human ears went. Her wings were folded behind her, yellow feathers poking over the shoulders of the white tank-top she wore.

She was also wearing an olive green and black jumpsuit up to her waist. The arms were tied around her like a belt.

Fluttershy wasn’t smiling. More striking than seeing Fluttershy’s sullen scowl was the multitude of scars.

The skin on her face was pockmarked with small scars starting at the top of her head. Fluttershy’s high-and-tight manecut allowed Twilight to track the ring of evenly-spaced wounds that encircled her head just above her eyebrows. It looked like Fluttershy was wearing a crown.

The next scar Twilight saw disfigured the bridge of Fluttershy’s nose. Next, the center of her right cheek.

With growing horror Twilight’s gaze lingered at the next spiral of evenly spaced wounds encircling Fluttershy’s neck like a collar.

“I decided to go ahead and get this over with,” Fluttershy said. “You would have begged to see me out my armor eventually.”

Fluttershy took a breath.

“Muties tied me to a pole with barbed wire.”

The delivery dropped on Twilight like a falling anvil. Fluttershy said it so easily, like what happened to her was just another weekday in the wasteland. Twilight wished she could get off the bed to hug her friend again, now that she didn’t have her armor on.

Fluttershy had been put through even more than Twilight had ever imagined. The physical pain Fluttershy must have gone through. Not to mention all the stress she was under.

Barbed wire by itself was absolutely barbaric. But to be wrapped in it?

“I’m so sorry I broke the portal and sent us here,” Twilight said. If the wasteland had decided to treat Fluttershy, the kindest, most innocent pony Twilight knew, to an encounter with things that would wrap her in barbed wire, then what had happened to her other friends? Where were they now? Were they even alive?

A dozen imagined scenarios, all grisly scenes involving Twilight’s friends, sent a chill through her core.

She was broken from the dark thoughts by Fluttershy shaking her head.

“On one hoof, I want to be angry at you,” Fluttershy admitted just as casually as she had admitted to being tortured. “But I’ve had enough time to consider that if we hadn’t been sent here, I wouldn’t have broken free and flown into a Brotherhood patrol. And if I hadn’t given them directions back to the mutant camp, a lot more people would have died.”

“How’d you escape?” Daniel asked, shock clear in his voice.

“The rusted wire they wrapped me with snapped,” Fluttershy explained, handing Daniel the supplies she had fetched. “They tossed the pole onto some frames to make a rotisserie.”

Things were getting a bit too bleak. It was time to change the subject. Twilight forced a smile.

“Well now that we’re all inside and together, Fluttershy, this is Daniel. He’s my new friend,” Twilight introduced. “Daniel, this is Fluttershy. She’s one of my friends from back home. She worked with animals, and had even opened an entire animal sanctuary.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Daniel said with a pleasant smile. He extended a hand which Fluttershy shook.

“So now that we’ve all been introduced to one another,” Twilight said, widening her smile and attempting to sound as jolly as she could, “the sooner this is out my knee, the sooner I don’t have to dread what you’re going to do to get it out.”

Fluttershy shook her head, covering her mouth with a hand as she hid a smile and chuckled at the joke.

Seeing Fluttershy smiling again was like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy winter day.

“Let’s do this,” Fluttershy said, taking the sheet of leather from Daniel. She rolled it up before offering it to Twilight. “Get your tongue out of the way and bite this. Hard.”

Twilight took the leather. She didn’t question the source as she stuck the thick roll sideways in her mouth, like a bridle bit or a dog carrying a stick.

Fluttershy left Twilight’s view for a second and came back with a tourniquet. She wrapped it around Twilight’s thigh and cinched it closed above her wounded knee.

“Ready,” Fluttershy said to Daniel as she took hold of Twilight’s leg, applying pressure to keep her from thrashing the board around.

Daniel sidled up to Fluttershy. He used one hand to clamp the pliers onto the end of the metal shard in Twilight’s knee.

“Three,” He started, “Two—”

Twilight tensed. Closing her eyes she looked away, heart racing.

“One,” Daniel said.

Twilight felt a tug, then pain exploded through her knee as the bone shifted under her skin and fur. The four letter human curse word summed up the experience. A single, prolonged ‘fuuuuck’ escaped her clenched jaw as she clamped down hard onto the leather roll and screamed.

She gripped the mattress with both hands as her other leg kicked and thrashed. Her eyes flew open, but the haze of pain was too much to see through.

The mind-destroying pain lingered for several moments, then mercifully slackened. To Twilight’s surprise it dulled past what it had been, changing from a throb to a minor ache.

After a few shaky breaths Twilight looked to see Daniel holding the pliers and a bloody chunk of metal.

“Huh, that was easy…” Daniel said. “I might have been able to pull that out myself. Must have not snagged the bone too hard.”

Seeing the metal was out of her leg sent a tsunami of relief crashing over Twilight. It was too much. Twilight fainted into dreamless unconsciousness.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight slowly opened her eyes. She felt weak, but the pain in her knee was mostly gone. Only a lingering ache remained inside the joint itself.

She was still sitting up in the gurney. Twilight would have preferred to be lying down, but the gurney was two-hundred years old and likely didn’t adjust anymore.

The board and tourniquet were gone. A pillow had been placed behind her head and a bed sheet covered her from the neck-down. Her arms rested above the covers, allowing her to see that someone, probably Fluttershy, had dressed her in an olive green and black jumpsuit.

Twilight could feel there were wing-holes in the back. It must have been one of Fluttershy’s spares.

Twilight could also feel there was something encompassing her leg.

Throwing the sheet aside to take a look, Twilight stared at the black leather straps and metal wrapping her leg around the knee. It was just a medical brace.

Seeing that her knee was in a brace, Twilight checked on her left hand and sighed, seeing her pinky was back. A jagged ring of scar tissue devoid of fur encircled her finger below the knuckle.

A quick comparison with her right hand revealed her reattached pinky was slightly shorter.

“You’re lucky,” Fluttershy said nearby. Twilight looked up from her hands to see Fluttershy sitting in a chair near the door. She was reading a magazine titled ‘Future Weapons Today’.

“What?” Twilight asked, a little confused. The last remnants of the med-x fog were fading, but enough of it lingered in her system to make Twilight feel sluggish and stupid.

Fluttershy turned the page of the magazine, not looking Twilight’s way.

“Between Daniel and I, we were able to pull out all the fibers from your pant’s leg before rearranging the jigsaw puzzle of bone back into something resembling a kneecap. He also saved your finger.”

Twilight blinked. Something was on Fluttershy’s nerves. Twilight couldn’t place what it might be. Was Fluttershy mad at her? Twilight remembered Fluttershy’s breakdown in the plaza.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy closed the magazine. She lazily tossed it onto a nearby table before steepling her fingers.

She took a long, slow breath, leaning her head until her fingertips touched the space between her eyes. Her fingertips lingered there for several seconds before Fluttershy let out a loud sigh and looked up.

“He told me what happened. Was it true you lost your shit and ran off on him?”

Twilight’s ears stung from Fluttershy’s foul language, and the truth Fluttershy was saying with it.

“I may have overreacted a bit,” Twilight admitted, gaze dropping to the brace on her leg.

“Then I’ll say it again, you’re lucky,” Fluttershy said. While her words were level, there was an edge to them. “He risked his life to drag you here. He also told me you have a history of losing your shit with him. First was because he gave you a steak, the next was the schoolhouse, and then in the metro after the ghouls attacked you.”

Twilight nodded each time. She looked back up to her friend. Fluttershy’s cold fury turned Twilight’s blood into ice.

“Twilight, he’s trying to help,” Fluttershy said, standing slowly and approaching the bed. “You have to let go of thinking like an Equestrian. You’re lucky he’s not a three strike type of person, or you’d be dead, or worse. This world is fucked up, Twilight.”

Twilight winced. Hearing Fluttershy curse was just wrong. As wrong as her being a soldier.

“You’re doing a lot of swearing,” Twilight said, trying to deflect and change the subject. It was foalish, Twilight admitted to herself, but Fluttershy had a way of telling people off that could send anyone crying. Even a fully grown dragon. Being on the receiving end wasn’t a pleasant experience.

“You pick up a lot of bad habits when you try to prove you can fit in with soldiers that hate mutants,” Fluttershy said. “But I said we would deal with my shit later. You have your own issues to sort out. Issues that have nearly gotten you killed, more than once, if Daniel was telling the truth. Was he?”

“Yes,” Twilight admitted. “I’ve messed up nearly every day I’ve been with Daniel. Everything is just so scary and alien. It’s not the type of scary we can just laugh away like those trees in the Everfree Forest. What am I supposed to do?”

“Swallow your pride and admit you’re not as smart when it comes to this stuff and learn from people who are, even if their methods are a bit fucked,” Fluttershy said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “With as many adventures and lessons we’ve been through, you should know that sometimes you have to accept people don’t always teach lessons in a way you like.”

“Yes, but… isn’t it a little beyond fucked, as you put it, to throw me into the thick of it like he did? Daniel told you he took me to a raider nest, right?” Twilight asked with a shake of her head. The human curse word rolled too easily off the tongue.

“A cleared raider nest,” Fluttershy countered, then pointed at the door. “The real thick of it is going out and clearing it yourself and explaining to the nine year old girl you just rescued from a cage why her belly is swelling up.”

Twilight froze.

“W-what?” She sputtered

“Things are fucked up out there, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, reaching a hand down towards her friend. “Now, we can ruin our friendship playing ‘my day sucks more than yours’, or we can get you something to eat and clear our heads.”

Twilight took Fluttershy’s hand, gladly accepting her friend’s help. And her advice. She would work to patch things up with Daniel and learn from him.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight followed beside Fluttershy through the halls of the radio station. Walking was difficult. Every other step was a limp as the spring-assisted brace resisted her movement. The range of motion was limited, but it was the only thing allowing Twilight to safely walk while her knee healed. It would take some getting used to.

When Twilight had asked Fluttershy about how long she would need to wear the brace, Fluttershy responded with a shrug and what Daniel had relayed to her. Stimpaks threw traditional healing time and outpatient procedure out the window. It was why Twilight could walk after knee surgery without crutches.

It helped that the damage to her knee was less severe than Fluttershy had made it out to be. It was still bad, but Daniel had said to Fluttershy that bodies reacted to trauma differently. Twilight may need the brace for a month or two, or the rest of her life. Time would tell.

As they walked beside one another, Twilight decided to strike up a conversation.

“So I heard on the radio that Rarity was in someplace called Rivet City,” Twilight stated. She hoped the conversation would clear the air between her and Fluttershy.

“Right!” Fluttershy gasped. “With you being so injured, I completely forgot to say that Rarity is doing well for herself.” Fluttershy smiled. “She’s safe and sound. Looks more like you than me.”

“She does?” Twilight asked. Relief flooded through Twilight. If Rarity was safe, that meant one less friend was in danger.

“Yes. Maybe it has something to do with you both being unicorns? Either way, she’s helping a man named Bannon manage a clothing store. I flew there last week when I had some leave time.”

“Didn’t Three Dog only report about Rarity yesterday?” Twilight asked. The pair entered a room filled with several two and four person tables set with chairs. There was an old cafe booth shoved into the back corner next to a Nuka~Cola vending machine.

Only a few people were occupying the room. No one Twilight recognized. Most were sitting at the tables. The sole standing person was in one corner of the room using a shopping cart tilted on its side over a burn barrel as a grill. Familiar looking cuts of meat occupied the grill, and the smell wafting through the room made Twilight’s mouth water and stomach grumble despite her thoughts about eating brahmin meat again.

“Yes, but you see when Three Dog gets a rumor, it takes time to confirm it, then report it,” Fluttershy said, leading both of them towards the booth. “I think Applejack would appreciate his dedication to honesty.”

“Speaking of, does Three Dog have any other leads on the rest of our friends?” Twilight asked, hope growing in her as they sat down. Twilight was surprised to see Daniel was already sitting in the seat next to her. The high back of the booth seat had hidden him from view.

“I already asked. He doesn’t,” Fluttershy said, crushing that little seed of hope with a hammer. She nodded to Daniel and smiled, her expression conveying surprise at running into him by accident.

“Nothing is ever that simple, is it?” Twilight asked with a groan. She gave Daniel a small wave with a hand.

“Tell me about it,” Daniel said, digging out a bite of cram straight from the can with his fork. “Three Dog wants me to go get a dish for him from the Museum of Technology.”

“Why?” Twilight and Fluttershy asked in unison. Though Fluttershy sounded more worried whereas Twilight was just curious. Twilight glanced to Fluttershy with a raised brow.

“He knows where my dad went,” Daniel explained. He popped the next chunk of cram into his mouth and chewed with a scowl.

“That museum is in the Mall,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. “If you’re going, Twilight isn’t.”

“Excuse me but why?” Twilight asked, her brow still raised.

“We just fixed your leg,” Fluttershy said with a groan. “The Mall is more of a meat grinder than other places. I’ve never been, but it has a reputation for being hell’s basement. The place where Tartarus sends its prisoners.”

Fluttershy wildly gestured with her hands. “Fighting with the muties has turned into trench warfare. Several Brotherhood knights still have unrecovered remains there.”

“Alright, I get it,” Daniel said, waving his fork around with his next bite of cram on the end. “Very bad place, don’t bring anyone who’s injured. I’ll go by myself then, since I don’t have a choice. Three Dog knows where my dad went, and I need that information.”

“No,” Fluttershy said with a shake of her head. “I’m going to talk to Sarah after all of us get some food. I’ll see if I can help you. The Brotherhood wants Three Dog’s transmitter back up and running so I could spin it as some sort of special assignment for myself.”

“Sounds like a plan, so what will I do?” Twilight asked.

“You’re going to stay here and rest that leg and body,” Fluttershy said with a tisk. “Even with stimpaks being amazing, you’ve lost a lot of blood and are underweight. Your body needs calories to burn to recover properly.”

“Okay, just no meat, please,” Twilight pleaded.

“No,” Fluttershy said sternly. “You’re getting meat.”

“What?” Twilight asked, a bit louder than she had anticipated.

“We’re human enough to have their dietary needs, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, quickly switching to a soft, almost teacherly tone. It was a pleasant change from the scolding from earlier. “We’re omnivores while in this world. If you think I’ll judge you for eating meat, I won’t. Nature is brutal. Just don’t be wasteful, they gave their life to feed you.”

“Right,” Twilight said, “I should have guessed you wouldn’t judge for doing what’s natural as a human. But what about brahmin? They look like cows from back home.”

“They’re actually less intelligent than some of the other animals in this world,” Fluttershy said. She smiled a little. “I’ve had more coherent conversations with the cutie-pie mole rats than the brahmin. I tried to talk to a few, but it’s like trying to talk to two brick walls at once.”

Twilight could see Daniel’s raised brow out the corner of her vision. Seeing his confusion put a smile on Twilight’s face. Of course he wouldn’t know.

“She can talk to animals,” Twilight said to Daniel.

“Really?” Daniel asked. He glanced towards Fluttershy who simply nodded and slipped out of the booth.

“Yes, now I’d love to chat more, but first I’m going to get us some food,” she said. “And yes, Twilight, there will be veggies too, but I want you to eat everything. Daniel told me you’ve barely eaten since he’s met you, and it shows.”

“Yes, Mom,” Twilight joked.

“Good,” Fluttershy said with a grin. She turned and marched over to the man grilling with the fire barrel.

As Twilight watched Fluttershy order food, Twilight caught sight of something she had missed several times over.

On Fluttershy’s right upper arm, just below the shoulder, was a black tattoo.

A winged straight sword plunging point-down into a mutant skull until the tip emerged out its lower jaw. Above the sword was a halo of barbed wire hovering over the crossguard and hilt.

Encircling it all was a border of bold black words linked together by more barbed wire.

The Angel of Death and Mercy.

Chapter 9: Secrets

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The meal was amazing. After two weeks of little to no food, a large plate of diced and boiled vegetables was exactly what Twilight needed. Although, she saved the brahmin meat for last.

Fluttershy, thankfully, was smiling. It was a good look. A lot better than the scowls Twilight had seen Fluttershy wearing. She decided to save discussing the tattoo or what Fluttershy had been up to for the last two weeks for later. Twilight was content to enjoy the meal with her friends and give Fluttershy a break from everything that she had been dealing with.

Well, a meal with a friend and one ex-friend. Twilight knew that she still needed to patch things up with Daniel.

“What time is it?” Twilight asked, taking a bite of the green rutabaga-like root vegetables. They tasted like boiled socks. It was still preferable to meat in Twilight’s opinion.

“It’s close to nineteen-hundred,” Fluttershy replied as she cut apart the meat on her plate. “You were asleep for a while after we pulled the shrapnel out of your knee.”

Twilight raised a brow as Daniel checked his wrist mounted computer.

“I think she means seven P.M,” he offered.

Fluttershy’s strange way of reporting time and the fact she had gone for the meat first were both unsettling. It was like Fluttershy was a whole new person. She cussed and ate meat like a human. She shot to kill and hadn’t flinched away from using a shoulder-fired weapon of mass destruction. Part of Twilight’s reluctance to talk to her friend was the nagging thought of finding out just how much she had changed. It also brought to mind the grim thought of how much her other friends would be changed by their experiences.

Twilight wondered if she had changed too. She had been trapped alone, slowly dying of hunger and radiation poisoning.

“Are we allowed to sleep here?” Twilight asked, forcing herself away from the thoughts. It was easy to pack the thoughts away, deal with them later. Fluttershy was happy, Twilight wasn’t going to destroy that.

It helped that Twilight already felt tired, despite having slept for a bit after surgery. The sleep had not been long or restful.

“I hadn't thought about that, this is a Brotherhood outpost,” Fluttershy responded. Her smile flattened to a firm line. “There might not even be enough free beds here if you two were allowed to stay. So we’re going to have to come up with a new plan. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. I certainly won’t be leaving for that transmitter right now.”

“No, I agree,” Daniel said. He let out a heavy sigh as he tapped his fork onto the plate Fluttershy had provided him as well. “We all need some sleep. It’s been a long day for me as well. And while I’m desperate to find my father, I know I rushed things with Twilight, and that ended with her getting hurt. I’m already two weeks behind Dad. Another day won’t turn the trail any colder than it may already be.”

Daniel looked to Twilight, who had been looking his way while he spoke.

“I’d like to apologize about everything,” Daniel said slowly. He averted his eyes a little and rubbed the back of his neck with a hand. “I was too impatient and tried to give you a crash course on Wasteland life so I could drag you with me after my father.”

“It’s okay,” Twilight blurted out. She winced and picked at her plate with a fork, turning to sheepishly look away. She had to slow herself down, and took a moment to think about what to say back. “I was too impatient trying to look for my friends and wanted to rush ahead without properly learning the lessons you were trying to teach in your… unique way. Fluttershy finally broke it to me that I was being a very over-reactionary idiot to things.”

“It seems to me we all have something in common, then,” Fluttershy said, catching both of their attentions. “We’re all impatiently searching for our loved ones in this strange land. You said you were only two weeks behind your father, right, Daniel?”

“Yes,” Daniel replied with a nod.

“Twilight and I have been here about the same time,” Fluttershy said. She smiled softly. “It’s a good sign.”

“What makes you say that?” Both Twilight and Daniel asked in almost perfect unison.

“Because,” Fluttershy said, a grin worthy of Pinkie Pie spreading on her face. “You two found me, so that means your father and our other friends can still be found. I’m sure of it.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight felt… better. She agreed with Fluttershy and Daniel that it had been too long of a day and that everyone needed rest. She was thankful to see a more positive side of Fluttershy win out over the course of the meal. Daniel’s apology had also gone a long way to diffuse the tension she had with him.

After her meal and some small talk, Fluttershy had departed so she could talk to Sarah. She needed to discuss accompanying Daniel, as well as figure out everyone’s sleeping situation. It allowed Twilight to have a moment alone with Daniel and the two of them to start a second plate of food. Fluttershy hadn’t had to pay since the cook was thankful she had killed the behemoth.

Though the feeling wasn’t mutual among all the members present in the dining area. Twilight had overheard one or two mutters of ‘greedy muties’ coming from some of the other tables when Fluttershy ordered their second plates. Twilight ignored them, switching to the opposite side of the booth so she and Daniel could face each other without craning their necks.

An awkward silence had fallen over the pair since Fluttershy had left, the two of them more interested in eating. Twilight didn’t want to put it off any longer. Yes, he had apologized, and she had apologized, but without Fluttershy there to hold things together, it was time to see if the fence really was mended.

“I wanted to thank you again for helping me,” Twilight said, deciding to be the first to start the conversation. She stared down at her food. Her shoulders slumped as the reality of what had happened weighed down on her. “You saved my life. Not just back at Minefield, but also in the metro, even after I stormed off on you.”

“It’s nothing, really,” Daniel said with a shake of his head. “Like I said, I was impatient with you. I pushed you too hard, too fast. Flutterhsy and I talked while you were out, and I can’t deny it anymore that you two actually are from some impossibly peaceful magical other world.” He reached across the table and gave the top of Twilight’s hand a gentle, reassuring pat. “So I’ll be less extreme when teaching you from now on. Friends?”

“Friends,” Twilight said, smiling at Daniel and fully meaning it. Daniel could be a true friend after all. He was just different. From a different world with customs she had to get used to. “So when I heal up, you still want to travel with me?”

“Of course I do. Fluttershy was right when she said we have something in common. We can help each other find our families.” He chuckled and grinned. “Plus your singing voice is just too cute. I would miss it out on the road.”

The compliment sent Twilight’s heart fluttering. It was a little too early to assume the comment was him flirting, or if he was even interested in her, especially after everything, but Twilight could dream. Some of the young men and women in Canterlot High had been cute, so Twilight already knew she didn’t find humans unattractive.

“You know,” Twilight said, her heart racing as she racked her brain for a reply. She went with the first thing that came to mind and regretted it as soon as she started. She was already committed and couldn’t stop her mouth outrunning her brain. “With the two of us alone together in a cafe booth, it almost feels like a–”

“Excuse me,” a stern, young male voice interrupted. Twilight snapped her jaw shut and looked towards the speaker, her face crimson. She was glad for the interruption. Finishing up with ‘date’ would have killed her from embarrassment.

A Brotherhood of Steel soldier had reached their table without either of them noticing. He appeared to be about Daniel’s age, maybe a year or two older. He had light brown eyes and warm black hair that was maybe half an inch long. His sideburns were growing out to meet his short goatee, giving him the start of a small beard that matched his hair color. The jumpsuit he wore was similar to the one she and Fluttershy wore, though his was light orange and beige. Twilight didn’t know if there was any significance to the color difference.

“Can I help you?” Twilight carefully asked the man. There was a tension to his tone of voice and posture that Twilight didn’t like. His shoulders were squared and his jaw was set into an intense scowl that could have given Fluttershy’s earlier looks some competition.

“You’re Fluttershy’s friend, correct?” He asked, glowering down at her while ignoring Daniel’s existence entirely.

“Yes,” Twilight responded. She tried to brighten things up with a smile and held out her hand for a shake. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

“Initiate Danse,” he said, ignoring the offered hand. “May I have a word with you?”

“I, um… have time to chat. You can sit if you like, Daniel and I are friendly,” Twilight said, her smile faltering as she dropped her hand. She had been put on the back hoof with the handshake being snubbed.

Initiate Danse did not sit. He maintained his rigid posture while maintaining almost unblinking eye contact with Twilight.

“What are your goals?” he asked firmly.

“Excuse me?” Twilight responded. She had no idea who Initiate Danse thought he was, but Twilight already didn’t like him.

“I find it strange that a previously unknown and undocumented strain of mutants suddenly appear in multitude before infiltrating multiple cities and organizations. So far, one of your kind has established itself in Rivet City. Fluttershy has joined the Brotherhood despite its malformations. When you arrived you were dressed like a raider. I’m trying to parse how people so clearly mutated have managed to not be shot and what their goals may be.”

Initiate Danse had recited all of that with an even voice and almost within a single breath.

“It’s not from a lack of trying, on the Wasteland’s part,” Daniel said, butting into the conversation. Danse didn’t even glance his way.

“He’s right, the mayor of Megaton threatened to shoot me,” Twilight said as she shook her head. He had the gall to insinuate that she was part of some sort of nefarious plot. “And from what Fluttershy has implied, you people haven’t exactly rolled out the red carpet for her. I haven’t known the Brotherhood for long, but I share their dislike of super mutants because they murder as senselessly as raiders. But my friends and I aren’t like them, we’re just trying to fit in peacefully with you humans.”

Twilight hoped that was enough. She wasn’t going to try and explain how she was actually a four legged princess from another realm to the rude Brotherhood initiate. She finally recognized what the intensity radiating off Initiate Danse was. It was pure loathing.

“Despite its best efforts to fit in, your friend has nearly caused a second Outcast schism among the Brotherhood. Especially after becoming the lone survivor of a training mission.” Initiate Danse stated bluntly.

“What?” Twilight asked in shock. Fluttershy hadn’t mentioned that. Or had she? Was that mission the ‘her shit’ that Fluttershy had been putting off talking about?

Initiate Danse did not repeat himself, instead he elaborated further.

“Last week, your friend left to clear a nest of raiders with Paladin Rose, Knight Skald, and five other initiates. Despite it only being raiders, it and Paladin Rose were the only ones who made it back, with Paladin Rose missing an arm. Your friend was unharmed but clearly shaken up. It was debriefed, then given leave by the Elder himself. It flew away carrying a child the two had brought back with them. The official story was that the training squad was ambushed by a whole platoon of super mutants after clearing the raider nest. I doubt the story—there were no reports of mutants in those numbers in the area.”

“If Paladin Rose survived, then why did you say Fluttershy was the only survivor?” Twilight asked, trying to wrap her head around Initiate Danse’s story. Fluttershy had mentioned something about getting some leave time. Initiate Danse was giving context to too many details Fluttershy had given her for his story to be all lies.

“While Fluttershy was on leave, Paladin Rose began attacking brothers in the Citadel without warning or provocation. She was killed in her attempt to take Squire Maxson’s life, leaving Fluttershy as the only current living member of that team.”

“And you think we had something to do with it?” Twilight questioned.

“That is what I am trying to find out. The senior scribes and Elder Lyons have gone silent on the matter, choosing to sweep it under the rug. Many of us in the lower ranks want answers and justice for the fallen. I suspect Fluttershy’s rapid assignment to being taught by the Lyons’ Pride has as much to do with her own safety as it does her unnatural skill with a sniper rifle.”

“So why are you bringing this up with me? Is this supposed to be some sort of threat?” Twilight asked. She didn’t attempt to hide her hand grasping the knife she had used to cut apart her steak. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Daniel had a hand near his holster.

Initiate Danse did not break from his impassive wall-like composure.

“I am merely here to ask if you are part of the solution, or the problem,” he said before turning his back on them. He angled his head slightly to offer a final word over his shoulder as he walked away. “Although, if you are in the latter category, then yes, this is a threat.”

He left the room without another word. A few of the other Brotherhood members had been staring their way, but quickly went back to eating.

“Ugh!” Twilight snarled as she stabbed her steak, feeling the knife handle vibrate as the tip slammed into the plate beyond the meat. Her teeth ached from how hard she clenched them. “Who the hay does he think he is?”

“Someone with an entire tree up his ass,” Daniel offered, his tone as equally offended as Twilight. He crossed his arms and looked at his half-eaten meal with a scowl. “Well, now my appetite is ruined.”

“I agree, let’s find Fluttershy and get out of here. Even if we could rest here, I’m not sleeping within a mile of that… that… asshole.” Twilight cursed, her face atomic with pent up fury.

Human curse words were way too easy to use. They slipped out like water through a crack. If Twilight had to deal with people like Initiate Danse every day, she knew her dictionary of curses would be as long as Fluttershy’s.

<>~<>~<>

“So you can actually pull a wagon while flying?” Daniel asked, watching as Fluttershy roughly tossed her duffel bag into the simple wagon. The moonlight bathed the open plaza in a pale silver hue. Thankfully, all the bodies had already been cleared away.

“Yes, I can,” Fluttershy snipped. “But I can only fly at night without getting shot at.”

“Easy,” Daniel said as he stepped back. He raised both hands defensively. “I was just trying to make conversation. Get our minds off–”

“I’m fine when the threats and rudeness are directed at me,” Fluttershy said, turning on her heels to face him. “But Initiate Broomhandle went too far when he dragged you two into this.”

“Broomhandle?” Twilight asked, leaning against the wagon. It was a simple scrap metal box on two wheels. The arms sticking out the front were just wide enough for a single brahmin to fit between, making it only slightly bigger than one of Applejack’s apple carts.

“Initiate Danse,” Fluttershy seethed. “Everyone calls him broomhandle because that’s what’s shoved up his… gah, nevermind! Point is, he’s so by the books that the only reason he hasn’t joined the Outcasts is that they aren’t the ones the Elders back west sent here. He’s so intolerant of anyone who isn’t human that he calls non-feral ghouls freaks. They’re just poor innocent people, Twilight!”

“I know, Fluttershy,” Twilight said back calmly. “I’ve met a ghoul in Megaton. Gob seemed to be a nice guy.” Twilight shook her head and sighed. She had no idea why Fluttershy was still so angry. Sentinel Lyons verbally tearing Initiate Danse apart had provided a level of vicarious catharsis Twilight could barely put it into words. “Do you think we’ll have to worry about Danse, now that Sarah is reassigning him to Paladin Krieg?”

“Maybe not? I’ve never met Paladin Krieg,” Fluttershy said. Twilight watched in fascination as Fluttershy threaded a few lengths of rope around herself. She tied herself off in places that would not cut off circulation or be uncomfortable when pulling a load. Twilight wondered where Flutterhsy had learned how to make such an effective rope harness. With how well Fluttershy could tie the knots with only the moonlight, Twilight wondered if she could manage it blindfolded.

“But you’re right, it’s probably over,” Fluttershy said, her flared emotions cooling to an ember of what it had been. “I think I can get us to Rivet City in less than an hour. I just have to head south until we hit the river, then follow it southeast. There, we can get some supplies and sleep.”

“Yes, please,” Daniel said as he climbed into the wagon. He lay face down and curled up. Fluttershy had given him a warning about what to expect from a pegasus cart ride. Twilight was glad Fluttershy had done so, she recalled that Daniel was agoraphobic.

“Everyone ready?” Futtershy asked as she spread her wings. She gave them a few test flaps.

“Try not to make the flight too rough, please,” Daniel asked from the bed of the cart. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

Twilight took flight first and waited in a hover. An under-hour flight wouldn’t be too calorie intensive, especially now that she had a plate and a half of food digesting.

Fluttershy took flight a moment later, the sudden jerk of movement eliciting a gasp from Daniel.

Ascending alongside Fluttershy, Twilight couldn’t wait to see Rarity.

<>~<>~<>

The Capital Wasteland viewed from above was just as disheartening as from the ground, if not more so. The pale moonlight wrapped parts of the DC ruins in wan silver light. So much more was left a shadowy morass that the twisted rubble below looked like a roiling gray and black sea. The jagged and broken tips of buildings were like the crests of countless waves seen from above.

The fact that it was static reminded Twilight that it was concrete and steel below them instead of water. That, and the occasional points of light burning within the city, illuminating raider and super mutant camps, and the too few Brotherhood outposts.

Their group had flown high to avoid being easily seen from the ground. Even still, rather than heading directly south like Fluttershy had said, they were heading more southwest. It had quickly become clear that direct south was a death sentence. The giant obelisk lay in that direction, and it marked part of the area Flutterhsy kept referring to as the Mall. With how high up they were, they had an unobstructed view of the massive trenchworks occupied by the muties.

Fire barrels and muzzle flashes illuminated the constant ongoing firefight in that part of the city.

Another obstacle deterring them from heading south was the massive, faintly green glowing crater. It marked where the house and office of the president that had once helped run America had been before everything was blown up.

Thankfully, their height also allowed Twilight to see the moon reflecting off the river. By her best guess, the river was only about a mile and a half away. They were already passing over a large circular road.

There was more combat down below. Numerous raiders hunkered down behind sandbags as a large pack of feral ghouls swarmed them. Many of the ghouls died to landmines before reaching the sandbags the raiders had set up encircling a fountain.

“That’s Dupont Circle,” Fluttershy said next to her. She had been filling Twilight in on what landmarks she knew. The clear night and their height in the air allowed them to see miles in any direction. They could see the massive pentagon-shaped building the Brotherhood referred to as the Citadel, as well as numerous other monuments and buildings that would have been worthy of Canterlot back in their prime.

“As interesting as an air tour is…” Twilight started. She rubbed her face with a hand and decided to just come out with what was on her mind. “After we found you and Sarah, you said we would talk about what happened when we were away from the Brotherhood. We’re the only ones up here.”

“Not right now,” Fluttershy snapped sharply, “Rarity needs to know as well, I kept her in the dark and I don’t want to explain twice.”

“Okay, I won’t pry,” Twilight said. The questions of what exactly had happened burned in Twilight’s mind. Why had Fluttershy kept Rarity ‘in the dark’? Was Initiate Danse telling the truth about some sort of cover up, rather than inviting a reason to hate them?

Thankfully they were making good progress. It would take less than two minutes to reach the river. Twilight saw a small island with several statues of soldiers striking poses atop a large plinth. Twilight considered it would be best to get Fluttershy back on a topic she wanted to be on.

“Can you tell me about that landmark?” Twilight asked, pointing it out.

“That’s the Anchorage Memorial,” Fluttershy said. Twilight took it as a good sign that Fluttershy sounded less bitter.

“You two can see it from here?” Daniel asked. At some point during the flight he had summoned up the nerve to start looking around. “I haven’t seen a thing either of you pointed out since we started flying.”

“Well, I’m a full pegasus,” Fluttershy said, her tone smoothing out to a friendly, conversational tone. “Twilight is part pegasus. I think your eyesight is as good as mine, right?”

Twilight nodded.

“So you two have better eyesight than a human?” Daniel asked. “Can either of you tell me what else a pegasus has over a human? Besides flying, of course.”

“A lot of it centers around flying,” Twilight replied. She adopted a teacherly cadence. “I’m not as good as a true pegasus since I was born a unicorn, and alicorns trade a bit of everything to be all three main Equestrian races at once.”

“So as the only true pegasus here right now, I can tell you we know what direction magnetic north is in,” Flutershy explained. “My sense of balance is also better than Twilight’s, though not as good as Rainbow Dash’s. It helps us keep from being disoriented too much if we get caught in a wind gust. Oh, and to put it in words from a textbook… ‘complex thoughts and problem solving involving three dimensional environments is trivial to a pegasus’.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Twilight said with a nod.

“Twilight, you were the author of that textbook,” Fluttershy said with a dry chuckle.

“Oh… right, so I really couldn’t have said it better because I was the one who said it in the first place, meaning that was the level of skill I coul–”

“Twilight, you’re overexplaining,” Fluttershy cut her friend off with a giggle.

“So if I’m hearing this right,” Daniel said, “you’re a good shot because you can just think of a bullet as a very fast, very small pegasus needing to fly from point A to point B?”

“Somewhat, but I’ve also put in a lot of time at the range. And it doesn't even have to be a small pegasus I have to imagine,” Fluttershy said. “How fast has Rainbow Dash gone, again?”

“Mach one at the very least, since she can create sonic rainbooms,” Twilight replied.

The thump from the bed of the cart drew Twilight’s attention. Daniel had collapsed backwards with a dramatic groan.

“That’s it, I’m done! I can’t refute that might actually be true because I’m literally riding a flying wagon right now… you ponies hurt my brain.”

<>~<>~<>

Rivet City was… impressive. Even with the front third of the ship snapped off and canted at an angle in the water, the other two thirds of the beached ship were a sight to behold. The size and scale alone would have put any vessel back in Equestria to shame many times over.

“Interesting ship design,” Twilight observed as Fluttershy descended. They were heading for a landing near a two story metal tower. The tower sat close to the edge of the tall retaining wall on the bank of the river. A bridge extended from the ship to the tower, serving as the only access point Twilight could see. “Why does it have a flat deck with the wheelhouse shoved off to one side of the ship?”

“Humans can’t fly, so we used machines to do it,” Daniel said. He was staring down at the ship. They were close enough his human eyes could see it in the pale light of the moon. It helped that light poured out of several rusted-through holes in the thick metal plating. “It’s a ship designed to carry aircraft. Never thought I’d see one outside of a history book.”

“Oh, interesting,” Twilight said with a smile.

Less than a minute passed before the cart landed with a solid thump on its metal wheels. Daniel leapt from the cart as soon as it hit the ground. Falling to his knees, he dramatically kissed the dirty asphalt road they had used as a landing strip. He came back up spitting and hacking while wiping his mouth.

Twilight rolled her eyes at Daniel’s antics as she hovered over the ground for a few seconds. Slowly lowering herself down, she landed with most of her weight on her unbraced left leg. As she watched Fluttershy untie herself from the cart, Twilight thought of a question. “Why didn’t we land on the deck meant for aircraft? Seems perfect for us fliers.”

“The security chief of Rivet City gave me explicit instructions not to bypass the route everyone else has to take into the city… again,” Fluttershy replied. She reached into the cart and retrieved her duffel bag and sniper rifle.

Daniel jumped to his feet. “With the bridge as the only way on, I can see why they would be mad if something new they never thought of starts to bypass it.”

He gave his mouth one final wipe with his arm.

“I’m wondering why the bridge is still extended out this late at night,” Fluttershy said as she adjusted the straps of her bag and rifle on her shoulders. She headed towards the ramp.

Twilight didn’t comment as she followed behind.

“Are we just going to leave the cart?” Daniel asked, taking up the rear of the group.

“If I get permission to move it onto the ship, then I will,” Fluttershy said. She reached the ramp, and the group began to travel up the incline.

“–thank you for agreeing to meet with me this late at night, darlings.” Twilight’s ears perked at the sound of Rarity’s voice coming from the top of the tower.

“Jack and Gibbs say you offer jobs that pay,” a gruff male voice responded. “They vouched for you.”

Fluttershy slowed down her ascent, Twilight noticed and fought down her urge to rush ahead, following Fluttershy’s example. While it was wrong to snoop, it was also rude to interrupt a meeting. Twilight could wait.

“Yes, your friends have proved reliable in getting clothes and equipment for me,” Rarity responded, “But now I have a job that will require your skills from the Talon Company. I don’t have a name, but I have a sketch.”

Twilight heard the rustle of a large piece of thick paper.

“Guy looks like a real piece of work,” another man said.

“He is. Five thousand caps. I will put a thousand down upfront, and I want him alive. I won’t begin to describe what he did to that child.”

“Fuck,” Fluttershy muttered under her breath. In a sudden burst of movement, Fluttershy tore off in a sprint up the ramp.

Twilight spread her wings to fly after her. Daniel ran behind them. Reaching the top of the platform only a second behind Fluttershy, Twilight could see three men to their left. Two of the men were in concrete gray combat armor, a blue diamond painted the right breast. The third was in black armor with a white talon painted in the same spot as the diamonds.

Rarity stood to the right side of the tower, in front of the group of three men. She levitated a large sack in her magic. She was dressed in a flawless blue dress, her hooves painted blue to match, and a large bonnet with half the brim pulled up and pinned in place with a feather.

“Rarity, do NOT send them after him!” Fluttershy ordered. “They will die!”

“Good heavens, Fluttershy! Whatever is the matter with– is that Twilight!?” Rarity gasped, throwing a palm against her head like she was about to faint. “Oh my goodness, come here!”

Rarity gracefully rushed to embrace Twilight in a sudden and firm hug.

“Darling, you look just positively dreadful!” Rarity said, voice cracking with tears. “That horn and leg brace, oh my. The wounded wastelander chic is not your style. I simply must get you inside for some rest,” She broke from the hug and gestured to Twilight. “I also see you’re in one of those tacky Brotherhood jumpsuits, ugh, we will have to fix that post haste. Please tell me you haven’t joined their little organization? Fluttershy dear has run herself ragged, throwing herself into the character of a human soldier.”

“Whoa, easy Rarity, it’s good to see you too,” Twilight exclaimed, backpedaling a little as the barrage had nearly overloaded her senses, “but one thing at a time. Firstly, who are the men?”

“Haven’t you heard?” The leftmost man in gray combat armor asked with a chuckle. “We’re Belle’s Butchers.”

“Really?” Twilight asked as she planted her face firmly in her palm. Had Rarity gone crazy as well?

“They’re mercenaries, Darling, they do things for money. That dreadful name was their idea, and I’ve refused to pay them to change it,” Rarity explained, throwing her nose in the air with a scoff. It didn’t last as she opened the sack she had dropped on the ground and levitated out three clumps of bottle caps. She floated one clump over to each man. “I have teams scouring the ruins looking for you and the other girls, as well as sewing equipment. You arrived with the mercenaries still here, so I won’t cheat them out of the contract for finding you.”

“Is this woman for real?” The one in black armor asked, taking the handful of floating bottle caps.

“What did we tell you, Hoss? Gal pays an honest wage. Beats trying to jump trigger happy do-gooders in the Talon Company.”

“So you actually took a hint after the last two teams,” Daniel said under his breath.

“So what’s all this about you paying an insane amount for someone to be brought back alive?” Twilight asked. “It sounded like a raider.”

“Don’t answer that until the mercenaries leave,” Fluttershy said in a near growl. She stepped up to the one holding the paper Rarity had given him and snatched it from him. “You aren’t involved. Leave it that way.”

“Excuse me,” The mercenary said. “We’re perfectly capable of handling one scarfaced bozo.”

“That bozo is in possession of a weapon that can disintegrate you with one hit. His subordinate killed five Brotherhood initiates and a fully armored Knight to cover his escape with the weapon.” Fluttershy poked the man in the chest armor with a finger. The mercenary backed up, his butt hitting a metal railing at the top of the tower.

“What!?” Rarity gasped. “You never told me a thing. I had to get what that monster looked like from Melissa. Boys, that contract is called off. I can’t send you into that much danger in good conscience. To make it up to you, I’m offering an additional two hundred caps for safely finding my friends and directing them here. If they can’t make it, get them to write something down that I’d know was from them and bring it to me.”

“That’s acceptable,” The mercenary said, his bravado shaken. “Come on, Hoss, Gibbs, time to find her friends and make a bucket of caps.”

The mercenaries quickly left. Once they were gone, Twilight turned to Fluttershy, who had opened her duffle bag and pulled out an orange and tan plastic rectangle.

“Okay, we need some explanations. Now,” Twilight said, “You’ve been dodgy and way too… just… not yourself. What’s going on, Shy? We can help you.”

“If you want to help, start by listening to this.” She held the orange and tan rectangle out towards Daniel.

“A holotape?” Daniel asked, taking the plastic device.

“One of many. Black Knight Bernard and his master liked to talk.”

“I assume the tape covers who those are?” Twilight asked as Daniel inserted the tape into a slot of his pip-boy. The speaker cracked as it began to play.

“Field Scribe John Glenn’s report, November 11th, 2275. Knight Bernard discovered a strange book that I need advice on. Title is located on the spine, no author named. Cover is black in color. Leather is unusually pristine, almost looks like new. I know we’re supposed to preserve knowledge, but I think this is a book that should be burned. The spine calls this thing the Nalanakrivmir. Whatever language that is from, I do not know. What I do know is that the written contents within are in English and the drawings are of a highly unsettling nature. I’ve excluded it from the last shipment of books until I get a response back on what to do with it. I’d rather this not end up getting swiped by some junior scribe for a private collection. Some of the things in this book are absolutely depraved. Things like rape, torture, and human sacrifices to summon demons, raise the dead, that type of stuff. Awaiting response, Field Scribe Glenn, out.”

As the holotape ended with a beep, Fluttershy looked between Twilight, Rarity, and Daniel. The moon behind her casting her face in shadow.

“Scribe Glenn is a Brotherhood traitor who went missing in action nearly two years ago,” Fluttershy said in a low growl. “He escaped as we fought and killed Black Knight Bernard. The two are the only humans I’ve personally seen using magic so far… very dark magic.”

Chapter 10: Date

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“Dark magic?” Twilight asked. Her guts clenched and blood turned to ice at the thought of a dark magic-using raider. The trip to the Crystal Empire would have been a lot different if King Sombra had played by Wasteland rules.

“Y-yeah,” Fluttershy said, some of her old, meek self slipping to the surface as she looked down. “Sorry I didn’t mention it sooner. I’m under orders to share the information as little as possible, and only with who I believe can help me capture or kill Scribe Glenn.”

Fluttershy turned her attention to Daniel, who stared at her. The dim moonlight had him squint to try and see. Twilight had to remind herself that the only ones who could see in such low light were her and Fluttershy. Rarity, for some reason, hadn’t used any light spells for her meeting.

“I wasn’t lying to you about recovering the transmitter,” Fluttershy said. “Three Dog had the widest reaching radio station until his current relay was destroyed. He’s the best bet to warn people if Scribe Glenn becomes a larger threat than he already is.”

“I didn’t think you were lying, but that is a fair point,” Daniel said. “It helps me forgive him for using the information on my dad to get me to agree to do the job.”

“Darlings,” Rarity interrupted as she levitated the sack of caps to her hand. “Let’s hurry up and head inside. The super mutants have taken over Project Purity and the island that Rivet City’s bow points towards. I don’t want us out here any longer than necessary.”

She turned and proceeded towards the bridge connecting the ship and the tower, her hooves clinking against the metal floor.

That explained why there were no lights for the meeting with the mercenaries.

“Why were you meeting them out here in the first place?” Twilight asked, joining beside Rarity. She knew the moonlight was enough to illuminate her limp.

“Rivet City has a law against issuing bounties while aboard the ship,” Rarity replied. “It keeps them out of Wasteland drama.” Rarity turned her head slightly, her eyes following Twilight’s odd gait. “You’re limping. Are you okay?”

“I’m doing better, I’ll explain what happened later,” Twilight replied. She honestly was feeling better after the food. She hoped a few days of rest would do wonders... if the news about a dark magic user would allow her to rest easily, that is. “I came here to see you and take a few days out of the Wasteland to heal. Would you be able to loan us some gear? Daniel and Fluttershy have a job to do for Three Dog.”

“I’d be happy to help,” Rarity said with a chipper flair. “Especially for that charming radio stallion.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, continuing at her limping pace. Every step brought them closer to the ship, which grew even more imposing the more Twilight approached. The ancient metal hulk creaked and groaned as the warm late-summer wind buffeted its structure. The metal bridge, thankfully, remained sturdy despite the gusts.

Her vision snapped to an oval-shaped metal door with a wheel at its center instead of a handle. It swung open on rusted hinges, eliciting a painful metal-on-metal sound. Dim light spilled out from the room beyond the door, illuminating it enough to see that it was several inches thick. A black armored guard emerged, grunting with effort, as they pushed it open with one shoulder. It was a clear sign the door was also heavy.

A lit cigarette danced in the guard’s lips. The glow illuminated a female face with her hair hidden by a black helmet, the clear visor of the helmet was lifted to allow her to smoke. Using her back to push against the door, she closed it, then leaned against a nearby wall. Even from halfway across the bridge, Twilight smelled the foul smoke.

The door the female guard had exited had a plaque above it. ‘Marketplace’ it read, but above it was a second plaque reading the market was closed at night.

“Are you allowed in the market after hours?” Twilight asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” Rarity replied. “You all arrived at a bad time. Market curfew is at eight P.M. for everyone, so you just missed it.” She gave the guard a nod as they crossed the remainder of the bridge and made it onto the ship proper. Now that they were on board, Twilight could see a second, similar naval door near the market door.

“How’s it going… Juliana, right?” Rarity asked as she stopped near the smoking guard.

“It’s going,” Juliana replied, or at least Twilight assumed it was Juliana since she hadn’t corrected Rarity. “Chief Harkness is going to have some choice words for you since you're bringing so many people on board after dark.”

“Foul language won’t get him clean clothes.” Rarity tsked.

Juliana snorted out a laugh. She took a moment to take a long draw off her cigarette. The smoke cloud that followed was worse than a sleeping dragon. “Well, if I’m seeing this right, you have another miracle-working hornhead with you. If they can do at least half the things you’ve done for us, I say welcome aboard.” She burned down the last of her cigarette in another long pull, then dropped it to the ground before crushing it out under her boot.

“You perchance wouldn’t be willing to let me into the market after hours for some store management?” Rarity asked sweetly. She leaned close to the human, and Twilight saw Rarity bat her long eyelashes.

“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I actively work to get on Harkness’s bad side,” Juliana replied flatly, shaking her head. “You and your friends will just have to wait until morning.”

“Drat,” Rarity groaned, dramatically swooning backwards. “And here I thought I saw your name at the top of my list for weapon maintenance.”

Juliana rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in a shrug.

“I would say your accent is insufferable, your body language overly dramatic, and for you to go to hell, but,” she dropped the shrug and grinned, “I’m going to be nice and nicely say I’m still going to have to pass.”

“Oh you're no fun,” Rarity pouted. She turned towards the second door and opened it with her magic by turning the wheel. The plaque for the door advertised it as ‘stairwell’. Brighter light than what had spilled out of the marketplace cut into the darkness.

Rarity was the first to slip inside and Twilight followed. She was nearly blinded by the transition. Once her eyes adjusted, Twilight took a step back in surprise as the stairwell was leagues ahead of the exterior of the ship in terms of looks.

Most of the metal in the room was rust free and painted in warm colors, primarily soft orange. It helped reflect the light twinkling from tiny gemstones and glowing soda bottles hanging by strings from metal ceiling beams and pipes. Several white-painted bulkhead doors were arranged around the room, while a set of unpainted but rust-free metal stairs ran to the deck above and another to the deck below.

“Wow,” Twilight said, dazzled by the sudden shift in color and light. It was the most color she had seen in the Wasteland in weeks. It was a nice change from rusting metal and bare concrete. It helped alleviate some of the worry Fluttershy’s news had brought. “Did you do this? I figured this place would be all rust.”

“She did this?” Daniel asked in astonishment from the rear of the group.

“Most of it still is rusted, darling, and it wasn’t all me. The humans aboard this ship just needed a little motivation and we all began scrubbing away and painting. Honestly, most of my help was supplying the paint. That simple artist transmutation spell I learned from you works like a charm.” Rarity said. She leaned to look past Twilight. “Is that Daniel?”

“Huh?” Daniel asked from behind Fluttershy, both of whom had followed in behind Twilight and had been looking at the brightly colored walls and glittering gemstones. He stepped around Fluttershy, approaching Rarity and Twilight at the front of their group. “We were never introduced. How do you know my name?”

“My, my,” Rarity said, her voice smooth and sultry. “If James is anything to go by, you have a bright future ahead of you as a silver fox. The family resemblance is strong enough for me to see it, and I’m not used to human faces yet. The voice is a dead giveaway, though.”

“You know my dad!?” Daniel blurted out. He closed the distance between himself and Rarity at a speed Rainbow Dash would be proud of. His face suddenly blushed as he took a backstep. “Wait, what do you mean silver fox?”

“Oh, well I mean no offense, but your father is one handsome devil for a man that I assume is at least twenty years and some change older than me,” Rarity said with a polite bow.

“Nothing wrong with older men,” Fluttershy whispered off to the side.

Twilight suppressed a smirk. When it came to her relationship with Discord, ‘older men’ was an understatement.

“Right,” Daniel said quickly. “Is he still here? I’ve been looking for him for weeks!”

“Afraid not,” Rarity replied. “But I do know James. He was fascinated by my cleaning magic being able to purify a glass of water. He introduced me to Dr. Madison Li and asked both of us to join him for a project of his. If you want to speak with her she’s down in the laboratory… but back to James. We all talked for a while before he decided to go check out the old memorial and Project Purity, that project I mentioned is located there. He came back before the super mutants moved in, bought supplies from me, and said he was heading to Smith Casey’s Garage. He showed me where it was on his little arm terminal. I can show you.”

Daniel quickly stuck out his arm, dumbstruck. Rarity used her magic to spin the scroll wheels until she had the map centered on an area far to the east. Several days of travel by foot at the very least.

“Why is he walking all the way out there? He’s fifty-five! Gah!” Daniel said, aggressively facepalming. He impatiently turned towards Fluttershy, asking quickly, “Can we do Three Dog’s thing tonight? Maybe we can slip into the museum under the cover of darkness?”

Fluttershy winced back and bit her lip. She held the expression for several seconds as she shifted from foot to foot before taking a deep breath. She exhaled and snapped to rigidity.

“No,” Fluttershy said. She took another breath and puffed out her chest. Her military voice was back, curses and all. “We are fucked if we dive into the Mall right now with no armor or medicine.” Fluttershy let out a snort as she visibly forced her jaw shut to bite back words. She instead sighed and placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder, before continuing more softly. “Listen, I know you want to find your father and help with Three Dog’s transmitter, but you won’t be able to hug your father again if we’re six feet deep under a tombstone… I also haven’t slept well since the incident, and Twilight is out of commission.”

Daniel shied back, jaw set as he tensed up, fists balled. Twilight could see a multitude of emotions playing out on his face. She knew he needed a little more reasoning to stay or he would go charging off himself. She gave a cough to grab everyone’s attention.

“As the most recent expert on running off without a plan, I say we all need rest.”

Daniel let out a groaning sigh. His shoulders slumped in defeat as the tension drained from him.

“Fine,” he said with a deflated huff. The wind had certainly been taken out of his sails. He bounced back with a forced smile and a joking tone. “If you haven’t learned yet, humans are massive hypocrites.”

“Humans are certainly alien to us,” Rarity cooed. “Anyways, your rooms are on me. My treat.”

“Any rooms with bunk beds?” Fluttershy asked. “If Daniel and I are leaving in the morning, we might as well wake each other up, and it’ll be cheaper on you.”

“Darlings, it’s fine,” Rarity replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I have my own business. I have the caps to spare for separate rooms.”

“Your own business?” Fluttershy asked. “I thought you helped Bannon.”

“I was, but I made enough connections and my magic proved useful enough to allow me to branch out from working with him,” Rarity replied, then jerked with an excited gasp. “Oh, idea! I know you all are tired, but it’s still very early in the night. Maybe we can get some drinks, catch up with each other, does that sound good?”

Twilight nodded. The others did as well.

<>~<>~<>

The journey to the Weatherly Hotel had taken them up a deck and through several narrow corridors. The windowless interior and samey hallways would have been a confusing mess were it not for multiple plaques with names and arrows guiding the way liberally posted around the halls.

Their odd ensemble group had received a few curious looks from the humans that they had passed, but with Rarity taking the lead there were no issues. Twilight had even seen several happily wave at her and comment that it was nice to have another miracle worker on the ship. It was a far cry from the coldness of the Brotherhood.

Twilight hoped Fluttershy would consider leaving the Brotherhood once the business with the dark mage was over with. The lingering thought of King Sombra the raider still dampened Twilight’s mood. Reality had come crashing down onto a second reunion with a lost friend.

Once they reached the lobby of the Weatherly Hotel, Rarity rented everyone else individual rooms. Next, she generously bought everyone food and drinks. Twilight had squealed with joy when the menu offered fresh carrots, apples, and potatoes, all made possible by Rivet City’s hydroponics bay set up in one of the ship’s old aircraft hangars.

The dining area they all entered was a small room next to the main check-in office. They were the only ones in the room, all of them occupying a single corner booth far from the entrance door. It would give them even more privacy if anyone were to enter. Twilight sat beside Rarity, with Daniel and Fluttershy across from them.

Fluttershy had declined alcohol and asked for a Nuka~Cola and a plate of carrots. Rarity had bought the rest of them glasses of some drink called scotch, which apparently Daniel’s father, James, was fond of. It was a hefty liquor, and even though she was eating, Twilight already felt buzzed after half a glass.

Seated next to Rarity, Twilight realized one thing. Rarity was the only one of them who was clean. Daniel, Fluttershy, and herself had all accumulated a layer of grime. Rarity’s cleaning magic had pushed back the dirty Wasteland and restored a little clean civilization. Twilight nearly felt shameful for walking around, smelling of sweat and old blood. From what Twilight could tell, clean water was too precious to waste on a bath. Rarity being able to whisk grime away with her horn was just as the guard had said, miracle work. No wonder people were so friendly.

“Hey, Rarity,” Twilight said, sipping on her glass of scotch. It wasn’t bad. Not something she would drink every day, but since it was a social gathering it was fine. It helped ease the tension after Fluttershy’s bad news, and had opened the way for everyone to make small talk before Twilight’s epiphany. “Do you clean everyone here?”

“Those who can’t afford a shower,” Rarity replied. “The ship has a working water purifier, but showers cost a lot of caps. I do charge, but it’s a steal compared to showering. The only caveat for a full cleaning is that they have to be okay with being naked around me, otherwise the grime under their clothes will be concealed and unable to be fully begoned by my magic. To make it up to them, I don’t charge to clean their clothes inside and out. Some of the richer residents have started to come to me, even though they can afford showers and privacy, just because I offer such a discount.”

“Well, when I get a bath from you, nudity won’t be a problem for me since we’ve seen each other naked,” Twilight said, her speech slurring already. She played back what she had just said and shook her head. “That sounded wrong… changing subjects. Do you remember much of what happened during the transition here? I got hit in the face, so I didn’t see the whole process. Just woke up in an old house with skeletons in it, and my nose and horn were broken.”

“Oh it was horrible,” Rarity cried, bringing a hand up to her cheek. “I heard that mirror shatter and before I knew it, we were all being sucked in so fast. I saw that metal locker hit you in the face so hard it broke your horn and sent you spinning towards the edge of the stream of light we were sucked through. I tried to grab you, but your saddlebags weren’t buckled tightly and they slipped free. I’m sorry I didn’t focus on you, but we were spinning and twisting so much I didn’t want to disjoint something by grabbing a part of you that could be easily damaged. I don’t know why I didn’t just try and magically grab all of you.”

“I understand,” Twilight replied, smiling warmly at her friend who she knew honestly had tried to save her. “Did you manage to keep hold of my saddlebags?”

“Yes and no. When I hugged them close to me they transformed around me into one of those dapper little vault suits, complete with a belt covered with pouches. Inside the largest pouch, I found that the little science gizmos and gadgets had turned into one of those arm terminals like James and Daniel wear. I have the suit and terminal in my room. One-pieces are not to my taste, and I didn’t put that dreadful bracelet on, so it’s nice and fresh for you.”

“Thanks for saving it, Rarity,” Twilight said. She cradled her chin in the palm of her hand as she thought. “So if the saddlebags turned into clothes, that means everypony else was naked when we arrived, right?”

“I think so,” Fluttershy said. “Out of us, only AJ and Rarity wear accessories. I arrived naked, too, though I think it saved my life. The super mutants I walked up to to ask for help and directions saw my wings and ears and said something about me not being a human. Although it didn’t stop one from hitting me in the side of the head with a board.” Flutterhsy shook her head and sighed, “Thankfully, it wasn’t one with nails in it. I woke up later, and you know the rest of the story.”

“So you managed to approach super mutants?” Daniel asked curiously. He had nearly drained all the scotch in his glass already, and his face was flushed red with a buzz. “I’m surprised, but I guess it still ended rather poorly. Sorry about that. So if I can ask, what’s the story behind your tattoo? I noticed it earlier.”

“Thought it’d look cool,” Fluttershy replied with a chuckle, shaking her head and smiling. “Fit the character I was playing.”

“What do you mean, like a split personality?” Daniel asked.

Twilight wanted to thump Daniel in the head for asking insensitive questions, but she was curious as well. It seemed so out of place for Fluttershy, even with her acting abilities.

“No-no-no, nothing like that,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head from side-to-side as well as a hand. “If I set my mind to it, I can throw myself into a role, almost become it in a way. Some ponies call it method acting. I once played three or four different characters at the same time while running one of Rarity’s boutiques in the past.”

“Yes,” Rarity replied. “And even though the drama those characters created caused some problems, the acting itself was fantastic.”

“Fluttershy,” Twilight asked after she swallowed an apple slice. “Did this character really need to cuss so much?”

“Well, it was a spur of the moment thing to fall into the character, and I had a blitz of reference material,” Fluttershy said. “You’d hear a lot of swearing from me if I told the story, though.”

“I’ve already heard you curse. How bad can it be?” Twilight asked.

Rarity held the crook of her elbow to her face, poorly disguising a snort of laughter as a sneeze.

“Oh, you have no idea the creativity of a pissed off range instructor,” Fluttershy said with a grin as she rolled her eyes. It was a look Twilight recognized from Rainbow Dash. This was going to be a tale. “You see, firearms don’t exist in Equestria… so neither does firearm safety.”

Fluttershy stopped and looked around the room, Twilight looked as well and saw that their group were still the only occupants. Fluttershy’s posture went rigid as her voice took on that familiar military cadence.

“Initiate Fluttershy! You have approximately two seconds to point that fucking rifle back down range and unfuck yourself! You will treat every goddamn weapon as if it were loaded! Do you hear me, Initiate Butterflies!? Fuck up and flag a fellow initiate again and I will shove my power armor’s boot so far up your ass you will be spitting teeth! Now drop and give me fifty!”

“Sweet Celestia, Fluttershy!” Twilight blurted out, her ears stinging from the sudden barrage of high-volume cursing. “What did you do!? What in the hay is flagging?”

“My first time shooting a rifle—which was my second day here—once I was done with some practice shots, I cradled the rifle in a way that it ended up pointing at the initiate beside me on range,” Fluttershy explained. “Pointing a rifle at someone like that is called flagging, and is a big no-no. I was so scared of Paladin Gunny right then, I did the only thing I could think to do and started to act like the Wonderbolts from back home and the other soldiers around me. All salutes and ‘sir yes sir’. After that incident, I studied hard and put in as much time on the range as I was allowed. I wanted to be someone strong enough to take on this scary world. Eventually, I didn’t have to act because I really became a part of the Brotherhood because I believe in their goals of defending the people of the Wasteland. There are some really selfless and noble people in the Brotherhood, like Elder Lyons, who I look up to. They would gladly throw themselves into certain death if it meant saving a single life. It’s one type of kindness I’ve found in this destroyed world.”

Noble, self-sacrificing defenders. True knights in shining armor. Twilight could see how people who put themselves in harm's way without asking for a reward would appeal to Fluttershy. Fluttershy had done just that in the alley earlier. Twilight could easily recall the ping and clank of bullets hitting her armored friend instead of Daniel or her.

“So, Twilight?” Rarity asked, catching Twilight’s attention. “What have you been up to? You said you would tell me about your knee.”

“I walked right up to a landmine,” Twilight said, her shoulders slumping. She stared down at her half-finished plate. “Out of all of you, I’m probably the most useless right now with my body and magic crippled. I’ve nearly dropped every weapon I’ve fired and have nearly ended up dead many times over. I need more training if I’m going to go looking for our other friends.”

“Once Daniel and I get back from getting the transmitter, I’ll teach you how to shoot,” Fluttershy said with a firm nod. “We just need to find a weapon you're most comfortable with. That rifle you have should do for a start.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Twilight said.

“Well,” Fluttershy said, scooting out of the booth, “I hate to leave early but I need to do some weapon maintenance before I sleep. I want to make damn sure I don’t have any jams if I’m heading into the Mall.”

“I’ll go help clean your rifle,” Rarity said, sliding out of the booth after her. “I have cleaning spells and some repair magic that will make it just like new. I might also have a soap spell for that mouth of yours,” Rarity scoffed. She gave Twilight a passing glance back and a wave. “Toodaloo, I shall see you and Daniel later.”

Twilight gave them both a wave goodbye.

<>~<>~<>

Daniel watched Fluttershy and Rarity leave. Of all the people in the Wasteland he had met, the best people were completely alien to this world.

“You have amazing friends,” Daniel said after Fluttershy and Rarity had gone. He smiled softly as he met Twilight’s gaze. Hearing her share stories with loved ones had reminded him of home. After a second he looked up. “I’m honestly a little jealous.”

The scotch had helped loosen his lips. Made him feel more at ease despite the mini-nuke of a bombshell Rarity had dropped by knowing, and apparently working with, his father.

Twilight’s ears swiveled his way.

“Jealous?” Twilight asked, tilting her head. She swayed a bit from the alcohol. “Why?”

“I… never really had friends back home,” Daniel said. His eyes glazed over as nostalgia and trauma played off each other. “Dad and I aren’t from the Vault originally. The Overseer tried to keep that fact quiet, but when a new doctor and his baby suddenly appear in a very small bunker complex, people talk. No matter the Overseer’s attempts, rumors floated around. The other kids stayed a good six feet from me at all times because they thought they might catch ‘the outside’ from me.” Daniel finished with a sad, dry chuckle.

“That sounds terribly lonely,” Twilight said. “Why did the Overseer want to keep your origins a secret?”

“I don’t know,” Daniel replied and shrugged. He honestly didn’t know. He didn’t have much time to ask why Vault security had killed Jonas, or had been aiming to kill him as well. “Maybe he wanted to protect the Vault from, well, everything the Wasteland is. A dangerous, irradiated hellhole. Although, it could just be that the Overseer is a control freak. Amata often complained how overbearing her father was.”

“Were you and Amata close?” Twilight asked. She had quickly become interested in her plate again, her face blushing as she used one hand to twirl her mane.

Daniel tensed. Her tells were so obvious they were practically neon. He hadn’t missed her comment earlier that day after he joked about her singing. He had been serious when he said it was cute, but he hadn’t meant it as a flirt.

“She was my only real friend growing up, but we were just that, only friends,” Daniel said. Part of him wondered if growing up without any crushes or elementary school ‘dates’ had turned him into a hopeless romantic. Daniel knew he had certainly fallen head over heels for Moira, one of the few women to actually acknowledge his existence rather than bully him. With a shake of his head, he focused back on Amata. “We never had a chance to get to know each other. She helped plan my tenth birthday party, but past that was when I started to really work with my dad. That was when the Overseer practically banned her from seeing me. I think he had it out for my dad or something, that’s the only reason I can think of to explain why he sent security after me so hard. I had to escape the Vault as it was being sent into lockdown.”

“That’s horrible!” Twilight gasped in shock. “Did your dad not tell anyone he was leaving?”

“Even though I stayed with my dad most of the time and learned everything I could from him, there were things I could tell he was hiding from me,” Daniel said as he leaned against the table. Tears welled up in his eyes as he remembered the anguish in his dad’s eyes everytime he asked about Mom. “Questions he kept dodging or would refuse to answer outright. I never expected him to leave without warning. I didn’t even know the Vault door could open, even though I knew I was born outside. It was just something I never learned to question. The Vault was home, and outside was dangerous. I had never even seen the Vault door until I needed to escape.”

Twilight was stoic with determination, looking at him like no one had looked at him before. “Well, I know once I’ve had some time to heal, I won’t hesitate to help find your father.”

Hearing that reassurance sent Daniel’s heart skipping a beat. Twilight was certainly something. Despite missing her friends, she was still so willing to help him. He wasn’t going to try and rush things, but he could tell Twilight was interested in him.

Daniel’s mouth outpaced his brain as scotch took the driver’s wheel.

“We never did finish that date.”

Both of them went rigid. Twilight’s eyes shot open with shock. Daniel swore he saw Twilight’s hair jump into a mohawk for a split second before falling back down, as if he had electrocuted her.

“I, um, heh, ah,” Twilight spluttered like a garbled holotape recording.

Daniel recovered faster than Twilight. He had to suppress a laugh.

Twilight looked cute when she was embarrassed.

Even if she wasn’t fully human, she was human enough that he could look past that. Plus, it wasn’t about looks. She spoke like she had an education, was fiercely loyal to friends and family, and he could just feel she was a good person. Twilight radiated friendship.

Daniel smiled. The smile turned into a grin. Then full on open mouth laughter for several seconds. It tapered off long enough for him to drink the last of his scotch. He set the empty tumbler back on the table and leaned forwards, hands steepled.

“So since this is a date, tell me about yourself. What are some things you like? I do want to know more about you, and this is the first refuge recently where we’ve stayed long enough to actually sit and chat.”

“W-well,” Twilight stuttered, tugging at her collar as she attempted to recover from her embarrassment. “I never had many friends growing up either. I was always too focused on studying and advancing my own magical abilities. That was until Celestia, one of the two Princesses of Equestria, sent Spike and I to Ponyville to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration. That’s where I met all my friends.”

“Spike was your dragon assistant, right?” Daniel asked, having learned of Spike from past conversations. He had apparently been smitten with Rarity.

“Yes,” Twilight replied, “I hatched him myself… which was only possible because I got spooked by Rainbow Dash’s first sonic rainboom. It was during a test to land a spot in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. I was five at the time, which is kindergarten age in Equestria.”

Twilight had had a dragon assistant since she was a little girl. It was no wonder she couldn’t find her way around certain things.

“Wait,” Daniel said, having to count on his fingers because of the alcohol slowing his brain. “Earlier you told me you were twenty-three, so if you hatched him at five, he’s a year younger than me?”

“Yeah. Spike is like a little brother to me,” Twilight said. “Though sometimes like a son, too. It’s a unique relationship we have since I was too young to really think of him as a son as we grew up together… but… he’s never really known another parent. Celestia found him as an abandoned egg. The egg needed a dragon to nest it, or powerful magic in order to hatch. Part of the test of hatching him was also taking care of him.”

That was a lot of responsibility to throw on a five year old. Living things weren't baby dolls.

“With a kid at five and placement in an advanced school, I guess you didn’t have time for friends, or really much else. When I got my work assignment at ten, it didn’t take long before I was learning how to suture a wound or identify every bone in the human body.” Daniel said. He leaned back in the booth, taking a long, slow, sigh of a breath. He stared into Twilight’s beautiful, exotic purple eyes. He had to ask a certain question, one that hit close to home for him. “Did you ever get the feeling that, because of circumstances, some of your childhood was robbed from you?”

Twilight held her glass with one hand, staring at its contents as she swirled it around slowly. Daniel wondered if he had offended her. The thought was crushed when Twilight looked back at him and spoke solemnly.

“Maybe… I mean, it was the life I knew, and I’m not unhappy with it. It brought me to where I am today. But hindsight has a way to give you perfect vision. Looking back, I know I wasn’t a normal filly.”

Daniel smiled. He had to agree. If he hadn’t worked in medicine since he was ten, he wouldn’t have had the skills to fix Twilight’s mangled knee. He picked up his empty tumbler and held it out.

“Then, I propose a toast… to being weirdos from childhood and proud of it.”

The echo of clinking glass resounded off the walls.

<>~<>~<>

Rarity’s room wasn’t what Twilight had expected.

She stood in front of Rarity, heavily swaying from the second round of alcohol she and Daniel had drank together. Twilight turned her bobbing head to scan the room for what may have been the third time. Lockers, tall metal shelves, workbenches, tables, power tools, and even a machining lathe were all jammed against the walls and most of the floor space. Almost everything was covered in half-disassembled items, all tagged with scraps of paper duct taped to them. The only hint the massive room doubled as a bedroom was the lofted platform reachable by a set of metal stairs against the far wall.

The breadth and variety of items was too much for Twilight’s drunken brain to catalog. Instead, she hyper focused on a multi-barrel weapon on one workbench, the guts of the attached motor for the barrels spilled out across the table.

“Darling, do you know what time it is? Giving you alcohol was a bad idea,” Rarity tisked, just before yawning. Twilight chuckled, her hand fumbling for the zipper of the jumpsuit. Rarity had already helped her out of the knee brace.

“What…? I’m fineeee,” Twilight slurred. Her body radiated with fuzziness. It felt as if she was wrapped in a dozen blankets. Once the zipper was down to her waist, Twilight pulled her arms and wings free of the suit. She cast off the jumpsuit and stood in front of Rarity in only a pair of panties and a bra.

“My goodness!” Rarity shouted at a volume that had Twilight wince. “If I knew you were that underfed, I would have never given you alcohol. And those scars!”

Twilight looked down at her naked self, wondering what scars Rarity was talking about.

The stimpak had closed the shrapnel holes, but left her body pockmarked with nearly a dozen furless scars. If Twilight wasn’t drunk, she could probably count her own ribs while she was scar-gazing.

“I’m fine, Rarity, honest,” Twilight said, looking back to her friend. Twilight knew deep down that she wasn’t fine, and that the warm fuzzy feeling all over herself was just the scotch, but she was here to relax.

Med-X is dangerously addictive because it makes you so numb. It makes it easy to forget the world and reach for it for every minor ache and pain, Daniel had said.

Twilight frowned. She needed to be honest with her friend.

“Okay, I’m not fine,” Twilight said as the bra and panties joined the jumpsuit on the floor. The movements needed for undressing caused her to stumble, but Rarity held her up with magic. “Just had a bit too much to drink. I won’t use it as a crutch.”

“I’ll be sure of that. No more alcohol for you until you gain some weight, Dr. Rarity’s orders,” Rarity giggled as the ball of magic that had helped Twilight stay upright shifted and rolled across Twilight, starting with her left arm.

Twilight watched, and felt, weeks of dirt and other types of grime pulling free from her fur. No matter how matted or tangled in the detritus it was, it slipped free and was sucked up into the floating magical ball like a silent vacuum cleaner.

Twilight’s coat was a lot brighter than she remembered. After two straight weeks of only occasionally being wiped down for medical purposes, she had turned a muted lavender, with dark brown-red splotches where bloodstains had dried.

Twilight didn’t say anything as she let Rarity clean her from horn to hoof. It made Twilight feel better and worse at the same time. There were so many Wastelanders who would never be able to experience this level of cleanliness.

“Rarity?” Twilight asked once her friend was done and had placed the ball of magically collected gunk into a small waste bin.

“Yes?” Rarity asked as she stepped over to a locker and opened it.

“Ever wonder what we would do if we got the chance to go home?”

Rarity froze, her hand lingering on the locker door.

“One thing at a time, dear,” Rarity spoke slowly. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight left Rarity’s room shortly after the conversation. She had donned the Vault suit Rarity had saved for her. It was plum colored with maroon highlights, rather than the navy blue with yellow accents like Daniel’s jumpsuit. It even came with wing holes and fit Twilight perfectly. It had been her saddlebags that had transformed after all, so it made some sense that the suit had transformed itself to her dimensions. The Pip-Boy, meanwhile, was still in the suit’s largest belt pouch. She intended to get Daniel to help her with understanding the thing before she tried using it herself and accidentally broke it.

Entering the corridor where the Weatherly Hotel rooms lay, Twilight walked down the hall and stopped between two doors. One her’s, one Daniel’s.

Her alcohol high had started to mellow out. Thinking was becoming clearer. It allowed her to think back to earlier. She had had so much fun with Daniel. He really was a good guy. Learning about how much they had in common had been so… relieving. He was smart, funny if slightly a goofball, friendly, wanted to help her find her friends, and had been so lonely growing up.

Loneliness. That one common thread they shared had spawned so many more conversations. Like the fact her first sleepover wasn’t until a few years ago when Celestia sent her to Ponyville, or that he had never even been invited to one.

It had hit Twilight close to home. Doubly so as her memories of her time in Minefield came rushing back. She wondered if Daniel would like someone to make him feel less lonely tonight. Shifting from hoof to hoof, she stared at Daniel’s door.

Twirling her hair with a shaking finger, she took several slow, quiet steps towards his door. She stopped before she reached it and bit her lower lip nervously.

Even though sobriety was on the horizon, Twilight knew she was still too drunk. She was being impatient and impulsive again. One date spawned from a joke, followed by drunkenly sleeping together, wasn’t the best foundation to build whatever was forming between Daniel and herself.

She needed to take it slow. Her time with Flash Sentry had been so brief she barely even remembered it. Rushing would just cause problems.

She turned towards her door, but stopped mid turn. The whole day rushed over her thoughts. From the feral ghouls in the metro station all the way to learning about the dark mage.

“Come on, Twi,” she whispered to herself. She couldn’t summon the will to move her trembling legs. All she needed was to complete the turn and walk away. “Just go to your room.”

And be alone.

“But,” Twilight said to herself, scratching her knuckles nervously and biting her lip some more. Daniel was about to go on a dangerous job. Sure, he had Fluttershy as backup, but what about after the job? Anyone, even her friends, could die any day. She herself had almost died from a landmine earlier.

The Wasteland could take her friends away from her… leaving her alone again.

Turning towards Daniel’s door once again, her decision was made.

She took the last few steps.

<>~<>~<>

Daniel couldn’t get to sleep despite the hotel bed being more comfortable than his bed back in the Vault. It wasn’t his armor keeping him awake, either. He had changed out of his armored Vault suit and into a nightshirt and loose pair of pajama pants.

What kept him awake as he stared up at the rusted ceiling was the date replaying again in his sobering mind. The idea that Twilight was interested in him skittered around his skull like a hyperactive radroach.

Reaching a hand over to the nightstand, he half blinded himself as he checked the time on his Pip-Boy for the second time since laying down. It was close to half-past midnight. He and Twilight had talked for several hours about almost everything. Their lives, history from their worlds, simple things about each other. They picked up whatever meandering topic had spawned from the last one until they had both decided to get some sleep.

To have a date go so well, all from a drunken joke. Daniel couldn’t believe his luck.

“Wonder what Dad would think?” Daniel muttered to himself. He winced as a fist closed around his heart. “Well, he can tell me himself soon… I just have to do this one job. Please be safe.”

The thoughts of his father and Twilight rapidly traded places multiple times to keep him awake. He was thankful when a knock at the door gave him a distraction. He eagerly slipped out of bed and instantly regretted it as the bare metal floor felt like ice against his bare feet. Despite the pins and needles of cold, he walked to the door.

“Hello?” he asked as he turned on the light and leaned close so his voice could carry through the metal.

“Hey,” Twilight’s voice, heavily muffled, responded. “C-can I come in?”

She sounded scared.

Daniel quickly turned the wheel on the naval door. He didn’t have to struggle to pull it open, as it was much thinner than the exterior doors. Its hinges had thankfully been oiled, and it swung without squeaking.

Peering around the open door, Daniel’s breath hitched in his throat as Twilight’s new look stunned him into silence.

Twilight’s clean fur matched well with the plum and maroon Vault suit she wore. With her fur and mane cleaned to a shine, Twilight would have looked like she had stepped right out of a Vault, were it not for her broken horn and leg brace.

“Hey,” Twilight repeated herself, stepping in as she hugged herself with both arms.

“You okay?” Daniel asked, closing the door once Twilight had crossed the threshold. She didn’t look okay. She was biting her lower lip and looked anywhere but his gaze.

“I wanted to know if m-maybe… you wanted to not be lonely tonight, together?” Twilight asked, finally meeting his gaze with wide, terrified eyes. The sheen of forming tears reflected the light in his room.

“Twilight?” Daniel asked, slowly putting a hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“I-I-I-I,” Twilight stammered. Those wide eyes filled with years. “I thought ab-b-bout g-going to my room. Alone… l-l-like Minefield.” Twilight’s voice cracked like eggshells. “P-please, can I s-stay? I c-can’t be alone.”

Daniel’s still drunk brain was sluggish to respond. When he did, he did without words and hugged Twilight tightly. Her cries became sobs as she gripped tightly back, face buried into a shoulder as her entire body trembled. Daniel felt her thundering heart through her Vault suit. With her head on his shoulder, her short, shallow breathing was close to his ear.

Even half drunk, Daniel knew what he was dealing with. He needed the appearance of remaining calm despite the rush of adrenaline he felt.

“Twilight, I’m going to move us to the bed. Is that okay?” Daniel asked, using as few and simple words as possible

He felt Twilight nod on his shoulder as she sobbed.

Careful as to not make sudden moves, he walked backwards, still hugging Twilight as she hyperventilated until his legs hit the bed.

“Twilight, I’m going to sit down on the bed now,” Daniel warned, slowly breaking from the hug to sit. Once he sat down, he patted the bed beside him. “I want you to sit beside me.”

Twilight needed assistance to sit beside him. Her shaking body appeared listless and unresponsive.

“Look at me,” he said firmly to get her attention.

As Twilight’s bloodshot, puffy eyes looked his way, he spoke while maintaining eye contact. “You’re having an anxiety or panic attack. I’m here for you. Let’s focus on breathing. In, hold for ten, out. Follow my lead.”

He pulled in a breath and Twilight followed his lead. That was a good sign, she was cognisant enough to follow instructions. He waited for ten seconds, then let out the held breath. Twilight followed his lead again.

He sat with her, coaching her through several more breaths until she finally took over on her own.

“T-thanks,” she muttered at the end of the fifth or sixth breathing cycle she completed on her own. Her voice still quivered with fear.

“It’s okay, you’ll make it through this. Do you need anything?” Daniel asked.

“Water, please,” Twilight pleaded.

Daniel left Twilight’s side only long enough to fetch a bottle of water from his bag. He opened the lid for her, helping her trembling hands hold the bottle to her lips. She drank until the bottle was dry, then let out a sigh.

“Sweet Celestia,” Twilight cursed, leaning forwards until she was practically folded over her own knees with her face in her hands.

“Shhhhh,” Daniel said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Just anxiety. You’ll make it to the end. Just keep focused on breathing, and know I’m here for you.”

Twilight didn’t respond at first. As they sat together, Daniel considered suggesting that they take her mind off the stress with some… exercises.

No. That was wrong on so many levels and Daniel knew it. Twilight was in nowhere near the right headspace for him to even consider suggesting sex to her. Raiders had threatened to rape her not even a few days ago. Twilight was a patient and a friend.

The idea he had even considered something so manipulative wanted to make him puke in self disgust and loathing. He was in control, not his stupid hormones or the alcohol. He took a deep breath and waited silently beside Twilight for several minutes until she worked up the ability to say something other than a swear.

“That had to be my worst one yet,” Twilight muttered.

“Do you have a history with anxiety?” Daniel asked, still keeping his tone professional. Twilight was his patient, not the woman he had gone on a date with.

Twilight nodded.

“Lots of trouble in the past, almost to the point it was an anxiety disorder,” Twilight responded, her voice and breathing almost back to normal. “I thought I had it under control… My sister-in-law, Cadence, taught me breathing techniques, but so much has happened today, and it all crashed back on me at once when I thought about sleeping alone.” She grabbed her face with a hand and groaned. “I’m being a drunk idiot. If you hate me for trying to sleep with you, I get it. My brain is all over the place right now.”

“Hey,” Daniel said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve had one hell of a long day. One that may seem longer and unlike any you’ve experienced back home. It was a lot of back to back trauma, but you were strong enough to survive it all. I don’t blame you for anything.”

He put an arm around her shoulders, giving her another hug.

“Thanks,” Twilight said, wiping her eyes, then her nose, with her forearm. “Can I still stay, please? I already woke Rarity up once to get cleaned, and it’s a long walk back to her place. Fluttershy is probably already asleep, too… I really don’t want to be alone right now.”

Daniel winced. She still wanted to stay with him, and they were both still drunk and emotions were high.

“You can stay, but clothes stay on,” Daniel said, nodding slowly before he pinched the bridge of his nose. “And please don’t go telling your sniper friend we slept together after a first date. It sounds horrible out of context.”

Even in context, Daniel didn’t like it. They weren’t a couple. Even with almost no relationship experience, he knew things were moving too fast with Twilight for him to feel comfortable with. There were going to be words tomorrow. Daniel didn’t know what they would be, but they would be sober words at the very least.

Chapter 11: Aftermath

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The light stayed on all night.

Daniel stared up as he lay on his back, tracing the patterns of red, orange, and brown on the metal ceiling as he absentmindedly thought about the night before.

Shame seared his mind. There were probably dozens of other ways to resolve the situation. He could have walked Twilight back to Rarity’s room, or insisted that waking up Fluttershy would be a better alternative than… than just drunkenly meeting her in the middle and saying ‘yes, we can sleep together, but clothes stay on’.

He looked down to Twilight’s broken horn as her head lay halfway on his chest. At some point she had snuggled right up to his side. A guilty part of him enjoyed having Twilight this close, her body hugging against his. Every time his mind drifted away from the guilt and back to her, a headrush slammed his brain like a super mutant with a sledgehammer, then the shame returned as his body reacted to those lecherous thoughts. It was an ever repeating cycle that had lasted for about an hour so far by his guess.

He knew it was morning, at the very least, despite the windowless room. His Pip-Boy showed a little after six-thirty A.M when he had checked a few minutes prior. He wanted to let Twilight sleep, get a good long rest after the long day, but there was a reason he had awoken so early. Even after two glasses of strong alcohol had helped put him to bed, it had been two glasses.

Daniel waited for what he guessed was another minute or two, before finally the pressure became too much. He needed to wake Twilight up.

“Hey, Twilight,” Daniel said gently, tapping Twilight on the shoulder three times. “Can you move? I have to go pee.”

Twilight groaned. As she rolled off him, her wings brushed against him until she had folded them under her as she went right back to sleep. It allowed Daniel to easily slide out of bed. Getting Twilight to move had been easier than he thought it would be. And as a bonus, she was still out. Awkward conversation was put on hold.

Walking over to the chair where he had placed his backpack and armored Vault suit. He hesitated and stood there, occasionally glancing back at Twilight several times to make sure she wasn’t going to wake up yet.

After a minute, Daniel stripped out of his night clothes. Shame crushed him once again. He was changing with Twilight still in the room, but there was little other convenient choice. He wasn’t going anywhere outside of a bedroom without armor on. Even a civilized town could be dangerous. Taking part in a short gunfight in Moriarity’s Saloon back in Megaton was all the evidence Daniel needed. The gunfight had started when a man named Mr. Burke had tried shooting the sheriff, Lucas Simms, in the back.

After a quick change, including grabbing his Pip-Boy from the nightstand, Daniel carefully walked over to the bedroom door. Even with his precautions, every booted step on the metal floor produced a soft ‘clink’. He double checked to see if Twilight was still asleep. Thankfully, she was.

He left the room as silently as he could. Out in the hallway, he saw Fluttershy’s door was open, and the light was on. Having moved around, the pressure in his bladder had lessened, allowing curiosity to take the forefront. He approached the open door and peeked inside.

Fluttershy was busy doing pullups on a thin overhead pipe close to the door. He took a moment to watch. The arms of her jumpsuit were tied around her waist, revealing her shirtless but cloth-wrapped upper torso. The winding snake of scars continued from her neck, down her torso, then disappeared from sight in the lower half of her jumpsuit. The light in her room danced off the beads of sweat covering her.

She had more well-defined abs than he had.

Daniel wasn’t attracted to Fluttershy. He was jealous. With her buzzcut, scars, athletic build, and almost total lack of cleavage under the cloth wrap, Fluttershy could have passed for a teenage boy.

She was close enough to the door to spot him after a few reps. She let go of the bar mid-pullup and landed just in front of him. Daniel’s jealousy of her grew when he realized Fluttershy was a hair taller than him, probably just under or exactly at six feet tall. Daniel wasn’t small, either, coming to five feet, ten inches tall.

“H-hey, Daniel,” Fluttershy said through exhausted breaths as she leaned one shoulder against the doorframe. “Twilight in your room?”

“She is, but nothing happened,” Daniel blurted out as he stepped back from the woman who could probably make him lose a few teeth if she took a swing. He assumed that if Fluttershy had been up long enough to work up a sweat, it was possible she had checked Twilight’s room. He looked left and right, making sure no one else was in the hall. “Can I ask you something personal, about Twilight?”

Fluttershy frowned. Her head bobbed slowly in a single nod.

“She came to my room last night, sometime after half past midnight, sounding scared,” Daniel said, starting slowly so he could reassemble the drunken memories into what he recalled as the truth. “I let her in and she asked if I didn’t want to be lonely, or something along those lines. I was drunk, but sober enough to realize something was wrong. From there, Twilight broke down with an anxiety or panic attack. She didn’t want to spend the night in her room alone, so I let her stay. The personal thing I want to ask is, how long has she had anxiety problems?”

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth. “She’s had a long, rocky history with it… I should have known. I was just so relieved to see she hadn’t snapped and gone raider that I didn’t consider she could have a panic attack.” She shook her head. “The Weatherly’s dining area should be open soon. We can all talk and de-stress over breakfast.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Daniel said with a nod.

He bid Fluttershy goodbye and jogged to the restroom.

<>~<>~<>

The Weatherly Hotel’s dining room was, unlike the night before, populated. There weren’t many people for the size of the room, but there were enough to allow a low din of conversation to echo off the walls. It stopped as Twilight entered with her plate of apple slices, diced carrots, and razorgrain porridge.

The handful of guards coming off night shift, as well as guards about to start day shift, gave Twilight the most looks. They ranged from caution to outright suspicion. The half-dozen other various people scattered throughout the room were more of a mixed bag. A few gave her skeptical looks similar to the guards, while others were curious, and two smiled and waved at her, much like the humans she had passed in the hall the night before.

Thankfully, the looks didn’t last long before the humans went back to eating and conversing. Twilight thanked Celestia that two glasses of scotch hadn’t been enough to give her a hangover. Otherwise, the sounds of metal scraping ceramic plates and people talking would have been like icepicks jamming into each ear canal.

She was ready for breakfast, and to finally talk at length with Daniel. There hadn’t been any conversation with him since he had woken her up, or during the walk over. The most they had spoken to each other was an apology on her part, which Daniel interrupted by suggesting they eat breakfast first.

Twilight remembered everything from the previous night. Every drunken moment that had led to her entering Daniel’s bedroom, only to have a panic attack. Thankfully, sleep had done wonders in resetting her frazzled mental state. Twilight felt calm and more in balance with herself. More in control. Part of her accepted that it had been a mistake to try and sleep with Daniel after the first date, and while drunk. But it would have been a mistake she could live with. It hadn’t just been fear and alcohol at the steering wheel, Daniel had been such an enjoyable person to be around that she had chosen his room to be the one she slept in. She hoped he would give her a second chance after the mess she had made.

She pushed the thought aside as she crossed the room, scanning for a place to sit. Fluttershy’s ears and Rarity’s white fur were easy to pick out as they sat in the same booth from the night before. It didn’t take long before she was sitting in the same spot she had been hours before. Daniel took a seat beside her.

“So, um, hey, Fluttershy, Rarity,” Twilight said as she settled in, nodding to each friend in turn. “Did you two sleep well?”

“We did, Darling,” Rarity said as she tapped the tips of her pointer fingers together. “So, Fluttershy already told me what Daniel told her, and I blame myself for letting you leave my room alone and inebriated.”

Twilight winced. She hadn’t been aware Daniel had even been awake before her. Although after a moment of thinking back, she faintly remembered him getting up at some point. It didn’t matter, what mattered was that her two friends had already been brought up to speed on the Grand Galloping Gala level disaster.

“It’s fine, honestly. The only one of us who hadn’t been drinking was Fluttershy,” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “It’s fine now. I’ve had some sleep, and I’m in a much better headspace. I say we all agree to share some blame and try to move past it.”

“Move past it, but admit it happened,” Daniel said. “Maybe a second date without alcohol? See where things go from there? At least take it slower than whatever was going on last night.”

“That would be great!” Twilight almost shouted. Daniel was already giving her a second chance. She realized she had nearly shouted, and sure enough, there were a lot of stares directed at her. She shied away from them and curled a length of hair around a finger. She repeated herself in a lower tone of voice. “I mean, yes, that would be nice.”

“Oh,” Rarity interjected, rubbing her hands together with a smile. “I could loan Daniel a suit and you a dress, make it a nice, formal, and romantic dinner.”

“And I can be the waitress,” Fluttershy said. “If I can find some mole rats, I could get them to help.”

“R-right,” Daniel said, scratching the back of his neck as he blushed. His gaze shifted quickly back and forth between Fluttershy and Rarity. Twilight was in the same boat. Her friends had turned around fast to offer help. “Twilight told me you can literally talk to animals and understand them on a deep level.”

Twilight nodded. The whole mess was being resolved better than she hoped.

“Yes,” Fluttershy said as she nodded as well. She stopped and chuckled. “I’m serious about helping for the date. From what little we’ve talked, you and Twilight seem like a good match. Just, don’t feel pressured by my opinion, you two love who you love. You both may not be a match, but you both will never know unless you try. It’s just so beautiful that people can come together in this broken world.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Fluttershy,” Rarity said. She turned to look at Daniel. “Could you be a dear and let us girls have a few minutes alone?”

“Uh, sure,” Daniel said with a nod. He picked up his plate and soda before sliding out the booth.

Once Daniel was sitting at a table on the other side of the room, Rarity leaned forwards and spoke softly in a dead serious tone, all formality and friendliness lost. “Blink three times if he did anything without your consent.”

“Whoa, girls, hang on,” Twilight said, leaning back. “I don’t know everything he told you, but I had a panic attack that brought the night to a screeching halt before it went that far. Yes, we slept in the same bed, but we had our clothes on, and I was the one who went to his room because my brain was a mix of drunk, terrified of being alone, and… ugh.” Twilight facepalmed, sighing heavily. “Apparently, my brain goes all horny when I’m partially a human. This is Flash Sentry all over again, but ten times worse because Daniel and I connect better. Can you girls give me some advice? What should I do?”

“I’m not sure how good my advice will be,” Fluttershy said. “But relationships are a messy nightmare, full of twists, turns, and complications you never expected. They take a lot of work, and you will never know if you’re going the right way about it. Just don’t jump too quickly to sex. Discord and I waited until after our sixth or seventh official date. That’s not counting all the times I had him over for lunch before we even started dating. But that’s me, you go at your own pace.”

“Fluttershy is right,” Rarity added. “Be patient, don’t get alcohol involved again unless you feel absolutely safe, be yourself, and if anything makes you feel unsafe, get away and find us. We’ll have your back.”

“We sure will,” Fluttershy said. “And while I think Daniel seems like a good guy, it never hurts to learn some self defense skills. I’ll teach you some Brotherhood C-Q-C and my own G-B-C moves when we get back.”

“And those abbreviations are for…?” Twilight asked.

“Close-quarters-combat and grizzly-bear-chiropractic moves,” Fluttershy said with a smile.

Twilight had seen Fluttershy wrestle bears to give them a spinal readjustment. She wondered how well those skills actually transitioned to fighting a super mutant. She knew it was likely a vain hope that she wouldn’t have to see her formerly gentle friend snap the neck of something. Hopefully, it wouldn’t have to be Daniel.

“So, girls,” Twilight said slowly. She breathed deeply. “Last question. In your honest opinion… how bad did I mess up by going to his room?”

Fluttershy answered first.

“He came to me and told me what happened, almost to the letter of what you said. The fact you both were drunk and nothing happened is a miracle. There is a reason I avoid the harder stuff.”

“And you, Rarity?” Twilight asked.

“I agree with Fluttershy on this one. She’s the one who honestly is the most qualified since she’s the only one of our friend group in an interspecies romance… not to mention my own track record with a love life isn’t the best. Are we all good to call Daniel back over? I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine if Twilight is,” Fluttershy said.

“Same,” Twilight said. She waved Daniel back over.

<>~<>~<>

Breakfast continued after Daniel had returned, and Rarity departed to open her shop. Wanting a change of topic, Twilight opened the largest pouch on her belt, which was more of a satchel bag, and pulled out the arm terminal. The casing was a matte black, while the glass had a mildly purple sheen to it.

“Whoa,” Daniel said from beside her. He lifted up his left arm to compare her device with his own. “Looks even better than mine. It’ll fit your new suit nicely.”

Twilight had to agree. Black was a good color. She inspected the machine more closely, taking on all the angles and details of the wide screened device. ‘Pip-Boy 3000’ was stamped onto the casing. Flipping the Pip-Boy over, she found a latch close to the bottom edge of the screen and unlocked it. The inside cuff was padded with soft foam covered by maroon-colored leather.

“Try it on,” Daniel said, nudging her with an elbow.

Twilight did so, locking the device over her left forearm, like Daniel’s. The Pip-Boy had some weight to it. Her finger trembled as she pressed the faintly glowing orange button labeled ‘power’, and jerked with a gasp as the Pip-Boy clicked and whined.

Internal machinery stirred to life as the soft-purple screen illuminated with a lighter-purple, almost pink light.

“Seeing someone put one on for the first time is amazing,” Daniel said with a light chuckle. “I won’t be like Stanley and pull a fast one on you. When I was ten and got mine, he had put wonderglue on the latch before the Overseer gave it to me.”

“Why’d he do that?” Twilight asked, watching strings of numbers and code crawl up the screen. A cartoon human-pony unicorn in a Vault suit smiled and gave her a thumbs up. The whining and clicking sounds ceased as the Pip-Boy boot process finished, bringing her to a menu screen.

“Wanted me to think it was biometrically locked to me forever,” Daniel said with a laugh. “All it needed was a little solvent and more muscle than a ten year old could manage.”

“Now that’s just mean,” Fluttershy said from across the table.

“Yep,” Daniel said. “He had me convinced for a few hours.”

“Can you teach me how this works?” Twilight asked. Curiosity got the better of her and she turned the dial on the top right of the Pip-Boy all the way down to ‘radio’. A selection of channels appeared. Galaxy News Radio, Enclave Radio, and several unidentified signals.

“Looks like you’re figuring it out for yourself well enough,” Daniel said. “Go on, experiment. I doubt you’ll break it. Pip-Boys are tough. Waterproof, fireproof, and EMP shielded.”

Twilight nodded. She intended to do just that.

“Do any of you mind if I turn on the radio?” Twilight asked.

“Fine with me,” Daniel said. Fluttershy nodded.

Twilight took a few moments to figure out what combination of button presses and knob turns would get the desired result. After a minute, Galaxy News Radio played on a low volume from her Pip-Boy.

Everyone ate while listening to the radio. After two songs, Three Dog’s voice came out loud and strong, giving Twilight pause.

“Helooooo, Capital Wasteland,” Three Dog howled. “They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so have I got something for you peeps to chew on this morning. Get this—and this needs to be taken with a super mutant’s body weight in salt since the source was raiders—but there have been multiple sightings of green eyed robo-dogs in the metro system, this is on top of the mysterious balls of light that will mutate you to hell and back if they touch you. Now, I try to only give you kiddies the facts, but enough reports have come in from multiple sketchy sources all saying the same weird shit is happening. Anyways, I’ll be back this afternoon. Three Dog ouuuuuut!”

As the next music track played, Twilight looked up from her plate to Fluttershy.

“Any idea what that was about?” Twilight asked.

“Not a clue, but Daniel and I need to head through the Metro, so I’ll look into it.” Fluttershy said.

<>~<>~<>

Fluttershy turned and waved goodbye to Twilight and Rarity as she crossed the bridge out of Rivet City, side-by-side with Daniel. It was later than she would have liked, almost afternoon, as a trip to a machinist was needed to carve wing holes into the rear plate of her new combat armor.

It was concrete gray, much like Rarity’s mercenaries. It was all thanks to Rarity generously heaping caps and supplies onto them that she was confident enough to head to the Mall.

“Think it’ll be safe to fly the wagon?” Daniel asked from beside her.

Fluttershy shook her head as they stepped onto the tower platform at the end of the bridge.

“Sun’s out,” Fluttershy said flatly. “Anything that looks up can get a bead on me. We can take Anacostia Crossing to the Mall.” She pointed to the entrance of the metro station that descended into the earth near the tower to Rivet City.

“Have you ever been in the metro?” Daniel asked, cradling his new semi-auto carbine close to his chest with the barrel pointed down at an angle so it pointed away from his feet. Fluttershy had briefly instructed him on the ‘patrol carry’ position, as she had been instructed. Finger off the trigger and safety engaged.

“Yes, but not this station,” Fluttershy replied. “Thankfully, the Brotherhood has partial maps of the metro.” Fluttershy pulled out a folded map from a pouch to show Daniel before placing it back. “We just need to follow the Red Line northbound and we’ll be at Museum Station. We’re probably going to be in for a fight, though. The Brotherhood has pulled out of most of the metro system, so raiders and worse have taken over.”

“From the sound of it, the Brotherhood is stretched really thin if they can’t hold the routes between their outposts. Right?”

“Unfortunately,” Fluttershy said with a grim nod. They were heading outside of a town, so her military persona was front and center. She repeated verbatim something Paladin Gunny had told her. “We can’t exactly build more suits of power armor. So we’re limited on how many we can throw into the field.”

“And why doesn’t the Brotherhood use combat armor like we’re wearing, rather than just relying on power armor?” Daniel asked.

Fluttershy shrugged.

“To use a crude phrase an older initiate told me when I joined… you learn fast that shit rolls downhill, and you’re never the one at the top with your pants around your ankles.”

Adopting the way human soldiers walked and talked had been too tempting. They were assertive, confident under pressure, and everything Fluttershy wasn’t when back home. Every time she took on the mentality of a soldier, it made her feel like she was Rainbow Dash, or a less bitchy version of herself after Iron Will’s lessons.

“And that means?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t make the decisions,” Fluttershy said with a shake of her head. “I just try to survive the decisions of those in positions above me and hope we’re moving in the right direction.”

The conversation died away after that exchange.

Fluttershy was glad to be off the subject. While she wasn’t blindly dogmatic to the Brotherhood, openly criticizing the Brotherhood wasn’t a position she’d like to put herself in. She was still a mutant in the eyes of many members. It was just easier to dismiss the question than face the truth that stupid decisions and tactics had gotten people she had known killed. Too many for her to not hold the Brotherhood to blame.

It wasn’t long before they reached the base of the tower, and were almost to the escalators which lead down to the metro’s entrance gate. Someone was certainly ahead. Outside the metro, beside the escalator steps, was a crude wooden sign painted with white lettering.

‘Toll Booth: Caps, Chems, Ammo, or Ass. NO EXCEPTIONS, NO MUTANTS’

“Huh,” Fluttershy said, scratching her chin. “No guts, and the sign says toll booth.”

“Might not be raiders, then,” Daniel replied with a nod. “They’re within spitting distance of the bridge into Rivet City, so I guess the city security is fine with whoever is down here.”

“I wouldn’t put caps on that until we check for ourselves,” Fluttershy said. She kept her rifle in the patrol carry position as she started walking down the escalator. “On the few patrols I’ve been on, I’ve seen mutant camps within a hundred meters of raider camps. Some days it felt like they were more interested in causing us problems than each other.”

“Are you sure you’ve only been with the Brotherhood for two weeks?” Daniel asked. “You talk and act like you’ve been in the military for years, but Twilight never mentioned if you were part of the military back home. Were you?”

“No, I’ve just had a very busy two weeks,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. “On top of all the range time I’ve put in, I’ve volunteered for every patrol the Brotherhood would let me on because, for one, it would give me an excuse to look for my friends while driving a mechanical suit of nearly bulletproof armor, and two… I felt like I had to work twice as hard to prove to people like Danse a mutie could make it in the Brotherhood. Especially after ‘Flagging Fluttershy’ caught on as my nickname around the Citadel.”

“Oh… are you okay?” Daniel asked. “You seem like you’ve been through hell and back.”

Fluttershy clenched her jaw. He didn’t know half of what she had gone through. But he was trying to be nice. While it stung that he had phrased it that bluntly, he wasn’t some random kid asking about her scars, or if she had killed anyone, or what it’s like being a soldier.

“I’m doing as okay as I can,” Fluttershy said with a shake of her head, compartmentalizing and shoving the stress away for later. “The mutant camp wasn’t the first time something wanted to eat me. Honestly, I think some of the stuff back home would fit right in with the Wasteland, so after my experiences, I can kind of forgive the super mutants more than I can raiders. Super mutants butcher people for food. Raiders are just… raiders.” Fluttershy limply ended with a dismissive wave.

It was hard to explain how absolutely terror-inducing raiders were to someone who didn’t have a vagina. Rape was so rare in Equestria that it was practically nonexistent. Here it was like raiders made it a competition to outdo each other when it came to brutal sexual violence. Fluttershy had vomited when she had been told some gangs use rape as a right of initiation. Then she found Melissa in that cage and the Wasteland had shoved it right in her face that children weren’t exempt either.

“Interesting point of view.” Daniel said from beside her. They were almost to the bottom landing already.

Fluttershy blinked several times as she looked around. She had spaced out, lost in dark thoughts.

She wanted to be thankful that there was no typical raider decor to be found at the landing, no mutilated bodies impaled on meathooks, or heads on spikes, but the lack of big ‘shoot me conscience free’ signs had Fluttershy on edge. Not knowing if whoever was ahead were people trying to get by or just very clean-living raiders was discomforting.

“Keep your finger off the trigger,” Fluttershy said. “But chamber a round and take your weapon off safety. The metro corridors make great funnels and we could be walking right where they want us. Not sure who these people are so just stay cautious.”

“Got it,” Daniel replied. Fluttershy flipped the safety on her rifle in time with Daniel flipping his.

Fluttershy took point as she crossed through the open scissor gate and down the steps, descending once again into the winding bowels of the cursed, blasted, DC ruins. The spike to her heart rate was instant as she stepped from the final stair down and into Anacostia Station proper.

Even though she loved living on the ground with all the cutesy animals, she was still a Pegasus at heart. The arched concrete roof of the station was too low for her liking. It held several dim but still burning light bulbs. They poorly illuminated the cracked brown tile floor and tan brick walls. The walls themselves were plastered with old, faded posters, advertisements, and fliers shouting in bold letters some product to consume or buy.

From her short stint as a model, Fluttershy knew the smiling faces on the posters were as artificial as they come. They practically screamed, ‘Buy this and be happy enough to forget the world is about to end’. The irony of half the products having ‘nuke’ or ‘bomb’ in the name wasn’t lost on her. The old world had fallen into some sort of collective self-referential psychosis. She had gotten so tired of hearing music about setting the world on fire on Galaxy News Radio that she was probably the only Brotherhood member to willingly listen to Enclave Radio.

And now, two hundred years later, people were still dealing with the insanity of the old world.

The original goal of the Brotherhood of Steel was to reclaim technology and keep it out of the hands of the ignorant. Prevent a second apocalypse. With the tunnel vomiting advertisements in her face, Fluttershy could see some merit in the Outcasts point of view in holding strictly to the old beliefs.

She was stalling again with a long internal ramble.

Overhead, several lights flickered, on the cusp of burning out. It was a testament to the engineering of humans that their infrastructure could last so long with little to no maintenance.

She pushed aside the thoughts, trying to keep her head clear and her eyes peeled as they traveled further in. After seeing Twilight’s injuries, and without the comfort of a suit of power armor, Fluttershy wanted to make sure to look out for landmines, tripwires, or bear traps.

Bear traps. Now there was one human invention Fluttershy had had a different idea of when she’d first heard the name. She had pictured something like a cage falling from above that was thick and heavy enough to trap a bear. Not some cruel device that would shatter leg bones and snare flesh with metal teeth.

Thankfully, no threats like a bear trap revealed themselves as she crept down the corridor. On the left-hand side a door was open, revealing the collapsed room beyond, past it the path sharply curved, almost to the point it was a ninety-degree angle.

Fluttershy sidestepped like she was trying to not disturb bunnies sleeping until she hugged her right shoulder against the wall. She slinked towards the bend to peek around it. Daniel had quietly followed behind. The only noise Fluttershy could hear was their boots crunching on the cracked tile floor.

Slowly peeking around the corner with her rifle raised, Fluttershy saw another door, this one closed, again on the left hand side of the corridor. The door was ten or so feet from a wall where the corridor abruptly ended, though the wall had an archway. Through the arch was a short set of stairs that likely led to the metro platform, but the distance and angle Fluttershy was to the arch kept most of whatever was beyond obscured from view.

“No contacts yet,” Fluttershy said in a low voice to Daniel, recalling the terms and tactics Paladin Gunny had taught her for urban combat and squad movement. “There is a door on the left, the pictogram sign says it’s a male bathroom. Advance to it, and I’ll keep my gun on that archway. Run around and behind me, don’t cut across my front.”

“Once I’m there?” Daniel asked.

“Keep your eye on the archway and I’ll leapfrog to where you are,” Fluttershy said, “Then we’ll clear that bathroom. If these people are raiders, I’d rather not leave a room unchecked and get a shotgun barrel shoved up my ass.”

Unfortunately, Fluttershy had seen the end result of a raider having done just that to a captive. Raiders were much, much worse than super mutants. She could at least feel sad for taking the life of the simple minded green giants. Raiders were beyond mercy.

She winced.

You who showed no mercy will receive none.

Angel of Death and Mercy indeed.

“You okay?” Daniel asked from behind her. “You looked a little spaced out there?”

“It’s nothing,” Fluttershy snapped faster and louder than she had wanted as she was ripped back to the present. She had spaced out… again. She sighed, shaking her head. “Just… I’ll tell you later when we’re in a safer spot. I got an angle on anyone trying to come through that arch. Get to the bathroom and cover my advance. Ready?”

“Ready,” Daniel replied.

“Go,” she said with a nod. Daniel half-crouched, half-ran diagonally from the corner to the bathroom door. Bracing himself in the door’s alcove, he watched the archway as Fluttershy sprinted in a half-crouch as well. She reached the door in only a few seconds.

“Now what?” Daniel asked, his voice a whisper.

“Try the handle, slowly, crack the door slightly and check for any wires,” Fluttershy said in an equally quiet whisper. “Don’t force the door open if it’s stiff, either. Someone could have booby trapped it.”

Raiders were smarter than people gave them credit for, and outright evil with traps.

Initiate Lisa Halls had died on one patrol to a trap that had nearly snared Fluttershy. It was a baby carriage filled with landmines and a holotape recording of a crying baby playing on a loop. There had been enough explosives that it left a three foot deep crater in the concrete below the pram.

Daniel cracked the door open with no issue and had it fully open by the time Fluttershy realized she had drifted to thinking about things other than the mission again. With a shake of her head, she entered the room behind Daniel, rifle raised and checking corners.

It was indeed a bathroom. One filled with the rancid pang of spoiling meat.

“Something–” Daniel started to say, but was cut off by a gag. He shoved his nose and mouth into the crook of his elbow. “Something certainly died in here.”

Fluttershy’s stomach was doing flips as well. However, she had to use her nose to follow the greasy, clawing smell to the source. It was coming from a bathroom stall, the door cracked just a hair.

With a shaky breath, Fluttershy raised the barrel of her rifle slowly. The muzzle brake danced and swayed as her unsteady arms held her weapon aloft. She knew she was going to find a corpse. But ghouls tended to stink as well, and they needed to make sure it wasn’t a ghoul raider that would jump them.

Taking a few more breaths, Fluttershy finally summoned the willpower to push open the stall door. The thin wooden door creaked on ancient hinges, laboriously swinging open to reveal a corpse in cobbled together armor sitting on the toilet.

Fluttershy almost screamed as she saw the red-brown cone of dried gore fanning upwards and outwards from the shredded, unidentifiable remnants of the corpse’s head.

The only hint the corpse could have been a female was the shape of the chest armor, which was more curved around the upper chest. By her boots was a blood coated sawed-off-shotgun.

“Shit, fuck… fucking shit,” Fluttershy cursed through clenched teeth as she stepped back, placing a hand in front of her face.

Daniel stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the stall.

“H-hey, you okay?” Daniel asked, his voice quivering with fear. “You aren’t going to break down like Twilight, right?”

Fluttershy took several slow, calming breaths before she shook her head.

“I’m good,” Fluttershy said, taking several more shaky breaths. “Just wasn’t expecting a self-made corpse.” It was the first time she had seen someone who had committed suicide that hadn’t decayed into a skeleton.

“I’m in the same boat,” Daniel said. “Come on. Let’s see if anyone is manning the toll booth.”

Fluttershy gave a quick nod.

Compartmentalize. Deal with it later. March onwards, left, right, left.

<>~<>~<>

Fluttershy exited the bathroom first, her rifle slung over her shoulder.

Her hands were still too shaky to hold a proper aim with the scoped rifle, so instead she had drawn her laser pistol. It was one of the few other weapons she had. The only others were a combat knife on her hip, and a punch dagger in a sheath hidden up her left sleeve.

“I’ll take point through the arch,” Fluttershy said with a grimace. Without power armor, being the pointman was a guaranteed way to catch a bullet if someone was waiting in a prepared position. She’d rather be the one on point if bullets started flying. Daniel was a civilian. Remembering that he was, Fluttershy repeated herself without the military jargon.

“I’m going to be the one walking in front.”

“Context clues had me figure that,” Daniel said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“I’ll make an initiate out of you before too long,” Fluttershy smiled, attempting to copy the bravado and confidence of Paladin Gunny.

Steadying her trembling hands, Fluttershy took point.

It was a short walk from the bathroom door to the wall. Hugging her left shoulder against the brick, Fluttershy crept towards the arch to peek around.

As she had suspected, beyond the opening was a massive arched room.

Running widthwise inside was a concrete bridge covered in tile. Towards the middle of the bridge was a ticket booth reinforced with sandbags and tall fences made out of scrap metal and wood.

Leaning against the side of the ticket booth, facing sideways to them, was a thin, haggard looking human smoking a cigarette. He wore tattered clothes reinforced with a collage of scrap metal and leather. Hanging from his side by a leather strap was a 10mm SMG with the stock folded.

While he looked like a raider, and was dressed like a raider, there were still no visible gory corpses on display.

Leaning out a little, she relied on her low-light vision to look towards the ceiling and make sure there were no corpses hanging from it. She was confident that the dim light would keep her hidden.

Fluttershy froze as a human in similar gear to the first landed in front of her, folding his leathery bat-wings behind him and glaring daggers at her with slitted eyes. Then Fluttershy saw his tufted gray ears.

“Well now,” He hissed, smiling a smile that showed fangs. “Are you trying to sneak around the toll?”

“N-not at all,” Fluttershy gasped. She quickly holstered her pistol and walked around the arch, hands raised. There were other Equestrians in the Wasteland! “How did you get here? I thought it was just Princess Twilight, myself, and our friends who got sent here!”

Fluttershy was a mix of excitement and panic. She had no idea why a batpony would be in the Wasteland, but if he helped look for her friends, his superior night vision would be useful. She needed his help.

Ripping her helmet off, Fluttershy showed off her ears.

“I’m an Equestrian, too.”

The batpony took a step back.

“Wait,” The batpony said, shaking his head. “You were kicked out of Heaven, too?”

Fluttershy’s excitement spun around in a one-eighty. Heaven? What was he talking about? Fluttershy’s face scrunched in confusion as she tried to work out what he meant.

“What do you mean by Heaven?” Fluttershy asked slowly.

The batpony took a slow, deep breath.

“Some sort of light ball hit me and I ended up in Heaven,” He explained. “That’s the only way I can explain it. I was turned into one of those Giddyup Buttercup toys, but skin and bone instead of metal. I was all alone in a field where I could enjoy the sun and see a pure white city built on the side of a mountain.” The batpony’s long, sad sigh ended in a shaky sob. “But I’m not a good person, so Satan threw me back here.”

“Satan?” Daniel asked, having stepped around the arch as well.

“Yes,” the batpony nodded. “Looked like a deathclaw got blended with a brahmin, and was then stretched out like a snake. He was all hooves and claws and mismatched parts.”

There was only one creature Fluttershy knew that fit that description in Equestria.

This person had somehow been transported to Equestria… and Discord sent him back.

Chapter 12: Raider

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Fluttershy was frozen in place by the revelation. She went through the steps once again in her mind to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. The human had found a portal to Equestria. That made some sort of sense, there was no telling what side effects shattering the mirror would have. The human was turned into a pony. Also made sense, that was how crossing the realms worked with the mirrors, according to Twilight. Then Discord sent him back and he had ended up as a human-pony cross like herself. Discord sending someone back didn’t make sense. If Discord could send people back, why hadn’t he come for her?

“I know who you’re talking about,” Fluttershy softly spoke after a moment. The reaction was more of her mouth running itself while her brain was busy thinking. “His name is Discord, not Satan.”

“Oh,” the batpony said. “Is Discord one of his demons?”

“Would you cut it out with the religious bullshit, Ethan!” The smoking man at the toll booth snapped, drawing Fluttershy’s attention. He tossed the cigarette away as he stomped towards them, joined by three other similarly-dressed and haggard-looking humans. Two males and a female. Only the smoker had a gun, the others had short lengths of pipe, chains, or other similar improvised weapons that they brandished.

Even if they weren’t raiders, their aggressive body language spoke clearly that this was going to end in a fight. Fluttershy didn’t want it to, she had seen enough death and destruction in the last two weeks.

“It’s not bullshit, Jack!” The batpony, Ethan, yelled as he spun to face his gang. Fluttershy slowly drew her pistol, trying to conceal the movement while Jack was distracted with Ethan. “Sarah jumped into the light after me and saw God!”

“Yeah,” Jack sneered. “And if I saw that Celestia bitch Sarah blabbed on-and-on about, I’d do the world a favor and kill her. I’m glad Sarah ate her shotgun barrel… was getting tired of her crying herself to sleep.”

Celestia sent people back as well? What was going on in Equestria? There had to be a reason Discord and Celestia weren’t in this world looking for Twilight and her other friends. A cold, creeping horror wrapped her brain like slimy tentacles. What if raiders or worse were finding ways into a kingdom filled with peaceful, nonviolent mares? Jack’s casual dismissal of one of his gang committing suicide was proof enough that at least Jack was a bad person. Was Ethan that bad as well? He had called himself a bad man.

“You can't disrespect her like that!” Ethan yelled, taking a half-stomping step forward. Fluttershy could see every muscle on Ethan was clenched in shaking rage. “She was one of us!”

“That ended when she caught a case of religion,” Jack said as he held up a fist. He stopped several paces away with the rest of the gang flanking him. “Just like you. Leave… now. You’re out of the gang.” Jack cracked his neck to punctuate his point, Ethan turned his face away, shoulders slumped. Jack then pointed one finger at Fluttershy. “And you, you didn’t buy his religious bullshit, but him and Sarah went somewhere that fucked them up. You called yourself an Equestrian. Where the hell are you from?”

Fluttershy backstepped, caught off guard by Jack’s sudden shift in attention to her. She would sooner die than tell a bunch of potential raiders about Equestria. She didn’t want to kill anyone who didn’t deserve it, and there were no clear signs of bodies or caged up victims that Fluttershy could see. Handling the situation as a Brotherhood soldier wouldn’t cut it.

She was tired from two weeks of hell. She was angry… Jack may have been the newest source, but there was so much else in the wasteland that made her furious. She was also confused from so many unanswered questions. She wasn’t going to blurt out that there was a land of peaceful ponies to a gang of thugs and bullies.

It was time to channel every bit of pain and anger into a new character. Not one to shoot and kill and move tactically. It was time for someone to spit venom right back in a raider’s face so fiercely they would avoid fighting her out of fear or respect.

Running a hand through her short, buzz cut hair, she mimicked the broken, drug-crazed laugh that haunted her restless dreams. Turning the energy into a forced grin that was as manic as she could manage, Fluttershy slammed the full force of The Stare onto Jack.

“You want to know where I’m from!?” Fluttershy growled like a wolf as she took an aggressive stomp forwards. It was Jack’s turn to step back as her attention was singled out on him. “Where I’m from doesn’t breed spineless half-shit raider bosses who toss their own people under the wagon.” Fluttershy added a giggle to sell the new, insane persona she had slipped into far too easily. “You stick together or you fucking die, through thick or thin… because buddy, shit back home is large enough to eat deathclaws for breakfast. Ever have a hydra chase you? Or have a manticore blow your eardrums out with a cry of pain?”

“W-what the fuck are you!?” Jack gasped, backpedaling several steps. Fluttershy considered she may have been taking her new guise too far as she saw a large damp patch run down the legs of his pants… but it was too late to lay off now and appeared to be working as the other gang members backed away with Jack.

“If my resting bitch face can make you piss yourself… leave before I get restless.”

Jack started to turn, but one of the other male raiders put a hand on Jack’s shoulder.

“Are you gonna let her boss us around like that!?” He asked.

Fluttershy clenched her teeth as Jack shook his head and narrowed his eyes, turning back to her. He countered her stare with a glare of his own that brimmed with fury.

While the stare was powerful, it had limits. She could use the stare on entire flocks of simpler animals, while Discord was immune due to his willpower. She could only stare down one or two sentient creatures at a time, and once they were aware of the stare it was harder to stare them down again.

Of course one of Jack’s gang would snap him out of it. This was a stupid plan. She acted too rash and angry while playing the part of a raider.

“No,” Jack said, fists clenched. “If she wants to be all big and bad, she can prove it. You and me, right here, right now, no guns.”

The other raiders, save Ethan, gave a loud whoop. Each one began chanting, “Fight, fight, fight, fight!” clapping and jeering as they backed off into a semi-circle.

“Uhhh,” Daniel said from behind Fluttershy. “What’s going on?”

Fluttershy ignored him. Instead she stepped past Ethan, who moved to get behind her.

Her new persona was already failing at its goal and getting her into deep trouble. Less than an hour as Raider Shy, and she was already in a fight. Maybe there was a way to deescalate the situation.

“If this really is coming down to a fight,” Fluttershy said, holstering her pistol. “We’ll at least need to fight over something that matters. I win, you and your gang leave the area. Back down now and I’ll just take Ethan off your hands, you don’t want him. It’s a win for you in the end.”

Jack laughed. It was a smug laugh, an attempt to soothe his wounded pride in a layer of bravado.

“Oh no, I can’t back down now that my gang wants me to win,” Jack growled at her while rolling his shoulder. The 10mm SMG fell to the floor while he raised his fists and licked his lips. “Because when I do, they get to watch me fuck you bloody before they get a turn.”

Graphic sexual violence. Of course he threatened her with that. Fluttershy was a woman, he was a raider. Taking a breath, Fluttershy slung her sniper rifle around to catch in one hand.

Holding her left arm straight out to the side, Daniel took the rifle from her, whispering, “Are you really about to do this? We could just shoot them.”

Taking a long look at Jack, Fluttershy clenched her jaw. She still had three female friends unaccounted for in a world full of Jacks, and a lot of unanswered questions. A dark, buried part of her wanted this fight. A chance to knock the teeth out of someone who preyed on others for sport. Jack had all but admitted to being a raider with his words and threat. All bets were off.

“Threatening me like that was a mistake,” Fluttershy said, taking a step towards Jack, who responded by stepping towards her. She raised her fists to match his own.

“What, scared?” Jack scoffed as he looked up at her. His brave grin wavered as he seemed to realize Fluttershy had a few inches on him.

Fluttershy had always been tall. As a filly, she had hit puberty early and the growth spurts started soon after. She had felt like a freak towering over the other fillies and colts at flight camp. At the moment, she was glad for the height advantage.

“No,” Fluttershy boldly lied. Of course she was scared. There was always the possibility of losing the fight. She buried the fear under an oncoming torrent. She flared her nostrils as her heart thundered like a drum. It pumped blazing, enraged blood through her system like a rapidly spreading poison. It sickened her, yet invigorated her, becoming the oil in the gears of the engine of destruction she was about to become.

“Tear her apart!” One of the jeering raiders on the sidelines shouted, mirroring her thoughts towards Jack. The poor, sad, angry raider was going to lose. Fluttershy was sure of it.

Jack shuffled forwards with Fluttershy copying his moves. He kept his guard up until he was close enough to Fluttershy to swing. Fluttershy weaved back, then sidestepped, throwing out a crosscut. Jack knocked it away with his right forearm, opening her guard enough to land a solid left-hook to her chest… right into the solid chestplate of her combat armor with a knuckle-shattering crunch. He jerked his hand back, clutching it to his own chest with a whimper of pain.

Fluttershy snapped up the opportunity and closed the gap. Throwing her arms around him, she wrapped him in a bear hug. It trapped both of his hands between their chests as she lifted his feet off the ground. He tried to pull away but his arms were pinned. He couldn’t get leverage.

An absolutely malignant, raider of an idea wormed its slimy way into her thoughts. Beat him at his own game. Show him what it was like to be at someone’s mercy. Inflict slow, shameful pain on him. The dark thought won out as she leaned her chin close to his shoulder, lips inches from an ear as she whispered in raspy raven’s sing-song.

“You didn’t say anything about knives.”

Jack didn’t have time to respond before Fluttershy slipped her right hand up her left sleeve and ripped the punch dagger free from its hidden sheath. She dropped Jack from the bear hug, and all of his breath escaped in one raspy wheeze as she pushed the blade into his left side, right between the ribs.

“Feel that?” Fluttershy asked with a sickly-sweet hiss. It was a corrupted, dark, falsely caring tone. “Hurts when something gets stuck in you without permission, huh?”

She kneed him between the legs hard enough to lift him off the ground as she twisted and ripped the blade free for good measure.

Jack’s knees buckled when he landed. He fell over, writhing in pain as he gasped for air like a beached fish. Crimson rapidly pooled around him from his opened side. A few seconds passed before he rolled over, curled up, and vomited.

The raiders on the sidelines were… cheering?

Fluttershy looked up from Jack, her focus now on her surroundings.

“God-damn!” One of the male raiders on the sidelines yelled. “You fucked Jack up like it was nothing… you got more space in your crew, lady?”

“Damn right!” The lone female raider cheered. “Got him good with the… the techna-calamity… technology…gah! The bullshit where it feels like you broke and followed the rules at the same time!”

Fluttershy’s blood turned to ice as it dawned on her. She had acted crazy enough to convince raiders she was boss-worthy material. That hadn’t been part of the plan. She just wanted them to leave the area after giving Jack what he deserved.

Jack’s groan pulled Fluttershy’s attention back to him as he rolled to his knees. He pushed himself up to stand as he tossed away the stimpak he had injected himself with.

“T-that was–” he started, before bringing a hand up and heaved into it. He swallowed, snorted, then spat out a wad of vomit-coated snot. “F-fucking cheap.”

He reached into a pocket and pulled out a syringe of med-x. He plunged it into his thigh.

Fluttershy wasn’t going to give him time to slam chems and get his second wind. Beating her wings she shot up while spinning and sticking a leg out. Her boot connected with his hand and the syringe spun away, only a quarter empty as remnants of the needle stayed buried in his thigh.

“Gah, you mother fucker!” Jack growled in feral rage. He glared daggers at Fluttershy, who hovered a few inches off the ground. “I’m going to gouge out your eyes with my dick!”

He limped forward and swatted at her. Fluttershy dodged by simply flying backwards and up.

“Why?” Fluttershy asked, pinching the bridge of her nose with a sigh. “Why use the same threats that got me so angry I dragged myself to your level… you’ve already lost. I’m in combat armor, can fly, and the moment you go for your gun you prove even more to your gang you don’t have what it takes.”

Slipping the dagger back into its sheath, Fluttershy flew a few paces backwards before landing between Daniel and Ethan.

“I really, really, really wanted to kill you…” Fluttershy said, sighing heavily as she mentally balled up the raider persona and threw it far, far away. “But that toxicity isn't me. The next person to stand up to you might not be merciful. Last chance—for your sake and the sake of your gang—leave and turn your life around. I can’t fix whatever you did to the world and other people by killing you, but I can help by putting you on the right path.”

Violence begets violence. Becoming a bigger monster to fight monsters wasn’t the answer. She needed to stick to what she knew. Be kind, caring, and try to heal this world instead of drowning it in blood.

“How touching,” Jack wheezed. The wheeze turned into a cackling laugh. “Almost makes me want to cry a little.” He turned to his gang, favoring the thigh that didn’t have needle shards in it. “This lesbian-lookin’ bitch ain’t worth our time, let’s go.”

The gang members all looked away from him.

“What the fuck!?” Jack cried out. “We’re supposed to have each other’s back.”

“Have our backs?” The one female raider snapped as she fixed Jack with a glare. “Wings is right, you're a half-shit that was glad Sarah offed herself because she annoyed you… fuck you and fuck being a raider. Ethan and Sarah tried to go clean and change their ways so they could go back and live with the ponies.” The raider woman crossed her arms. “That’s right, I paid attention to what Ethan and Sarah talked about, unlike you. Didn’t you think it was funny that both of their stories lined up… and, I dunno… Ethan has fucking wings and shit that work rather than looking like a super mutant took a dump? His mutations aren't normal.”

The two male raiders gave nods of agreement.

“Fine,” Jack snarled. He lifted up his middle finger as he spun around and started walking towards the other end of the bridge. “Fuck all of you religious nutjobs. I’ll start a new gang.”

Fluttershy’s jaw set. He had his back to her. It would be easy… but she had people that needed a better example to learn from than Jack. Shooting a man in the back wasn’t kind.

“Soooo,” Daniel said slowly, “we’re apparently a gang now. When I woke up this morning, I never expected that.”

Explaining her new gang to Twilight was going to be a long story. Oh, and of course there were ways back to Equestria, couldn’t forget that. Or that Discord and Celestia were sending people back rather than coming here to find them. And that was all on top of the human dark mage still being at large. And they still needed to get that dish for Three Dog before finding Daniel’s father.

So many spinning plates, it was getting hard to keep track of them all. This was becoming far more complicated than any of the past adventures with her friends.

<>~<>~<>

Ethan sat down across from the wounded angel. Her face was still beautiful despite the scars crowning her brow, parts of her face, and neck.

“So,” Fluttershy asked in a soft, gentle voice. “I want to know everything about your visit to Equestria.”

Ethan nodded.

“It all began two weeks ago,” Ethan said. “That’s when the lights started to appear. Just a flicker, like an electric spark but with no wires in sight. Little by little they started getting bigger and lasting longer day by day. Sometime early last week, Jack wanted us to make sure the lights we were seeing wasn’t something nasty, so me and Sarah got sent to look for the source. We went downstairs, off the bridge and onto the tracks of the Red Line. We only made it about a minute before one ball lit up right in front of me, like it knew I was walking its way.”

<>~<>~<>

“Sarah! Sarah!” Ethan yelled, spinning in place and falling over as his legs refused to work. One of the lights had hit him and sucked him into a tunnel of lights that were every color he knew and more. It had almost given him a seizure.

The tunnel had pulled him along, before it had suddenly spit him out into a field. But a field unlike any he had seen in real life. Only old pre-war posters showed that hills and fields used to be covered in some sort of green carpet stuff.

Laying on his side, he looked at his light gray fur, black hooves, leathery wings, and black tail. He still had his armor and weapons, but he wasn’t himself anymore. Confused as to why he was in a new body, he tried to get his bearings.

The sky was so beautiful and blue. The sun was out, a rare sight in the Capital Wasteland. It hurt his eyes to look around too long, so he closed them and enjoyed the sun warming his thin body. It felt far realer than any chem trip he knew.

Jet dreams were good, but the sights and sounds weren’t bouncing around and off each other, while psycho was never this mellow, and med-x just made him sleep without dreaming.

Was he dead? He couldn’t be… it was too quiet and there was no fire or whatever brimstone was. Ethan knew of Heaven and Hell and Saint Monica from the church in Rivet City.

Rolling over so his new hooves were under him, Ethan stood on shaky legs and looked around again.

There were miles and miles of gently rolling hills covered in fields of the green carpet, and actual living trees so close together Ethan couldn’t see through them. A town of white houses with yellow roofs lay in the distance, maybe a mile away. Near the town was a massive patch of dark, almost sinister looking trees.

A blue glow radiated from deep within the woods, illuminating the floating rocks and trees that spun slowly in the air. A large purple bubble covered the entire patch of woods.

Glowing meant radiation. Ethan knew to avoid that. He turned his attention to the mountains in the far background. That was when he saw it.

A city hung impossibly off the side of the tallest mountain, white and gold and beautiful, with a waterfall of clear blue water falling from it in a great cascade.

By some miracle, he had ended up in heaven. The pearly gates were right on that mountain.

Ethan looked at the town again. It had wagons and barrels and furniture piled up around it, giving it a wall, much like most Wasteland towns. It may have been where he needed to go, since it was something familiar to any Wastelander.

Walking without stumbling took several minutes as his new body worked out which order to put what hoof in. Eventually, he did achieve an even pace towards the town.

As he got closer, he could see more people walking around the fields around town. They looked like Giddyup Buttercup toys, but actual flesh and blood creatures. There were many different types of all shapes and colors. Some flew through the air on wings, some had horns, while others made do with neither.

Ethan craned his neck back at his leathery wings and frowned. Every angel statue back in DC had feathered wings. Not leather stretched over bones. The light hurt his eyes as well. This place was not for him.

A heavy thump sounded from behind him. Ethan spun to face the noise and nearly voided his bowels at the sight of Satan himself!

The serpent was an ugly quilt of mismatched parts that stood three times taller than him. A red serpent tail, brown furred body, one scaly deathclaw leg and one leg that looked like a brahmin. He had one feathered wing and one leathery wing. One arm was that of a yao-guai, while the other had the talons of a vulture.

Then there was his head. Mismatched horns sprouted from between two curling, pointed ears. His head was covered in gray fur, while most of his hair was black, but he had white eyebrows and a white goatee. His maw was filled with large, yellowed teeth and a single snaggle-fang.

The whites of his eyes were piss-yellow, and the beady red dots they contained glared right through him.

“Gah!” Ethan sputtered at the creature who loomed over him.

“Well, hello,” Satan said, his voice as smooth as silk and liquid silver, despite his ragged appearance. Reality went sideways, and Ethan could smell purple as the ground beneath his hooves turned to wonderglue.

“P-please,” Ethan whimpered, looking away. “I don’t want to go to Hell.”

That vulture-clawed hand turned his chin to face the giant.

“Tell me, Wastelander,” The creature demanded. Ethan watched as those red dots for eyes became twirling swirls that sucked all willpower from him. “What are your crimes?”

<>~<>~<>

“I couldn’t resist his magic,” Ethan said. Fluttershy held a hand to her mouth in horror at the story that had unfolded. “Every murder I could remember, every chem I’m addicted to… so much stuff I’ve done the last few years has been so evil. I thought he was going to drag me off to Hell when I finished. Instead he took my weapons, told me to change my evil ways, then sent me back.”

Fluttershy grimaced. Something terrible had happened in Equestria. The Everfree Forest was under a shield, Ponyville had surrounded itself in a wall, all the while Discord and Celestia were busy tossing people back into the Wasteland.

She didn’t know what to do with Ethan. He admitted to being a raider, but seeing Equestria had made him want to change his ways. There were also the other three raiders that saw her as a boss. She was responsible for all of them.

All Fluttershy knew is that if Equestria was in danger from people like raiders just showing up out of nowhere, then Discord had a reason to stay in Equestria. There were worse things than raiders. A single feral ghoul would shut down the entire country over fear of an actual zombie plague, or a sentry bot could show up in Ponyville, or a deathclaw.

Worry ate its way through Fluttershy until she realized Ethan was staring at her while she chewed on her nails.

“Um, sorry,” Fluttershy said, pulling her hand away. “Just thinking about what must have happened to have Discord be so… aggressive. He took your weapons before sending you back?”

“And my ammo, chems, basically everything but my food, water, armor, and a knife so I wasn’t totally defenseless,” Ethan explained with a nod. “When I was sent back, I reappeared almost all the way to Museum Station. Jack nearly shot me when I first came through the tunnel. In the days since then, I taught myself to fly and swore I’d change my ways.”

“What about Sarah?” Daniel asked. He had been listening in the entire time, as well as the other three raiders.

“Sarah reappeared on the surface and took about half a day to reach us. She… took getting kicked out of Equestria hard. Trying to go cold turkey on so many chems hit her even harder,” Ethan said, looking down at the table. “I don’t blame your people for not wanting us there… at least they gave us a chance to turn back from the path we were on. Even if I thought wrong about it being heaven.”

Fluttershy winced. One addiction was hard to beat. But to be strung out on so many things? Maybe she could open some sort of rehab for raiders? Help them get off chems and be better people.

“I meant to ask,” Fluttershy said, putting the thought aside for later. “Where did Sarah go for Celestia to be the one to send her back?”

“She ended up in that white city on the mountain,” Daniel replied.

Fluttershy choked on her gasp.

Ponyville was dozens, maybe even close to a hundred miles from Canterlot. It took the better part of a day to get there by train, and a pegasus with a good pair of wings would be worn out from a round-trip flight. If Sarah and Ethan had been sent through the same portal and ended up so far apart… where were her friends?

<>~<>~<>

Adjusting her tie as she stared at her reflection in the full-body mirror in her room, Rainbow Dash smiled. She looked good in a suit, and as a human-pony-cyborg… thing.

Living the life of a high-speed aerial stunt pony with a history of crashing had led to nearly every bone in her body having been broken or fractured at least once. The doctors had said she had the spine of a woman twice her age. After replacing her spine, Rainbow Dash could feel the difference.

Funnily enough, getting a new spine wasn’t as off-putting as the black dye for her mane and tail. It still felt wrong not seeing her rainbow locks in her reflection. She was Rainbow Dash without the rainbow. At least the new color went well with her suit.

Reaching for her suit, she pulled open the top coat and checked how easy it was to draw the pistol from the harness-like holster rig hanging from her shoulders. It was a plasma defender model. Fancier than the normal plasma pistols.

Finding the draw satisfactory, she holstered her gun and checked the pouches opposite the holster. They were for spare plasma cartridges and a pair of handcuffs. Next she checked the pouches on her belt.

Normally, she didn’t use belt pouches, but today was special. She had been issued grenades.

She stopped her routine as the door to her room opened. She turned to face the tall, gray-haired human who entered. He wore a dark tan overcoat over his black uniform, and radiated a presence of martial authority that Rainbow Dash could respect. He presented himself much like Captain Spitfire. In her opinion, Colonel Augustus Autumn would make a great pegasus.

“Have you finished preening yourself?” Colonel Autumn asked. “We are on a rather tight schedule. Dallying in the mirror is merely wasting precious time.”

Rainbow Dash grinned as she pulled out a pair of shades from her breast pocket.

“You’ve seen how fast I move, right, Colonel? This’ll be over in seconds,” Rainbow Dash joked as she placed the shades over her magenta eyes and flapped her wings.

“For our sake, the sake of America, and the sake of the Enclave, I hope your bravado is not misplaced, Rachel,” Colonel Autumn said with a long annoyed sigh.

“If you’re gonna use my human name, might as well use it all,” Rainbow Dash said with a wry smile that made Autumn groan. Rainbow struck a pose while crossing her arms. “My name is Special Agent Rachel Dash, United States Secret Service.”

Colonel Autumn shook his head slowly, before finally letting a chuckle slip out.

“You certainly are more entertaining than Special Agent Horrigan.”

“And not as ugly,” Rainbow Dash quipped.

“For the Enclave,” Colonel Autumn said.

“For America,” Rainbow Dash replied.

Showtime.

Chapter 13: Rest

View Online

The afternoon sun hid behind ugly black and gray clouds, obscuring the world in a dreary overcast. Twilight was no expert when it came to the weather operating on its own, but it looked like a storm was coming.

She hoped Daniel and Fluttershy would be back before it rolled in. They hadn’t been gone long enough for her to get tired of leaning against the chains acting as railing surrounding most of Rivet City’s deck.

“Are you okay, Darling?” Rarity asked from beside her, pouting her lip. “I hate to see you in such a sour mood. You should be resting and relaxing.”

“I know,” Twilight said, slumping her shoulders as she turned to her friend. She had watched her friends go down into a Metro tunnel. The last one Twilight had been in—her first one as well—had been a nightmare of ghouls that ended in nearly losing her life to a landmine. “I’m worried about what they might have to fight in the tunnels. I also have a lot of other stuff on my mind.”

“As much as it surprises me to say it, I think Fluttershy could handle it by herself,” Rarity said with a small nod. She crossed her arms and leaned against one of the poles that supported the chains. “So what’s on your mind?”

“Just… everything,” Twilight said with a lame sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Too many things, and all of them are arguing to be at the top of my list. Like, where are the rest of the girls and Spike? Or this weird relationship I have going on with Daniel despite only knowing him for about three days. Or how, when we left Equestria, it seemed like every villain from our past was making a comeback, and now the Princesses have to unretire because we’re not there to run things.”

There was so, so much more. But she wasn’t going to drag down Rarity’s mood if she could help it. Maybe at least one of them could relax.

“That is a lot of everything,” Rarity tutted and shook her head. “But if Equestria managed a thousand years under just Celestia, the country can survive our temporary absence now that Luna is back. Also, you’ve found two of us in only your short time with Daniel, so I’m sure you’ll find the other girls in no time at all. I also have my mercenaries helping as well.”

That helped soothe some of Twilight’s worries. It allowed Twilight to shift focus onto the next set of questions plaguing her. Rarity could possibly answer one that had sprung up since she had heaped caps onto Twilight after breakfast.

“Speaking of mercenaries,” Twilight said. “Why in the hay do you have mercenaries? I mean, how, exactly? We’ve been here for how long, and you’re already rich enough to hire people to do your bidding?”

“We’ve been here for seventeen days, if you count today, so two and a half weeks,” Rarity said with a nod. It was nice to finally get an exact number of days, rather than guesstimates. “As for money, I’ve filled every niche I could with my magic. Purifying water, cleaning the ship, making lights, repairing weapons and armor, as well as cleaning people and their clothes.”

Twilight started to nod, but something wasn’t adding up. Rarity had said she cleaned clothes and people for cheaper than what it cost to take a normal shower with the facilities Rivet City had. Rarity also wouldn’t deprive people of clean drinking water, so Twilight assumed she purified water for cheap as well. Two and a half weeks was still too short to amass enough wealth to set up her store. Twilight had seen the inside of it. The overhead alone should have had Rarity in the red, but she had turned enough profit to give Daniel and Fluttershy enough caps for combat armor and other supplies. That included a new gun for Daniel, and a concealable knife for Fluttershy.

“Oh drat, I see your face doing the thing,” Rarity sighed.

“What thing?” Twilight asked, looking at her friend. Why was Rarity blushing? What had she done to get so rich?

“That thing where your face scrunches up when you’re thinking very hard on a puzzle. I know I can’t keep it from you, so I’ll spill it. I received an absolutely overly-generous sum of caps from Caitlyn Dire down in the lower decks. She was the one who introduced me to the concept of hiring mercenaries.”

“What does Caitlyn do?” Twilight asked slowly. Was Rarity doing something illegal? “I haven’t been to the lower decks.”

It must be something important or very lucrative if Caitlyn was able to pay Rarity so many caps. Not to mention mercenaries were involved. Twilight’s worry grew. It sounded more and more like it was illegal by the second. Was Rarity using her magic to make some sort of super-chem?

“How to put this properly and politely?” Rarity asked herself as she tapped a finger to her chin and hummed in thought. She stopped tapping and quickly glanced around to make sure they were alone before she spoke. “She runs a… companionship inn.”

“Ohhhhh,” Twilight said, nodding slowly. Brothels were extremely rare in Equestria, mostly in large towns or cities, and always out of the public view. They were also illegal. It was mostly due to the risk of spreading venereal diseases, rather than moral outrage. There were some nobles in Canterlot who wished Celestia and Luna would take a stronger stance against prostitution, but like most crime, it was so rare it was nearly a non-issue.

Twilight attempted to put the pieces of the puzzle together from Rarity’s vagueness. Had she become a sex worker? Was that why she was so nonplussed about her and Daniel?

“Now,” Rarity said sheepishly. “Normally, I would never dream of going into a place like that, but I walked in not knowing what ‘bordello’ meant when I was exploring the ship. I was hoping to see if maybe any of our friends, or you, had ended up here in Rivet City with me. Unfortunately not, but by sheer coincidence the first person I met when I walked through the door was Caitlyn. We talked for a few hours and eventually worked out a lucrative deal where I provide her workers with a contraceptive spell and recast it every week to keep it at full effectiveness. Caitlyn was so grateful I could help her keep the workers safe, she offered me caps and a free night’s stay. Mind you, this was my first day here and back before I knew my way around the ship. She even offered to let me stay with her for a night.”

“Did you take her up on the offer?” Twilight asked. “I thought you were strictly into stallions.”

“Well,” Rarity said, looking at her hooves. “I was lost, confused, and scared. And she was such a dear. She didn’t treat me like I was some freak like security did, and she listened to everything I said like it was true. I’ve always seemed to fall for stallions who never seem interested in me in return.” She took a deep breath and held it. She shifted from hoof to hoof before exhaling, saying as she did. “I… think I like mares better. At least they aren’t off the table for me anymore… I hope you aren’t mad at me.”

“Why would I be mad at you?” Twilight asked. What was Rarity on about? Homosexual relationships were so common in Equestria it wasn’t even an issue. Twilight placed a hand on her friend's shoulder to show her support. “It’s not a problem. Rainbow Dash likes mares and we’re friends with her.”

“It’s not that, darling,” Rarity said, shaking her head as she pulled away from the hand. “I’ve been too scared to leave this ship. I look outside and all I see are big scary destroyed buildings. I haven’t gone out into the Wasteland personally to search for any of our friends. I’ve just hid here while sending out mercenaries. I’ve been enjoying myself while you and Fluttershy have been physically and mentally scarred out there.”

Oh.

Twilight shook her head slowly, gently sighing as she did. Now it was her turn to cheer Rarity up.

“I won’t hold it against you, Rarity,” Twilight said. She brought Rarity into a hug. “I honestly hope that none of our friends are looking for us, and instead have settled into a nice safe spot where they can be happy and out of harm's way. With any luck, only Fluttershy and I will need therapy and a few surgeries when we get back.”

“Knowing our friends,” Rarity said as she hugged back a few seconds before breaking away. “They’re looking. Rainbow Dash is too loyal to not try and find us, AJ is far too stubborn, Spikey-Wikey brave, and Pinkie Pie is so random I half expect her to somehow mail herself to us despite the postal service being dead for two centuries.”

Twilight snorted. That would be something to see, a giant box arriving and Pinkie Pie suddenly jumping out with a mini-nuke’s worth of confetti. It would be completely fitting for her.

“We’ll find them,” Twilight said with a smile. “I know we will. Now, want to spend time together, or do you have a store to run?”

“Ah, yes,” Rarity replied. “It is almost time for me to get off break. Swing by sometime. If you’re so determined to not enjoy your ‘you’ time, I can put you to work.”

“Oh, the horror,” Twilight laughed as she feigned swooning.

Twilight felt a lot better. She hoped Fluttershy and Daniel had an easy, safe trip through the Metro.

<>~<>~<>

Inside, Rarity’s beautification of Rivet City hadn’t fully reached the market yet. Large sections of the interior hull were coated in thick layers of brown rust, and only a few of Rarity’s soda bottle lights hung from the ceiling. They joined side-by-side with two-hundred-year-old light fixtures that were on the cusp of burning out. Plenty of shadows lingered in the open market.

Dozens of stalls were set up in the middle of the giant room in a style similar to a bazaar or flea market. Twilight hadn’t seen any stalls selling slaves, but with so many stalls to look through, she hadn’t visited them all during her earlier shopping spree with Daniel and Fluttershy.

There were more people in the market than Twilight had seen anywhere else in the Wasteland. The hum of voices filled the air while the scent of cooking food wafting over from one stall labeled as Gary’s Galley. With all the sights, sounds, and smells, Rivet City was worthy of the title of a city. It reminded her of Kludgetown outside the borders of Equestria.

Twilight’s thoughts drifted to that town as she absentmindedly walked towards the smell of food. Rarity had already departed to run her store, allowing Twilight to wander the market alone and think.

The more she thought about it, the more parallels she drew between the desert around Kludgetown and the town itself to the Capital Wasteland. She had nearly been sold into slavery by Capper to Verko, and before that she had seen horns of all shapes and sizes being sold by a street vendor. All of that had happened just outside of Equestria. The Diamond Dogs had also tried holding Rarity as their slave, and that was near Ponyville.

Hindsight certainly stripped away a lot of the soft and fluffy veneer Twilight viewed her world through. How many times could she or her friends have been killed on their adventures? How many fatal falls had they been rescued from just in the nick of time? Or how many dangerous creatures and animals had they escaped?

Success after success had blinded Twilight to the reality that life wasn’t fair all the time. Luck wasn’t a winning survival trait. When would the luck of her or her friends run out?

She pushed the thought away, forcing herself to focus on food as she arrived at Gary’s Galley. Anything other than falling back into a depressing pit of despair.

Galaxy news radio played on a radio sitting on the counter. Twilight checked the time on her Pip-Boy. Eleven Fifty-Nine A.M.

If Three Dog was punctual, the news would play in a minute.

Twilight paid the other patrons no more than a cursory glance as she sat at the only open barstool in front of the wide flat countertop. To her left was a black haired girl wolfing down a bowl of bomb-shaped cereal puffs, and to her right one of the security guards eating a bowl of noodles. She smiled at the chef, who she guessed was Gary. He smiled back, and to Twilight’s surprise the other patrons flanking her hadn’t suddenly got up and moved.

It was a welcome change compared to Moriarity’s Saloon.

“It’s a pleasure to meet another unicorn,” the man said, smiling. “My name is Gary Staley, and I will be your chef this afternoon. What can I get you?”

“I’ll need a minute to order,” Twilight replied, “I’ll probably be ready by the time Three Dog is done with the twelve P.M. broadcast.”

Gary nodded as the music ended, replaced by Three Dog’s charismatic voice.

“Helooooooo, Capital Wasteland. It’s meee! Three Dog, coming at ya ta howl the truth over these airwaves.”

Twilight studied the menu, trying to make her choice on what to order as she listened in.

“Now, we all know that the wild-wild wasteland is, well, wild. But let me tell you it’s starting to go from wild to just plain weird. I’ve just got word into the studio that some strange mutants similar to Fluttershy and the white-furred woman from Rivet City have been spotted several times out in the wider wasteland. Many of my sources and informants wish for me to profusely apologize to you listeners on their behalf.”

Twilight froze, ears swiveling to listen in. WHERE!?

“Now I would apologize, but this one is on my informants for not looking deeper into the ‘absolutely outlandish’ idea that humans can fly around with wings until I interviewed one of them in my studio. I hate to be a bad boss, but if you get a strange report, maybe follow up on it before dismissing it outright. The Wasteland is a strange place… Canterbury Commons still has people in superhero costumes fighting each other for Christ's sake. As for where they’re at, my sources say there have been at least ten sightings scattered about, so you might see one pretty soon.”

Other Equestrians were in the wasteland?

“Onto the next strange bit of news. The raiders of Evergreen Mills claim to have witnessed a ‘kaiju fight’ between a four-headed mutant dragon thing and a super mutant behemoth. What’s a kaiju? Hell if I know! I don’t speak fancy. Capping off this segment, it's time for the weather. It looks like we have a rainstorm coming. Local meteorologist Three Dog says, ‘look outside if you don’t believe me’... and that’s it for today, children. More news at seven o’clock”

Now there were hydras!?

“Huh, are you unicorns and pegasi from up north in the Commonwealth?” Gary asked.

“N-no. I’m from far, faaaar away… could I get something vegetable based that’s quick to make and eat, and a bottle of purified water, please,” Twilight requested as she breathed slowly. She set the caps on the counter. “One second, please… I need to try something.”

She had a full night’s sleep and stimpak-assisted healing. With other Equestrians and a HYDRA of all things in the Wasteland, she needed her magic back.

Staring at one of the caps, Twilight squinted her eyes in concentration as she drew in a breath. She held it several seconds as she mentally prepared herself for what she knew would happen. This was going to hurt a lot.

She released the breath and relaxed as best as she could. She coaxed magic into her horn, up the spiraling bone-like material and to the broken end. A sensation like dozens of pins and needles stabbed her brain, but she pushed on until a purple light spluttered above her brow like a candle flame in the wind.

The pins and needles turned into a searing, stabbing blade ramming into her skull as she wrapped one of the bottle caps with telekinesis as sparks shot out her broken horn.

Beads of sweat had already formed. She bared her teeth as they ran down her face. One salty drop managed to find its way into her left eye and burned like liquid fire.

While her concentration and magic were equally fragile, she refused to yield. A miniscule metallic lid and some sweat in her eye would not defeat her!

That lone bottle cap floated several inches off the counter and Twilight’s determination redoubled. She COULD do this. She pushed the bottle cap through the air as her head spun.

Gary caught the bottle cap.

Twilight inhaled sharply, the stabbing pain going back to pins and needles as the soap bubble of magic collapsed. The pain lingered as she panted. Despite the pain, she smiled.

She had her win. She wasn’t useless. She wasn’t crippled. She had some magic back! Look out Wasteland!

“That was, uhh, something,” Gary said, snapping Twilight out of her revelry. “Can I get the rest of the caps now?”

Twilight looked down to the pile she had left and sighed. Baby steps. Overdoing magic with a broken horn was like trying to sprint with a broken leg. It could lead to permanent damage. She pushed the remaining caps towards Gary with the palms of both hands and smiled sheepishly.

<>~<>~<>

Rarity’s shop was a circular tent made out of quilted-together rugs and carpets. The cornucopia of upholstery loomed near the farthest corner of the market.

Twilight reached the tent, noticing the small chalkboard on an easel beside the entrance. She hadn’t seen it earlier. It sported a simplified side-view drawing of an unbroken aircraft carrier, the name of the shop written on the hull. Rarity’s Renewed Relics.

Twilight slipped through the curtain that acted as an entrance. The interior was well lit. The carpet walls extended into a carpet floor, all renewed to a bright colorful luster.

Arranged against the single circular wall were multiple shelves, desks, and display cases, leaving the center of the tent more open air save for a circle of tables. Mannequins standing atop the tables wore pristine sets of armor and clothes. On the tables by the feet of the mannequins were neatly folded clothes and organized accessories like sunglasses and jewelry.

Towards the back was a large wooden privacy divider. The hinged wooden panels stood on metal legs and could be easily moved around to make a head-height wall of various shapes that would only show the feet of whoever was behind the panels.

If Twilight knew Rarity, it was likely the changing booth or where she cleaned customers.

Rarity sat near the entrance, behind a L-shaped desk typing away at a terminal in front of her. A radio next to the terminal was tuned to Galaxy News Radio and set to a low volume.

The store was just as captivating as the first time Twilight had entered.

“Hey, Rarity,” Twilight said as she approached the desk, catching Rarity’s attention. “Did you just hear the news?”

“I did,” Rarity said, pulling away from the terminal. “And I think an ornery hydra is exactly what raiders deserve. Those uncouth ruffians. Hopefully the other Equestrians end up somewhere civilized. We can’t go gallivanting off into the wastes right now with Fluttershy and Daniel gone. For now, you try and relax. Maybe ask the guards if you can use their shooting range, get some practice like I did.”

“Wait, you learned how to shoot?” Twilight asked. Rarity didn’t strike her as one to ever use a gun, but it made sense. The Wasteland was dangerous. Maybe the arriving Equestrians could understand how to not drop a firearm faster than Twilight had.

“Indeed I have,” Rarity said as she opened a drawer in her desk. She set out a large revolver that gleamed with a silver finish. “Guns are noisy, bothersome, crude things. But everyone else carries one, even some of the children, and there are no laws outside Rivet City. I hope these damnable things are never invented in Equestria.”

The thought sent a pit falling into Twilight's stomach. Pinkie Pie owned a cannon. It was only a matter of time before the technology was downsized.

“I hope so too, Rarity,” Twilight said. “I’ll see you as soon as I’m done practicing.”

“Very well… oh, and here,” Rarity said, pulling out two sheets of paper from the same drawer she had retrieved her guns from. “They almost slipped my mind again. When I arrived, I showed up with these pages. I haven’t read them fully because of the vulgarity. I only kept them because they were glowing with magic.”

“I found a page earlier in a raider’s satchel bag,” Twilight said, taking the journal pages. She looked at them, already seeing several examples of human curse words. The handwriting was different from the page she had found, but then again, the writer had been turned into a pony.

August 1st, 2077
Well, well, well… finally something good for a fucking change. Brass reassigned me to some sort of special project. I’m being transferred all the way to Washington D.C. Beats freezing my fucking ass off in Alaska.
All in all, Journal, I have no fucking clue why the Brass chose me. If it’s D.C. then that means something government related, which means this has black ops written all over it, but I’m not Special Forces. I’m a grunt nobody will miss.
Then again, I won’t be missed. If this is a suicide mission, I’m haunting everyone’s ass when I’m gone. Going to squirrel away this journal and record everything in case I need to blow the whistle on whatever the fuck is going on. A big old bird to Uncle Sam if I get bent over a barrel and somehow make it out alive.
Going to bed soon. Have to catch a flight early in the morning.

August 3rd, 2077
Arrived at D.C. after one hell of a layover because I had to take a civilian flight. Then it was two fucking hours of the TSA giving me the works. I finally reach muster and find out my suspicions were right on the fucking money. I’m working with a bunch of other grunts from all the fuck over, all taking orders from guys in black suits. Not all the grunts are army, either. Got air force, marines, navy, even a few Nat-Guard guys.
They poked and prodded us for hours. Not the suits, but some nerds from some sort of private super-science complex from somewhere in Nevada. So many samples, too, like damn. Blood, saliva, stool, hair, dandruff flakes. The whole nine yards and some of the endzone. A lot of physical exams as well. Doesn't make any sense, all the guys are some form of soldiers. We’ve passed most of these exams before bootcamp.
Almost lost my journal, but I slipped this cute blond nerd a handful of 20s to keep her from confiscating it. Need to be more careful.
The head nerd is some kraut not associated with the guys from Nevada. Guy gives me the creeps. Not as much as the head spook who calls himself Agent Evans, a former army Colonel.
He said we’d be going to “Phase 2” tomorrow. Like we’re supposed to know what that means. Context, asshole, ever hear of it? I swear as soon as they call you an agent your job description becomes ‘be as vague as humanly fucking possible’
Time to see what exactly Phase 2 is.

Twilight frowned. Starswirl the bearded had been frozen in another dimension for over a thousand years to lock away the Pony of Shadows. He had built the mirror that had led to Canterlot High.

Had humans in this world found one of Starswirl’s old mirrors… or had they made one of their own?

<>~<>~<>

The raider hideout had fallen into silence once the truth bomb had been dropped. Fluttershy stared across the picnic table at Ethan. She had no reason to doubt what he had said, despite her wanting to disbelieve it. If Ethan and Sarah had gone through the same portal and ended up so far apart…

Shaking her head to knock herself out of the stupor, Fluttershy regarded the three people sitting across from her at the table to see what she had to work with. It was a variety, that was for sure.

Ethan was dressed in light homemade armor so he could fly, while the lone woman wore spiked armor and clothing Fluttershy associated with typical raiders—just short of carrying around a pair of severed hands on her belt—while the younger of the two unnamed men wore an old police vest and jeans still sporting a faded POLICE label.

The only member of her new gang who had risen during the middle of Ethan’s retelling of events was a second, much older-looking man in battered combat armor patched together with so much scrap metal that the original armor was almost hidden by the repair work. He lingered just off to the side of their group.

If she was going to be trying to turn these people away from their lives of sitting in a metro station harassing people for chems, she needed to be a leader and learn their names.

“So let’s introduce ourselves,” Fluttershy said. “My name is Fluttershy. I’m twenty-five years old, and I’m an Equestrian native to the world that Sarah and Ethan went to. I’m also apparently your new boss, so I want to know as much as you’re comfortable with sharing to me about yourselves. I want to help you be good enough to be able to live in Equestria.”

Fluttershy knew she could have continued talking with Ethan and asked about what Sarah had seen in Canterlot, but after seeing how it had tragically ended in a bathroom stall… Fluttershy’s heart broke thinking about Sarah spiraling into a suicidal depression as she tried to kick her habits. Raiders may have been selfish, disorganized, violent, and cruel beyond any Equestrian’s imagination, but what if there was some redeeming quality left buried in them?

What was kinder? Trying to find that buried seed of good and try and help it grow, or just pulling a trigger and living with the consequences?

“–mith,” Ethan’s words pulled Fluttershy back to the here and now. She was lapsing again. “I’m twenty-six, and I like Grognak the Barbarian comics because I can understand the pictures.”

The woman beside him spoke next.

“Kerri Jones, I’m not sure exactly how old I am, something like maybe twenty, I’m originally from the Hard Asses out towards Megaton, but they went cannibal so I got out when I could. Just in time, too, I heard some Vault-boy went full psycho on them a while ago.”

Kerri turned her gaze towards Daniel, who narrowed his eyes at her. Fluttershy stretched her hand out to the side and placed it on Daniel’s hand, which grasped the handle of the 10mm pistol holstered to his leg.

“She left them,” Fluttershy said.

“Were the skeletons in the cages before or after your gang?” Daniel asked.

“Before,” Kerri said. “What, you think a gang calling themselves the Hard Asses had enough brains between all of them to install cages? Something weird went down at that school before we showed up, and all of us were too drunk or high to clear out the old shit. You want neat freaks, go bug that crew calling themselves the Cleaners. I think they’re in metro central.”

“I wasn’t aware there was a difference between raiders,” Daniel said, leaning forwards with an edge in his voice.

“Hah!” Kerri laughed. “You honestly think every raider will dress like this?” She placed her hands under the two wire colanders she wore as a bra and jiggled her breasts before leaning back with a howl of laughter. “You two have a lot to learn if you want to be raider bosses.”

Fluttershy sighed and looked at the sitting man, who was smiling at Kerri’s laughter.

“I’m Paul Henderson, and I’m here because I got kicked out Rivet City for stabbing a guy to death in a bar fight.”

Fluttershy winced. She knew it was going to be an uphill battle trying to redeem raiders. But she had to try after what she had done. Discord was a millenia old spirit with godly powers, and she had managed to get through to him. Maybe there was a slim chance at changing the ways of these people. She looked to the last raider, the older looking man.

“Name’s Slim Joe, I’m fifty-three years old,” Slim Joe grunted. “I’m here because I’m an asshole. Story ends there.”

Fluttershy frowned.

“There a problem?” she asked the man.

“Oh, I dunno,” Slim Joe snidely replied. “You tell me. You show up to our door cleaner than any Wasteland trash I’ve ever seen, yet you put Jack in his place after going all screaming psycho-addict. Then you pull a switcheroo and spare his life while claiming you want to change all our lives for the better. You’re fucking confusing the fuck out of me. I’ve been doing the raider life since I was fifteen. I’ve seen a lot of shit, done a lot of shit, but I’ve never seen shit like you. I’ve got no idea if I should follow you or leave the gang. For now, I’ll follow you and see how this plays out. Just… Some people aren’t worth saving. If you want to do this, girl, you’re going to see and do shit that’ll make you hate humanity.”

Fluttershy sighed.

“I need to try,” Fluttershy said with a sigh. “I’ve done things I regret. I haven’t even been in this world for three weeks and I’ve done things that will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

“Yeah?” Slim Joe asked. “What’s your big sin, then? Tell me, ye of so high moral standing, what the fuck depresses you enough to try and save our asses?”

“I shot a man in the spine,” Fluttershy said as she grit her teeth and balled her fists. “It wouldn’t have even crippled him since he was in power armor. I only destroyed the fusion core powering his suit, but he fell onto his back before he could eject and… and…”

“And what?” Slim Joe snapped. “Where’s that fury and fire you showed Jack? Or is the real you that spineless pushover who could barely speak during her interview?”

That was different! Three Dog said he had an audience of thousands of Wastelanders. The thought of messing up the interview had sent her shivering. Fluttershy slammed her fists onto the table.

“I executed him, okay?” Fluttershy yelled. “Put my rifle against the lenses of his helmet as he begged me for mercy. He couldn’t even move in his crippled power armor. He had dropped his weapon so he was unarmed, and I just… just quipped before pulling the trigger. ‘You who showed no mercy will receive none’.”

Fluttershy felt bile creeping up her throat as her guts clenched. She had been justified. Black Knight Bernard was a monster who killed most of the initiates from the training patrol with a single blast of dark magic. He had already hacked off one of Paladin Rose’s arms with his greatsword before Fluttershy had managed her lucky shot.

Still, Fluttershy had heard his begging and didn’t consider any alternatives as she gave into her rage. She hadn’t just pulled the trigger once, either. She had emptied an entire magazine into the helmet.

How could she face Twilight and the rest of her friends after carrying out a brutal murder of someone who could have been taken prisoner? What would be left of her if she had kept down the path she was on? She needed to change, try and make the Wasteland a better place rather than solve everything with bloody violence.

She wanted to go home and curl up under a giant dog-pile of fluffy critters and cry herself to sleep.

“Damn,” Slim Joe said. “So why are you here trying to lead a raider gang if you were part of the Brotherhood for only like, what, the day before yesterday was your interview?”

“That’s a long story,” Fluttershy said. “I’m still part of the Brotherhood.”

“Wait a sec,” Kerri said. “If you’re Brotherhood, but were fighting someone in power armor, did it happen to be a dude in black painted Brotherhood armor? Not black and red like those other Brotherhood guys, but straight black?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy replied as she took a slow breath to calm her nerves. “What do you know about him?”

“Not much about him, but the guy he was with was one creepy fucker. Showed up to Springvale before I left. Bald dude in one of those red Brotherhood of Steel robes but it was almost brown with dried blood. His face was also all carved up with letters not in the alphabet… and his eyes. The guy had a look in them and on his face like he was haunted by things, but he smiled like he was proud of it. Wanted to know if we wanted to join his crew, or if we had any children for sale. We were just there to shoot chems and raid caravans heading to and from Megaton, not diddle kids, so we told them to fuck off. That was maybe a year ago. Can’t really say, I’ve spent a lot of time zoned out and high.”

“If you see the bald man again, he’s a dead man,” Fluttershy said as she ground her teeth, some of her rage returning. “No exceptions. He’s done things I don’t consider redeemable. Now,” Fluttershy got out of her seat, “let’s get moving. What can you tell me about Museum station?”

“That station’s run by–” Paul started to say, as he stood with the rest of the group before he trailed off with a hum.

“It’s run by miserable wastes of space you’d find unredeemable,” Slim Joe said, crossing his arms. “They’re the type of raiders who dress like Kerri and do the whole song and dance of hanging bodies up.”

“Yeah,” Paul said. “But they aren’t cannibals. We get traffic coming through our toll booth from their direction, sometimes.”

“What’s with the hanging corpses thing?” Daniel asked. “Most raider gangs I’ve seen do it.”

“That’s mostly a thing for raider gangs outside the metro,” Kerri said. “Most gangs on the Lines avoid it since it attracts feral ghouls and radroaches. But the gangs that do do it, like the guys at Museum station, do it as a way to mark territory and show off how hard they’ve dominated other gangs. That’s where most of the corpses come from, other raider groups. You only have to worry about the gangs that hang up bodies that look like they’ve been butchered and cleaned like a brahmin carcass, or just have straight bite marks on them. That’s how I figured out why lunch at Springvale started to taste funny on one of my rare sober days. Left the old crew after that.”

Fluttershy’s stomach flipped faster than a show dog. She threw her forearm over her mouth and swallowed back bile.

“My reaction as well to my accidental cannibalism,” Kerri said as she started to walk away from Fluttershy and Daniel with the rest of the gang. They were headed in the direction of where they kept their supplies. “Huh… accidental cannibalism. Hey, Ethan, if we ever form that band we talked about we can–”

“York already took the name,” Ethan said with a laugh, walking beside Kerri.

“Damn,” Kerri said. “Now I actually have to think of a better name to top that.”

Fluttershy watched as the group walked off, bantering. Raiders were still people. Even before her snap decision to stop solving every problem with a bullet. The group she’d taken over had a history together. They slowly made their way over to where their supplies and beds were to collect more of their gear and meager belongings, bantering, bickering, and laughing.

She took a moment to look at their sleeping quarters, but stopped as the first thing she noticed was a Giddyup Buttercup poster by a cot. She assumed it was Sarah’s. Her first time seeing one of the posters out on patrol had been a shock. Ponies were just another type of animal in this world.

“Are you sure about this?” Daniel asked Fluttershy in a sharp whisper, drawing her attention away from her thoughts. “They’re raiders. I don’t like them, I don’t trust them, and I still think we should shoot them. How can you feel safe around them?”

“I don’t,” Fluttershy replied, not bothering to whisper since the raiders were across the room. “And I’m not sure. But I can’t execute them. I’ve been solving my problems the Brotherhood’s way for too long. I’m sick of it… I can’t keep going. That story I told them was true. I’ve executed a man in cold blooded fury, and nearly killed Jack in the same kind of rage. Thinking about it is what’s making me space out so much, now that I’m away from the Brotherhood. I need to do something other than fight or kill, or I feel like I’ll lose a very important part of myself forever. I can’t let the Wasteland take kindness away from me.”

She had been living with a core part of herself crushed down and subdued. Kindness wasn’t needed when a bullet could solve the problem. Going on so many patrols had led to so many skirmishes with raiders. Had those groups only been hostile because they were the Brotherhood of Steel?

“They’re dangerous people, Fluttershy,” Daniel said as he rubbed his face.

“I know,” Fluttershy replied. “I’m not naive enough to have glossed over the fact they’re all evil-leaning people. Jack was their boss, and none of them claimed that they wouldn’t have taken Jack up on his offer if he won. We’ll keep them in front of us… but they are not our human shields. I just want to keep my eyes on them. If any of them try anything, then you have my permission to solve it the traditional Wasteland way… I know I’m putting us at risk with this, and I should have listened to you instead of giving into my anger and accepting that fight. I’m just… just so peeved with the Wasteland.”

“You ponies are weird,” Daniel said, shaking his head slowly. “And… amazing. Just, be careful. I’ll keep my eyes on them and try to help you with whatever this is. It’s the least I can do for you since you didn’t knock my teeth out this morning.” Daniel chuckled. “Changing topics off the raiders, any good gift ideas for Twilight? I want to surprise her with something nice.”

“With Twilight, you can never go wrong with a book,” Fluttershy said as she smiled, glad for the topic change. She glanced at the raiders and saw many of them were already packed and coming back their way. “The more scientific and wordy the better.”

<>~<>~<>

Fluttershy walked alongside Daniel, the darkness of the metro tunnel beaten back by his Pip-Boy light. They were on the Red Line, northbound towards Museum station. With the threat of portals to her homeland popping up, Fluttershy decided it would be best to hurry and get Three Dog’s transmitter. With Twilight’s horn broken, telling her wouldn’t solve anything. It would just ruin any chance Twilight had to relax.

Even if they found a portal, it wouldn’t be of any use. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike were still missing. Going home to report on things and letting Discord or Celestia send them back wouldn’t work either. Sarah had ended up on the surface and took half a day to get back to the gang.

Fluttershy considered it was the best option to keep moving with the plan as it was. Twilight could learn everything when Three Dog’s job was over with.

By her best guess, they were nearly to Museum station. It was roughly two miles away from Anacostia Crossing station, and they had been walking a while. Although they had been traveling slowly so everyone could watch out for traps and avoid stepping on any of the rubble or detritus left over from the two-hundred years since the war.

It was important to keep a watchful eye out. According to her new gang—a fact Fluttershy was still wrapping her head around—the raiders at Museum station were a coin toss between being trading partners and mortal enemies. It all depended on how high they were, and whoever was in charge of either group. Which meant if they were feeling spiteful they could leave ‘gifts’ in each other’s way.

There was a thump as Ethan suddenly landed in front of Fluttershy. She jerked back, her hand reflexively going to her pistol grip before she could control her reaction. She let out a breath.

“You scared the life out of me, Ethan,” Fluttershy said sternly. “I nearly drew my gun on you. Did you see anything?”

“I did,” Ethan said with a nod. “Someone is coming down the tunnel.”

“Think they’re hostile?” Daniel asked.

“No,” Ethan said. “It’s a message runner from Metro Central. I’ve already spoken to him. Deathclaw Joe is calling for every gang on the Lines to come to Metro Central in three days for a Knock. The runner had just finished telling the guys at Museum station.”

“And what’s a knock?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s short for a knock-it-off. Deathclaw Joe wants every raider gang to drop any beef we have going on right now for a massive get together,” Ethan explained. “He calls one when he wants to act like he’s the king of all raiders. It’s a massive swap-meet and party where every raider gang on the Red and White Lines trade weapons, prisoners, gang members, and stories before eventually it all collapses into fighting and we go our separate ways. I’ve only been to one so far and it was fucking awesome… Can we go?”

A raider party where prisoners were exchanged like gifts. Lots of chances to look for any of her friends who may have been captured by raiders. But she couldn’t let her gang go there. It would just be one massive event filled with fighting, chems, and vices. She was trying to get Ethan and the others out of that life, not encourage it. And she couldn’t go by herself, that would just make her a hypocrite to her gang. Their allegiance to her wasn’t rock solid.

What was kinder? Going to this event to look for people that were possibly there and allow her gang the chance to ruin the three days of progress she could make with them before the Knock started? Or not allow her gang to go, but stay away with them and help them cope with the chem withdrawals they would be feeling by then, but possibly miss rescuing one of her friends from raiders?

Fluttershy clenched her jaw. Either choice was choosing to bite one sour lemon over the other. Problem was deciding which was the less sour one.

Looking ahead at the rest of the raiders who had stopped to wait for them, Fluttershy made her choice.

“We’ll go… but stay off the chems.”

<>~<>~<>

Rainbow Dash landed on the metal balcony.

Even with the cover of the rainy night, Rainbow Dash still had used a Stealth-Boy. The operation was so off-the-books, she wouldn’t exist to the Enclave if she failed. Officially, she was on a training mission.

She had flown so fast from Raven Rock that the Stealth-Boy rendering her invisible hadn’t even had time to burn out.

She approached the balcony door and gently pulled. The sliding glass door slid open a crack.

So far, so good.

Reaching in far enough to push a curtain aside so she could look through the gap, Rainbow Dash saw that the room beyond was illuminated. Piano music played from a holotape player sitting on an end table flanking a couch. She could not see the target.

Leaning away from the sliding glass door, she deactivated her Stealth-Boy early so the sound of it burning out wouldn’t give her away. She had a second Stealth-Boy and a few belt pouches with grenades as an escape plan. If the target saw the curtains move, being invisible wouldn’t help anyways.

Sliding the door the rest of the way open, Rainbow Dash slowly slipped inside and looked around.

Metal floors covered with ancient rugs. Metal walls, a few adorned with paintings of sailing ships. Old-world furniture, including the holotape player next to a cherry red leather couch.

The couch was empty, so was the lounge chair.

Rainbow Dash turned and closed the door behind her.

When she turned back around, a plasma pistol was staring her in her face.

“Oh, crud,” Rainbow Dash cursed.

“If my disappointment of a son wants my job so bad, he should have sent a better assassin,” General Julius Autumn said as he chuckled and lowered the plasma pistol to aim at Rainbow Dash’s chest instead of face. “Now, any last words?”

Rainbow Dash spluttered as she raised her hands in surrender, surprised she wasn’t dead yet.

“Before I say them, can I ask how’d you know I was coming?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Pressure sensors on the balcony,” General Autumn said, his wrinkled, elderly face stretching with a grin. “Now, your last words?”

“I’m not here to kill you… at least that wasn’t plan A. Plan A was to make you an offer,” Rainbow Dash replied quickly. “Eden put you out here at Adams instead of keeping you inside Raven Rock because you’re the one person who could see the bigger picture and started to question him.”

“Get on with it,” General Autumn said impatiently.

“Colonel Autumn wants me to ask you, how would you like to prevent the Enclave from making the same mistakes that got President Richardson, Agent Horrigan, and most of the Enclave erased with a nuke? Your son dug up some files and found out that Eden wants to poison Project Purity with modified FEV based off of Curling-13.”

General Autumn frowned as he lowered the plasma pistol to his side.

“You have my attention,” General Autumn said slowly. “If I say yes, what is the plan?”

“If we pull it off, Enclave Radio is going to turn into a numbers station for a few days. You keep Adams Air Force Base under lockdown until we transmit the all clear. Once you hear our new president after we play the Star Spangled Banner, try and keep the Enclave from tearing itself in two out here. If you agree, Colonel Autumn will transfer those who would be opposed to the change here.”

“So, my son does have aspirations outside of being the lapdog of a glorified terminal,” General Autumn said with a hearty chuckle. “If we have a shot at actually rebuilding America instead of destroying it, I’d line every one of those dissenters he sends me against a wall myself.”

Rainbow Dash winced.

“No, no executing our own troops,” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head. “A newer, better America starts with a newer, better Enclave.”

“I know my son doesn’t have the brains for that one,” General Autumn said coldly. “Drained most of his wits with all that oooh-rah and semper-fi propaganda Eden vomited out. I hope he’s not the one you’re planning to replace Eden with, are you?”

“No,” Rainbow Dash said, slowly reaching up with her still raised hands to remove her shades and show off her magenta eyes. “We found someone as American as apple pie who wants a little honesty in politics.”

Chapter 14.1: Equestria

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Daniel stared at his front hooves.

His front hooves.

He continued to stare at his hooves until his brain caught up with the fact he was, indeed, without a doubt… a pony.

Spots still speckled his eyes from the flash of light that had opened up inside the tunnel. Despite his slightly blurred vision and rapidly beating heart, Daniel’s found the strength to look at something other than his hooves.

He was in a narrow alley paved with concrete, squished between two brick-and-mortar buildings. A brick wall lay behind him, and ahead, past the tidy trash cans and odd baubles was a cobblestone road. Ponies walked along the sidewalks, thankfully too busy with their noses in the air to look his way.

He was in Equestria!

Daniel attempted to recall everything he could about Equestria from the half-drunken info dump Twilight had given him on their date. It wasn’t much. Just a few place names and that Celestia and Luna were the other Princesses of Equestria.

Thinking quickly, he began forming a plan. He needed to find the Princesses and tell them about Twilight. And if he was here, the same portal that had grabbed him could have grabbed Fluttershy and the raiders.

A chill ran down his spine. If the raiders had been separated from Fluttershy, there was no telling what they would do. A newfound sense of urgency spurred him to redouble taking stock of his situation.

He looked into a nearby window, the curtains drawn, allowing him to stare at his own reflection. His new fur was soft brown, a lighter shade than his neary black tail and goatee, which looked odd on his equine face. He still wore his combat armor and helmet, which had made room for his horn. So he was a unicorn. He still had his Pip-Boy on his left foreleg, while his backpack had turned into saddlebags. He also had all his weapons. His carbine was strapped to his side by some sort of harness, the barrel poking out in front of him like a lance. On his right foreleg was his pistol holster.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with that?” Daniel asked himself as he looked at the strange grip of the pistol. It was sticking out sideways on the weapon. “Bite it and pull the trigger with my tongue?”

He shook his head, casting aside the thought about what other eccentric designs would come about from human-to-pony ergonomic conversions to focus back on the plan. He needed to get moving, but he also needed to stay hidden, or blend in if he could.

But first, he needed to figure out where in Equestria he was. He regarded his Pip-Boy and pawed at the device with his hooves. It was a long shot, but maybe the magic that sent him here had updated his Pip-Boy.

As he flipped through tabs, he didn’t question how he was able to grasp things just in front of his hoof. He was in magical pony land, there were a lot of things he wasn’t questioning.

To his shock, the wide area map showed his location tag as ‘Canterlot Market’.

He was already in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. That was good. Now it was just a matter of getting to the Princesses without causing a mass panic. He didn’t want to get the boot back to the Wasteland before he could explain everything. He knew where Twilight and Rarity were.

With his location known, Daniel rose to his hooves and made to leave the alley, but stopped as a thought crossed his mind. Equestria was far more civilized than the Wasteland. Ponies didn’t have firearms, and he was about to walk out of a random alley in broad daylight dressed in combat armor and armed to the teeth.

Going over his options, the only one he could think of was ditching his outfit, since he couldn’t fit everything into his bags. It wasn’t the most ideal option, but it was the only one that he considered that would help him blend in. Twilight had said ponies normally walked around naked. Carrying around what he could keep in his saddlebags would have to do.

“Thou art different than most Wastelanders I have seen,” an elegant, almost picturesquely-regal female voice said evenly from behind him. He heard the clop of hooves landing behind him and the swoosh of wing flaps. The tip of a blade pressed into the back of his neck, below the bottom lip of the helmet and above the protection offered by the back of his combat armor. Whoever was behind him had him dead to rights. “What is thine name and occupation? Thou lack the cruel adornments worn by most of thy ilk assaulting the land as of late.”

“M-my name is Daniel Neeson, I was a physician in training until two-and-a-half weeks ago,” Daniel said, his voice hitched slightly. “If you can take me to Princess Celestia or Luna, I can tell them everything I know about Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

He heard a gasp as the blade was withdrawn.

“Thou speakest with Princess Luna,” the female speaker said. Her odd regal accent evened out to a more modern sounding one as she spoke. “I detected a magical burst in this area. Turn around slowly and tell me everything you know.”

Daniel complied, easing around. He was stunned into silence as he laid eyes on the dark blue, nearly black alicorn with a flowing ethereal mane made out of a starry night sky. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. Like blue plasma, it spilled from her dark black metal helmet, trimmed with silver.

He realized she was armored. Her helmet matched the onyx metal armor trimmed with silver moon filigree. The realization of her armor sent his eyes focusing onto the pair of swords levitating at her side. The hilts were painted olive drab like the pre-war military. Both were about the length of a machete which tapered to a sharp point. They each had a single straight blade on the cutting side, while the opposite side of the blade had large serrations running up two-thirds of its length.

To Daniel, the swords felt oddly out of place with all the black and silver she wore.

Princess Luna sheathed both of the blades in large cloth scabbards flanking either side of her as she stared at him with her one good eye. Her other eye was covered in a dark black eyepatch and half of her face was missing fur and deformed with burn scars.

“Y-yes.” Daniel snapped out of his stupor, his voice hitching again as he finally realized her face was heavily scarred. “She’s safe in a place called Rivet City with her friend Rarity. Twilight and I were traveling together while searching for my father and her missing friends. We’ve found Fluttershy as well, and if the portal that grabbed me also grabbed her, she should be here as well.”

“I see,” Princess Luna said with a nod, her horn glowing brightly. “Remain still and allow me to take your weapons. Afterwards, we shall meet my sister at the castle or wait for her there. She was responding to another magical disturbance within the city, and I do not know if we will outpace her return.”

“How often have the lights been bringing people here?” Daniel asked as Princess Luna telekinetically removed his weapons. The lack of weight had him shiver. “Fluttershy and I ran into a human named Ethan who had been turned into a bat-winged pegasus. Discord found him near Ponyville and sent him back.”

“Your knowledge of the names of several missing Equestrians and recent events leads me to believe your story that you know Twilight Sparkle, so I will grant you insight,” Luna replied. She levitated his weapons close together and they all disappeared in a flash of magic. “The arrival of outsiders has been occurring since two-and-a-half weeks ago. It started when a significant portion of the Everfree Forest became more anomalous than usual in a large explosion of magic.”

Princess Luna headed for the street. Daniel followed at her side, ears perked.

“Princess Celestia, my sister, departed to respond to the sudden burst of magic. I remained at the castle to take over the royal duties. I remained there for a few hours until I was nearly assassinated.”

“What happened?” Daniel asked quickly as they turned the corner and into the open. Ponies across the street stopped to stare at them, a few on the same side of the street gasped and ran the opposite direction.

“An invisible machine with the body shape of a pegasus mare attacked me,” Luna said in a near deadpan. “Instead of wings, she had sword arms on her back that plunged into me before I could react. I teleported away after two stabs and raised my shield, but the machine mare struck through with a blast of crimson energy just powerful enough to break my guard, which claimed half of my face. I retaliated by ripping off the swords it had and decapitating the machine with its own weapons.”

“I’ve never seen a robot like that,” Daniel said. “Looks like you made a quick recovery.”

“I have not recovered fully,” Luna said, scowling. Her burned face meant the scowl pulled back far enough to not only show teeth but gums as well. “The portals have grown more erratic and powerful lately, and thus I am needed in my weakened state.”

“So, can you teleport us like you did with my weapons?” Daniel asked.

“No,” Luna said, shaking her head slowly. “Teleporting more than a few small objects is taxing on me. Let us discuss something other than my injuries. The wounds both physical and mental still ache me thusly. Tell me, how are Twilight Sparkle and her friends?”

“Let’s hope the walk is long enough for me to tell you everything,” Daniel said with a dry chuckle. “There is a lot to catch you up on.”

They rounded onto a different street, and Daniel balked. It was like stepping back in time for him. The main thoroughfare lacked any of the destruction and grime he had grown accustomed to back home. Not a burned-out building in sight.

Two long, straight two-laned roads were separated by an extra-wide median filled with grass, park benches, and trees. Flanking the roads were sidewalks in the front of dozens of two-, three-, even a few four-story tall buildings. Hundreds of ponies walked down the sidewalks. Yellow carriages with black and white checker-print accents that were pulled by ponies traversed the roads alongside ponies pulling wagons.

The thoroughfare terminated at a river fed by a waterfall cascading off of a higher spot on the mountain. On the opposite side of the river were large white walls covered with crenellations. Guards in gold and dark silver armor covered the top like the sentries at Megaton.

Further past the fortifications was the biggest series of buildings Daniel had ever seen. The walls of what he guessed was the royal palace were white, gold, and dark purple. The large conical roofs were topped by large steeples crowned with golden suns and silver crescent moons.

A single, wide drawbridge would allow traffic to go from the thoroughfare to the castle grounds. However the drawbridge was raised, and no traffic was allowed past several checkpoints that occupied the wide roads between them and the castle.

Daniel felt Princess Luna’s magic press under his chin and forced him to close his wide-open mouth. She chuckled.

“Breathtaking?” Luna asked softly. “I wish the world you come from could have splendor and extravagance such as the royal castle. From the few non-violent individuals my sister and I have interrogated, the story goes that your world was destroyed by a devastating war.”

“It was,” Daniel replied simply. “But I assume you want to hear more about Twilight and her friends, rather than me gawking over your world.”

“You assume rightly,” Luna replied in turn. She nearly ran into a pony exiting a store. The pony locked eyes with Luna and quickly bowed before she ran away with a small eep of terror. Luna frowned deeply.

“Are ponies afrai–?”

“I said we would not speak of my injuries,” Luna cut him off with a voice that rumbled with thunder. “Tell me about Twilight and her friends… now.”

Daniel frowned. Every pony that they had passed up until then had had similar reactions to Luna.

“I won’t lie to you and say that they’re the ponies you remember,” Daniel said slowly. “Twilight and Fluttershy carry a lot of scars, like you. Twilight lost part of her horn, and is in a leg brace after an explosion put a piece of shrapnel into her right knee. I did the best I could to fix it, but I’m not sure if she’ll ever recover the full use of that leg.”

“Your world is a cruel place,” Luna said bitterly as they approached the first of the checkpoints. It was a large barricade that ran the entire width of the thoroughfare. A guard in blue armor trimmed with dark red, with an equally red plume stood behind the barricade.

There were two things that stuck out to Daniel about the pony. He could look right through her as if they were made of glass. And the pony carried a combat shotgun on their side in a similar harness to the one that had attached the carbine to him.

“Greetings, Princess Luna,” the female guard said, saluting by thumping her chestplate with a hoof.

“And greetings to you as well, Sergeant Thunder Quartz,” Princess Luna replied. “Anything to report?”

“Nothing more than a few curious colts wondering about the strange weapon I have on me,” Thunder Quartz replied. “You southern ponies are absolute kittens.”

“Where are you from?” Daniel asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. He stared at Thunder Quartz, and through her. It was like looking through an empty Nuka~Cola bottle.

“From the Crystal Empire,” Thunder Quartz replied. “Equestria needed some ponies old enough to remember which end of the weapon you used to actually inflict harm on something.”

“What she means, Daniel,” Princess Luna said. “Is that the Crystal Empire disappeared a little over a thousand years ago, and only returned a few years ago. Ponies from that time period have not lived under the millennia of pacifism my sister brought to Equestria.”

This world ran on magic, like the world Grognak inhabited in the comic books. Of course there was some sort of long lost empire out beyond Equestria. At least they seemed like good guys, rather than the villains of a comic book arc.

“Ohhhh,” Thunder Quartz said with a chuckle. “He’s one of those outsiders you’ve been taking the guns from. Thought that armor was strange looking. Since he’s with you, you’re both clear to head on up.”

Thunder Quartz’s horn glowed, and a section of the barricade slid aside.

“So you’re taking our weapons to arm yourselves?” Daniel asked as they passed by Thunder Quartz.

“We are,” Luna said firmly. “We send back as many people as we can, and avoid conflict where possible, but Celestia, Discord, and I can’t be everywhere at once. Some of the bandits from your world have forced the hooves of our subjects, such as a cleaver-swinging maniac that attacked Manehattan. He allegedly screamed he was the real Butcher Pete and was on so many drugs no sleep spell could render him unconscious. Manehattan police ponies had to resort to lethal force for the first time in fifty-eight years. It made headlines all over Equestria. Then more and more bandits started to show up, so we’ve confiscated every weapon we could to protect ourselves from your world.”

Daniel winced.

So much violence and destruction. Why did it have to be raiders making it here? Why not have places like Megaton sending sane people to this world of peace and harmony?

Daniel hummed. “You said earlier that there were a few non-violent people you interrogated. Have there been any people worthy of not being kicked back to the wasteland?”

“A few,” Luna replied. “Though sadly most of those who end up here are raiders or dangerous animals. We do have one stallion from your world helping instruct our people how to safely use guns.”

“Speaking of guns,” Daniel said. “Will I get mine back?”

“We’ll have to see,” Luna said. “Come. We still have a long way to go until we reach the castle. We will discuss things with my sister.”

<>~<>~<>

Daniel had spent the rest of the walk filling Luna in on how Twilight and he had met, how Twilight was doing, and everything he knew about Rarity and Fluttershy.

Princess Luna had many questions when he got to the part where Fluttershy had taken over a raider gang. Questions he didn’t have the answer to. The conversation had died away after that.

They had reached the castle by then and had gone inside. The interior was just as lavish as the outside, with richly ornamented halls tall enough to comfortably allow a pony to fly around. The two of them spent several minutes silently walking down a series of passageways decorated with stained glass windows.

The silence was deafening. Everywhere he had been, there had always been noise. From the hum of Vault 101's generators and lights, to the creaks and groans of his house in Megaton. The sheer silence of the castle had him on edge. He tried to force his thoughts away from the silence by looking at the stained glass windows. Several of them depicted Twilight and her friends battling the villains of this world. One window displayed Discord holding puppet strings over Twilight and her friends. He wondered what it represented, but didn’t ask. He was saving his questions for when Celestia and Luna were in the same room.

They approached a set of massive double doors. Luna finally spoke up once again as she nudged one of them open.

“The throne room is–”

“What the FUCK, Celestia!” someone screamed on the other side of the opening door. Daniel shared a look with Luna.

“That was Twilight!” they both said.

Luna ripped open the door and raced inside. Daniel’s hooves skidded on the tile floor as he too hurried in behind her and nearly slammed into her hindquarters as she came to a sudden stop.

The room beyond was just as wide and grand as the hallways. Daniel spotted Twilight in her vault suit and Pip-Boy right away as she stood with his back to him, just in front of a dais holding two large thrones. One was black and silver, with blue cushions, while the other was white and gold with red cushions.

A large white alicorn in gold armor sat on the latter throne, staring down at Twilight with her mouth agape. Twilight stomped a forehoof.

“You thought that bringing me back was worth making the already unstable portals WORSE!?”

“I had no other choice!” Celestia yelled. Her voice boomed like thunder as she rose from her throne, eyes glowing as her watercolor rainbow mane turned into ethereal fire. “I could not leave you in the land that sends us murderers and rapists!”

“Sister, Twilight, what is going on!?” Luna yelled. Twilight spun around, and Celestia turned her attention to Luna.

“What’s going on,” Twilight snarled, “is that Celestia just explained to me her plan was to disregard repairing the unstable portals so she could pull me back to Equestria with dangerously experimental magic.”

“Starswirl is trying to fix the portal issue,” Celestia yelled. “I had hoped bringing you back could be more beneficial than the harm it caused. You are a master of magic. You could help him fix the portals!”

Twilight spun back around, her leg brace squealing in time with her sudden movements.

“You should have been more patient and let him fix the portals first. My horn is broken, Celestia, doing magic right now causes me extreme pain,” Twilight said with a furious facehoof. “Now Starswirl has more to fix, and I can’t even help him! Not to mention this could cause even more raiders to arrive in Equestria.”

“I-I’m sorry, but ever since Luna was attacked and those bandits from the other realm began to appear, I have feared you shared a worse fate than her! I was only trying to help you! You could have learned the spell I used to retrieve you to rescue your friends. It requires a deep personal connection with who you are trying to retrieve. Deeper than what I share with your close friends.”

Twilight inhaled deeply, and let out a large sigh.

“I appreciate the attempt. It was noble, but it has put Equestria at risk,” Twilight said as she turned to look at Luna. “Even more raiders or the robots that attacked Luna could be in Equestria as we speak. And… wait… Daniel, is that you? How are you here?”

“Hey, Twilight,” Daniel said with a small smile. “How about we all take a few calming breaths and discuss this like civilized people.”

“I concur,” Luna said. “Let us clear our heads and speak our minds without barbed words. Now, sister, start from the beginning. Why did you disregard Starswirl’s advice and use the experimental recall spell?”

“Because,” Celestia said, taking a deep, slow breath. “Twilight is far more skilled in magic than myself. Having her and Starswirl working together rather than in separate realms could have quickly resolved the issue with the portals, negating any harm bringing her back caused. It was a calculated risk that did not pay off, and I apologize for it.”

“Now, Twilight,” Luna said, gesturing to her.

“I forgive you,” Twilight said as she turned to Celestia. “The plan may have worked if my horn wasn’t broken… but I can’t stay here as my horn heals. I want to return to the other world and find the rest of my friends.” She turned to Daniel. “As for one of my friends, please tell me Fluttershy is here. I assume the lights the raiders were reporting in the tunnels were portals? Did she follow you into one?”

“The lights are portals,” Daniel said with a nod. “And I’m not sure. The portal sprang open right on top of me. If the portal snatched us all up, that would mean Fluttershy’s raider gang might be here as well.”

“Her WHAT!?” Celestia and Twilight both shouted.

Chapter 14.2: Home

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“Thank ya kindly, Mr. Fine Print,” Apple Bloom said as she laid out two bits on the counter. She reached towards the folded newspaper she had just paid for and swept it into her saddlebag before quickly latching it shut.

The newspaper stallion regarded her with a forced smile and a kindly nod. Lots of ponies had been giving her that kind of look these last few weeks, and she was tired of it. Her sister was missing, for land’s sake! She knew it, they knew it, and playing like that wasn't the fact was just plain irritating.

She pushed back the growing feeling of anger in her chest and turned away from the news stand. Getting mad would just make her feel more helpless than she already did. At least most ponies she had talked to felt just as helpless as she did.

Walking away from the stand, the eye-catching colorful uniform of another red-crested guard caught her eye. It was the sixth guard she had seen since this morning. Getting just a little closer, Apple Bloom stopped and lingered as she stared at him. For a change, this one wasn’t a crystal pony, but a gryphon. They sat at a table in front of a boarded-over café window, eating a sandwich.

The café wasn’t abandoned, it was just Ponyville’s new look. Just about every window on the ground floor of every building was boarded over. Her home town certainly didn’t feel like home anymore with the wall coming up and all the ‘red-crests’ moving in.

Like all the other red-crests, they had a gun. Apple Bloom’s eyes drifted from the guard himself to his weapon. It was long like a lance, but Apple Bloom knew the contraption of wood and metal had a reach far, far longer than any weapon the Equestrians had ever made.

The thunderous boom of another gun going off in the distance only made her wince, rather than dive for cover. Two-and-a-half-weeks ago she hadn’t known what a gun was, but by now she had heard them so many times that the sound was nearly ignorable. It had come from the direction of the practice range the red-crests had set up over by Twilight’s tree-shaped crystal castle.

It was the gunshots not from the practice range that she had to worry about.

The wince was enough to kick Apple Bloom’s body into moving again. She trudged down the empty street and past boarded over storefronts and windows.

<>~<>~<>

Apple Bloom could see her destination in the distance. Just a few blocks away was Scootaloo’s house. She’d been staying the last few weeks alongside Sweetie Belle, since Rarity was missing, too.

Ever since all of this had started, Apple Bloom’s big brother had told her that she had to stay well away from the farm on account of how close the farm was to where all the bad ponies and creatures liked to show up. But she wasn’t a filly anymore! With Applejack missing, Big Macintosh and Granny needed her down on the farm. It wasn’t right she had to stay locked away all safe and sound while big scorpions and giant mole rats and worse just walked out of the woods and into the orchard.

Apple Bloom shook her head, then turned her head as far as she could to look back at her saddlebags. She could feel the weight of Granny’s box in the bag. If she was old enough to keep Grandpa’s old stuff, then why wasn’t she old enough to help defend the farm? It didn’t make much sense to her.

She kicked a rock she passed by in the road, venting just a little of her frustration before she reached Scootaloo’s house. She stepped up onto the landing in front of the wooden door and pulled out the key from her bag. Another thing so different about Ponyville nowadays, was that the strangers coming to town needed to be locked out.

Her heart ached as she remembered Zecora. Even after seeing what had happened to her, Apple Bloom wanted to go back to the farm. What if Granny Smith or Big Macintosh got attacked? Celestia hadn’t stayed around town, so there would be no teleporting to the hospital if it happened again.

She sighed, shook her head, and unlocked the door. It wasn’t any use arguing with adults. Sometimes, they did know better than her. Didn’t make it hurt any less that she was so… useless.

She pushed the front door open with her forehead and walked into the house. She made sure to shut the door tight and lock it back, even before she wiped the the mud off her hooves. The house was warm and smelled like freshly-baked cookies. One of Scootaloo’s aunts must have pulled out a fresh batch for her and her friends. Unfortunately, the thought of a tasty treat wasn’t enough to rescue Apple Bloom from her thoughts.

With clean hooves, she walked past the door that led into the kitchen and up the stairs, just fast enough to escape the sadness that she knew walked behind her.

On the next floor, Apple Bloom turned left past the bannister and approached Scootaloo’s door. She didn’t feel like playing secret agent, but it made Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo happy, so she did it anyway. Halfheartedly, Apple Bloom lamely knocked the secret code. A series of taps spaced out in a specific order on certain parts of the door.

Apple Bloom waited several seconds, listening with her ear to the door. She heard muted shifting and rustling before Scootaloo’s voice came through the thick wood.

“Password?” Scootaloo asked, muffled by the thick door. Apple Bloom took a step back. A spoken password was new. The knocks had been the only password she’d been given. “Can’t let you in if you don’t know the password.”

That did it. Apple Bloom couldn’t keep her emotions in check any longer.

“It’s me, ya tangerine turkey,” Apple Bloom snapped in a growling huff. She puffed up her chest. “Ya want yer dag-nab paper, or not?”

There was a pause and two sets of whispers on the other side of the door. Then the door unlocked and opened, revealing Scootaloo’s frowning face. Seeing Scootaloo’s upset frown dumped ice on the fire burning in Apple Bloom’s chest.

“That wasn’t very nice, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said. “Can I get an apology, first?”

“Scoots, ah’m sorry,” Apple Bloom said, shaking her head. “I just don’t feel like playin’ mutch’a none anymore. We might have ta’ keep the door locked ‘cause of the bad ponies that keep attackin’ town, but that don’t mean we need secret knocks and a password.”

“Fine, fine,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes. The dismissive eye roll turned into a heavy, sad whimper. “Just can’t be too careful after what happened, ya’ know, Bloom? Did you see her in the hospital?”

“Of course ah have,” Apple Bloom said, stepping through the door as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stepped aside. “Zecora’s doin’ better, but doctors finally let me know it was eight times, not six.”

When the Everfree had exploded, Apple Bloom had been at alchemy practice with Zecora, her zebra alchemy teacher. Apple Bloom remembered the bad words and laughs of the bad pony that showed up and chased them both all the way to the farm. The crazy mare had jumped on top of Zecora when she had tripped and just started to stab with the biggest knife Apple Bloom had ever seen. Big Macintosh had already grabbed a shovel when the forest exploded, so he saved Zecora’s life, and Celestia had showed up moment’s later since the explosion was so magical she felt it all the way in Canterlot.

“I could… I could…” Sweetie Belle stammered, before she stomped and flared her magic. “Well I’m going to join the red-crests so I can get a gun and shoot every one of those monsters.”

“They ain’t toys, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom chided as she shucked off her saddlebags. She opened the satchel and pulled out the newspaper, passing it to Scootaloo, who quickly raced over to a large cork-board covered with newspaper clippings, push-pins, post-it notes, and red string.

“I know that,” Sweetie Belle said, turning away from Apple Bloom so she could walk over to the cork-board with Scootaloo. She turned her head back as she walked. “My big sis is stuck wherever those spike-wearing monster ponies are coming from. I need to help however I can.”

“Well so’s mine,” Apple Bloom said with a quiver in her voice. She lightly nudged the door closed with her back hoof, then locked the door. She turned back around and picked up her saddlebags with her teeth and walked towards her friends.

Scootaloo busily cut out a clipping from the paper. Apple Bloom hadn’t read the paper, just bought it. It was sad to think that it was just expected nowadays for a clip-worthy piece of information to be in the paper.

Apple Bloom glared at the board. So many newspaper clippings. So many bad ponies all over Equestria. Her teeth sank into the strap in her mouth. IT WASN’T FAIR!

Slinging her saddlebags, the pack sailed across the room and slammed into a bookshelf in time with her forehooves slamming into the wooden floor. She let out a cry of fury and anguish. It wasn’t fair, wasn’t fair, wasn’t fair! Equestrians didn’t hurt anycreature! Where was the justice or rightness in the monsters coming from wherever they were to stab and shoot and do other violent things to ponies that didn’t wrong them!?

Falling back onto her haunches, Apple Bloom threw her hooves over her eyes and sobbed a single time before she could fight the tears away from escaping. She had to keep from crying or they all would start crying, again. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were already pressing in, hugging her. It helped but also didn’t, in a hard to explain way. The problem was still there. Ponies were hurt or dead, and her sister was still missing, but she had friends acting as a wall to keep the sadness away.

Not gone, just away from her for the moment.

Spluttering out what she thought sounded like ‘thanks girls’, Apple Bloom wiped her eyes with a foreleg and sniffled.

“D-do we really have’ta make that big ol’ board of just… sadness?” Apple Bloom asked, wiping her face again and waving a hoof at the large cork board without looking.

“It’s for a good reason,” Scootaloo said, hugging Apple Bloom tightly. “Like we said at the start, if there’s a pattern to where and when the bad ponies are showing up… maybe we can show the adults and they can use the pattern to find our big sisters. I know Rainbow Dash isn’t related to me, but she’s the big sis I never had.”

“Y-yeah,” Sweetie Belle said. Apple Bloom could hear Sweetie’s voice crack with her own held-back tears. “W-we’d be heroes. And have our sisters back. Just another adventure for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Like old times.”

“Right, well, ah’m fine now, girls,” Apple Bloom lied through her teeth as she looked to the floor and shook her head. So much had happened that two-and-a-half weeks ago was already ‘old times’. “Let’s ferget the conspiracy board fer just a second and play a board game or somethin’. My emotions are all worn out.”

“I hear ya there, Bloom,” Scootaloo said, breaking from the hug. Apple Bloom watched her friend walk over to the bookshelf where the board games were stored. It was also the direction where Apple Bloom had thrown her bags. Scootaloo stopped and stared down, and Apple Bloom’s sadness drained away with the flood of terror as she saw Scootaloo staring at something that had spilled from her thrown bag.

“Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo asked slowly.

“Scootaloo, I can explain,” Apple Bloom said as Scootaloo nudged aside the saddlebag. The wooden box of Grandpa’s things had sprung halfway open. As the saddlebag was pushed away, it fell the rest of the way out of the pack and the contents spilled onto the floor.

If Apple Bloom had just latched her bag after getting out the newspaper, they wouldn’t be having this conversation.

“Why in the hay do you have a gun?” Sweetie Belle asked from beside her, seeing it on the floor as well. She broke from the hug.

“Granny gave it tah me,” Apple Bloom said quickly. She jumped up from her haunches and ran over to where Scootaloo stared at the objects that had spilled out of the box. “Don’t be such a nosy-body, Scoots!”

Before she could reach Scootaloo and the box, Sweetie Belle’s green magic wrapped around the gun and pulled it away. It was one of the smaller ones that could be held by a mouth grip that stuck out the side of it. The main body of the gun was like a gray steel rectangle with a hole on one end, slightly speckled with rust.

“Nuh-uh,” Sweetie Belle said, squinting at the gun. “Not a good enough answer. How in the hay did Granny Smith get a gun to give you? And why? We’re kids! The adults don’t even let us near the red-crest’s practice area.”

“Yeah, Bloom,” Scootaloo concurred as she picked up a piece of paper that had fallen from the box. Apple Bloom ground her teeth. She wasn’t supposed to let the others know she had the gun.

“Granny saw what happened to Zecora, okay,” Apple Bloom said. “Said that everythin’ came from Grandpa’s side of the family, and it was already somethin’ that had been in his family fer generations. Now give it back, you ain’t no red-crest.”

“You aren’t, either, but okay,” Sweetie Belle said as she floated the gun over to the box by Scootaloo’s hooves and placed it inside. Apple Bloom marched over to Scootaloo’s side, who was reading the paper.

“Rude, much?” Apple Bloom hissed at Scootaloo.

“Sorry, this just caught my eye,” Scootaloo said as she set down the paper. “This looks like a map.”

Apple Bloom eyed the piece of paper as she swept up the metals back into the box with the pistol. One was a purple and gold heart-shaped, and the other a bronze star hanging from a red-white-and blue ribbon. She hadn’t looked at anything other than the gun inside the box since Granny had given it to her.

It was indeed a hoof-drawn map. Celestia and Luna’s old castle was marked as ‘castle ruins’ inside a large rough oval labeled as ‘scary, dark woods’. The river through Ponyville was on the map, but Ponyville itself wasn’t, despite the fact that where the town was, was within a large rectangle of dotted lines. There was a note below the bottom dotted line.

“Fort Horseshoe,” Apple Bloom read. “August, two-thousand-seventy-seven.”

“Hang on, a second, two-thousand?” Scootaloo asked. “Isn’t that like a thousand years and some time from now? Was one of your something-great-grandparents a time traveler?”

<>~<>~<>

Tempest Shadow, back under her assumed name since Fizzlepop Berrytwist wasn’t intimidating enough, leaned back in Twilight’s old throne as she sat down for the meeting around the circular map table. Twilight’s map room had made for the perfect location to set up her command headquarters. More ponies and other creatures filed inside, giving Tempest time to think as she studied the map table.

The large circular crystal table projected a magical map of Equestria and the lands beyond. Underneath the three-dimensional magical projection, physical notes had been left underneath points of interest. It was mostly cities. The notes denoted troop concentrations, supply numbers, and additional information like how many raiders had been encountered in and around the area. All the minutia necessary for the operation of a proper military. Not the shambolic mess Celestia had put on her shoulders.

Without mincing words, Equestria’s military might was a trainwreck hauling dumpster fires. The majority of the last two weeks since being promoted to Equestria’s first ever Grand General had been spent accruing an unprecedentedly sized command staff.

She was trying to defend a country with a capital that had been taken over multiple times in the last few years. She herself had led a nearly successful military campaign against Equestria as the second-in-command to the Storm King, having only been defeated by Twilight Sparkle. The large command staff was necessary—one mare did not make an army, nor could she run one without help.

The town of Rock Bend was an example of why Equestria needed to take the boxing-boots off and start knocking out some teeth. Every stallion and colt had been murdered before the mares and fillies were raped, then murdered. The Wonderbolts had been the ones to see the smoke from the burning houses and rescue the five survivors out of the eighteen citizens who had called the hamlet their home.

The problem was getting the other Equestrians to realize that pacifism wasn’t going to work for this invasion. If Shining Armor’s expression was any indication, today was going to be another uphill battle trying to keep Equestria from rolling over and accepting their Wasteland overlords.

“This is insane!” Shining Armor, Emperor-Prince of the Crystal Empire, shouted as he used his magic to slam the sheaf of stapled-together papers he had been waving around down onto Manehattan. The papers slid across the map table, barreling through Canterlot, Ponyville, then the Everfree Forest before stopping within foreleg’s reach of General Shadow.

“Elaborate,” Tempest Shadow said evenly, not breaking eye contact with the Prince as she leaned over the table and slid the papers the rest of the way to her. They were the same ones she had given him for review this morning.

“You are asking Equestria to throw away a thousand years of peace!” Shining Armor said indignantly. “If it was a factory making armor or shields, sure, but you’re wanting us to copy the weapons of our invaders and start recruitment for a new standing army. Ponies don’t do bloody wars. The royal guards are the only military we need to handle this situation.”

She didn’t hate the stallion. But he wasn’t endearing himself to her either. He was three things. Nobility, blinded by tradition and his worry over his sister, Twilight Sparkle, and entitled because he had held the rank of captain of Celestia’s royal guards. A position that he had vacated when he married Princess Cadence and moved to the Crystal Empire. The only reason he was in Ponyville was that his shield magic was second to none. His shield helped to contain the anomalies within the Everfree Forest.

“We’ve shed blood in the past,” Starswirl the Bearded said from his seat around the circular table. Tempest smiled in relief that at least someone else in the room got it. Starswirl was old enough to understand the gravity of the situation Equestria faced. “Not every conflict in Equestria’s history has been solved with a pie-throwing contest and a sing-a-long. Royal guards are issued spears.”

“As a matter of tradition and ceremony,” Shining Armor countered. Tempest added stubbornness to Shining Armor’s list of flaws.

“Which is why I’m relying on your time-displaced troops from the Crystal Empire for my national defense planning,” Tempest Shadow said as she ground her teeth. She held up the sheaf of papers, and one of her aides retrieved it. A teenage gryphon colt named Gallus. “In the past, I was able to land airships in Canterlot without contention and capture most of your political leaders in a blitz, which included capturing your wife. The royal guards have a recent tradition of being more useless than a speed bump. Remind me, what is Canterlot’s unofficial motto lately?”

Shining Armor sucked in a breath.

“Under new management,” he sighed halfway under his breath.

“Exactly,” Tempest said, “Celestia gave me carte blanche when it came to military matters. I was entrusted by her with the newly minted title of Grand General, so even if you were still the captain of the royal guards, I would outrank you. We’re going to build guns of our own.” She stomped a hoof onto the table for emphasis. “It’s better than capturing shoddy, rust-covered weapons off the ponies that surrender, or retrieved from the ones that do not. And it’s that latter group of invaders that has me worried.”

“Yes,” Discord said from where he was coiled around Fluttershy’s old seat like a dragon protecting their hoard. “Even the ones that surrender have told me things that make me sick, and I used to terrorize you ponies for funsies.”

“Okay, I get it,” Shining Armor said as he looked at Discord. “Doesn't mean I approve, but changing topic, any luck with getting to the other side?”

“I’m still here, aren’t I?” Discord asked rhetorically. Tempest Shadow’s ears flicked. She hadn’t known Discord had tried to cross the realms. “I keep trying but I don’t know what’s blocking me. We’ve lost ponies to the random portals, so it’s not the fact that the portals are only sending things one way. Now that we’re on the subject of portals, Starswirl? Anything to report?”

“The usual,” Starswirl said, creasing his blue robes with a hoof. “Progress on containing the Everfree anomaly is, well, progressing at a rate better than expected, but worse than I hoped. If the Grand General accepts my proposal, then we might be able to nip this in the bud. Then we can work on opening stable portals of our own so we can go find our missing people. Have you received my memo, General Shadow? I sent it four days ago.”

“I have, and it’s taken time,” Tempest said with a nod. “Thankfully, the friendly wastelander has instructed enough soldiers in the use of firearms for me to feel comfortable with approving your expedition into the Everfree.”

A farmer from the Wasteland had more practical combat experience than the entirety of the royal guards. There was so much slack to make up if Equestrians ever hoped to go to the other side in a rescue mission.

“Good,” Starswirl said. “Maybe–”

A searing pain in Tempest’s skull came in time with Starswirl cutting himself off as he gripped a hoof to his head. Shining Armor and the rest of the unicorns in the room did as well. A lot of magic had just happened at once.

“Oh no…” Starswirl said grimly, his features set with a scowl.

“Celestia used the spell,” Discord asked, “didn’t she?”

“From the amount of magic I just felt,” Starswirl replied. “I’d say that was a yes.”

“Maybe most of our new guests ended up within the shield,” Tempest Shadow said wishfully as she rubbed the side of her head. “I’m going to order the troops to go door to door for a headcount. Hopefully your wards prevented portals from snatching anyone from town.” Tempest said as she looked at Starswirl, who had just recently finished those very wards.

Discord and Starswirl rose from their seats. They didn’t need to be ordered. The routine was already established. They would take a few red-crests each and round up the wastelanders.

Or shoot them.

Whichever choice the wastelanders forced them to choose, either was fine with Tempest.

<>~<>~<>

Despair.

Fluttershy should have felt something other than crushing terror as she stepped out of the Everfree forest and laid eyes on her cottage. She knew this should have been a joyful moment, but an inescapable sense of wrongness hung over her like a storm cloud.

She was back in Equestria without any of her friends. How could she walk through her own front door with Twilight and the others trapped back in the Capital Wasteland? Daniel and her gang were probably scattered all across Equestria as well. There was that to worry about. Daniel was the only one she could trust to be in civilized society.

Stopping, Fluttershy turned her gaze back to the Everfree forest. A small wave of relief washed over her as she thanked whatever out there was listening that she had appeared on the other side of the shield. The interior was a roiling mass of magical energy and levitating debris. It was worse than Ethan had described, as dark clouds of sparking magic danced inside the shield, bouncing off the hovering rocks and trees.

Fluttershy wanted to get away from the Everfree as soon as possible. Facing Ponyville, a new pit of despair overcame what little relief she had received from her luck. The town was surrounded by a wall, like Ethan had said. He either hadn’t mentioned the trenches, or they were new.

Hesitantly looking back at her cottage, Fluttershy took a deep breath. With Ponyville as fortified as it was, approaching right away probably wasn’t a good idea. She needed to check on her animals, anyway. Maybe her assistants for the animal sanctuary had helped keep the animals in her house fed and watered?

A newer pit of worry dropped into her stomach, joining the other. What if they hadn’t? What if—with the big scary magic dome over the Everfree—ponies were too scared to check up on her house? Did ponies even know she was missing? Discord would, but did he know every animal’s feeding schedule and diet?

Spreading her wings, Fluttershy flew in a blind panic towards her cottage.

She would worry about finding Daniel and her gang after making sure all the animals were safe and visiting Ponyville.

Fluttershy’s eyes remained locked on her cottage, wings beating furiously as she propelled herself as fast as she could in gray combat armor. It weighed her down significantly, but Fluttershy didn’t want to waste time figuring out how to get it off of her as a pegasus. It had been hard enough to put on as a winged-human.

Something slammed into her side, sending her careening to the side, the world spinning by in a dizzying blur as she was wrapped up tightly.

Fluttershy gasped, her dizzy, sleep deprived brain reacting the only way she knew how. With her forelegs wrapped up, Fluttershy bit her attacker and was rewarded with a howl of pain.

They let go, and Fluttershy flew backwards, quickly whipping her rifle around to cradle in her forelegs. The weapon had changed, and included a new crossbow-like trigger-bar. She brought the rifle up and aimed through the sights.

Her heart stopped.

“Discord!” Fluttershy screamed. Her lover stood several paces from her, hands raised in surrender and eyes wide in shock. Several guards in red-plumed helmets accompanied him, and all of them but Discord had guns. She dropped her rifle as she flew towards Discord, and tackled him down to the ground to plant a kiss on the side of his face.

“Fluttershy,” he cried out. “Is it really you? I saw those beautiful yellow wings.”

A crashing wave of joy battered down Fluttershy’s rough and tumbled persona she had erected to keep herself safe from the Wasteland. So much pain and sadness was howled out as she hugged the neck of the stallion she had fallen madly in love with.

“It is,” Fluttershy sobbed. “Oh my goodness, it is.”

Discord hugged her tightly, coiling protectively around her as he gave her a full body hug with his serpentine body.

“All of you are dismissed,” Discord said to the confused looking guard ponies. He snapped his talons, and in a flash Fluttershy and Discord were both in her cottage, on the couch.

Fluttershy buried her face into Discord’s chest and cried some more. While it wasn’t a dog-pile of fluffy bunnies, it was something better. She knew she needed to go back to the wasteland, there was still so much left unresolved. But heading back there would be for later. She’d be damned if she wasn’t going to take this moment of chaos to get things back into a little sense of order.

There was so much to tell Discord about, and a lot of crying to do.

<>~<>~<>

“Shh-shh-shh-shh, quiet,” Scribe Glenn said as he chided the man screaming into the ball-gag. Like all the others, the man didn’t heed Glenn’s words as the scalpel carved another rune into the man’s flesh. “Almost done. The pain will be over soon, and then you’ll prove useful to me.”

The only redeeming quality about the man was that his soul was just good enough for the spell. Only just. But Scribe Glenn couldn’t complain. He was just making the best of a bad situation after the Brotherhood of Steel had ruined his plans. The death of Bernard had set him back. A master always needed an apprentice, of course.

The man strapped to the gurney wasn’t that apprentice. Far from it. Like most, the man was just another stepping stone on the path to something far, far greater.

Chapter 15: Plots

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Twilight Sparkle glared at the floor after listening to the entire explanation of how Fluttershy had managed to acquire the respect of a group of raiders. Had she not seen how proficient Fluttershy had become with violence, as well as known Daniel personally, she wouldn’t have believed the story for a second. But she had seen Fluttershy and did know Daniel. She still didn’t want to believe Fluttershy would voluntarily try and reform raiders. If they were just chem addicts, that was fine, but from Daniel’s descriptions of them, especially Kerri’s relation to the Springvale raiders, they were all monsters.

Twilight was going to have to talk with Fluttershy about her reasoning. She had succeeded in reforming Discord of all creatures, sure, but he hadn’t murdered anypony. That, and all the damage he had caused was fixable. Raiders couldn't magically fix a dead Fluttershy.

As Daniel finished his retelling of the events leading up to his arrival in Equestria, the throne room grew quiet enough to hear everypony’s individual breaths.

During Daniel’s explanation, Luna had joined the throne beside Celestia’s, the pair of sisters staring down at them both.

Luna recovered from the story faster than Celestia.

“Daniel has already told me of your travels with him,” Luna said with a grim nod. Twilight recoiled her eyes away from Luna’s expression. Half of her face resembled boiled leather, and if she scowled too hard it would show teeth. With Luna losing half the fur on her face, Twilight supposed that every expression Luna had was a grim one. “Would you like to tell your story? Or is his word enough?”

“I trust him, Luna,” Twilight replied with no hesitation. Taking a slow, calming breath, she turned her gaze slowly back to Luna’s ruined features. It was a small solace that, in time, with enough regeneration magic and a few skin grafts, Luna’s face could mostly recover. Unfortunately, her missing eye was lost forever. Eyes were one of the few organs too complicated to magically regrow. It wasn’t fair. Luna hadn’t even been sent to the Wasteland and she had suffered near-fatal injuries. Injuries that would have been fatal if she wasn’t an alicorn.

“Your trust is good enough for me,” Luna said. Her horn flashed, and a series of weapons appeared, bundled together in her levitation spell. Twilight blinked when she realized they belonged to Daniel. He had been disarmed, unlike her. And like her pistol, his weapons had also been ponified. They drifted several paces towards Daniel, before Luna’s purple magic was overwhelmed by the gold of Celestia’s magic.

“Apologies, Sister, but one moment,” Celestia softly said as she pulled the weapons back to her. Twilight raised a single eyebrow. Daniel, standing beside her, muttered something about not getting his weapons back.

Celestia removed the magazine from the pistol before she pulled back the slide, ejecting the chambered 10mm pistol cartridge. She caught the flying brass in her magic before reloading it into the removed magazine. She pointed the empty pistol away from everyone and pulled the trigger, causing the hammer to strike on empty before she slid the magazine back into the pistol. She followed the same process with the rifle. Unload the magazine, pull back the charging handle, catch the cartridge, reload the magazine, aim downrange and pull the trigger, place the magazine back into the rifle.

Twilight narrowed her eyes at Celestia. Besides placing the magazines back into the weapons, Celestia had appropriately cleared both weapons according to how Rivet City’s security had taught her. Celestia had learned how to use guns. It made sense. Luna had nearly been killed. But there had been a practiced fluidity to the movements. It was like watching Fluttershy work her rifle.

Luna stared at Celestia as well, sharing the same expression of confusion as Twilight.

Celestia regarded both of them with a quick glance before she sighed heavily.

“Luna, you were about to hand hot weapons to a Wastelander,” Celestia reprimanded in a stern, yet teacherly voice. Hearing that teacherly tone again flooded Twilight with memories of her long history spent being tutored by Celestia. She was practically a second mother. The pleasant memories were distorted by the fact that Celestia handled the weapons too well. If Celestia was so busy running the kingdom and sending back what raiders she could, then when had she learned how to use firearms? Especially to the point that she used terms that Fluttershy would use?

“Celestia?” Twilight asked slowly as Celestia levitated the bundle of weapons to Daniel. Daniel grabbed them with his forehooves. He quickly slid the pistol back into his leg holster, but the rifle appeared to give him trouble reattaching to the harness he wore. “What happened two hundred years ago in the Everfree Forest?”

“Two hundred years ago,” Celestia said with a frown deep enough to rival oceanic trenches, “a large group of ponies of all types—along with a few gryphons and zebras—appeared in the area through a portal to another world. It was not one of Starswirl’s portals either. They were from the American military.”

“I believe that you said the markings on the mechanical mare that attacked me were of the same type as their uniforms, correct?” Luna asked.

“Yes,” Celestia replied, before rising from her throne. “Come with me, everypony.”

“Where are we going?” Twilight asked, quickly trotting behind Celestia. Celestia didn’t walk far from the dias that held the thrones before she stopped and pawed at the marble floor with a hoof.

Golden runes appeared in a space about the size of a flashcard as Celestia spoke.

“Old habits die hard.”

The runes flashed brightly, then sparked with a sound like breaking wine glasses. A large rectangular section of the floor dropped several inches before sliding sideways into a recess with the sound of stone grinding on stone. The new opening revealed a stairwell.

Twilight chuckled with a grin despite the tenseness in the air. Celestia and Luna had always been fond of trap doors and secret passageways. Their old castle in the Everfree Forest was a funhouse of hidden corridors and traps meant to prank anyone wanting to brave the halls.

In Twilight’s opinion, the passphrase was quite fitting.

“I swear,” Daniel said, matching Twilight’s mirth. “Every other second that I spend in Equestria reminds me of a Grognak comic book. A castle with trap doors hidden behind magic. Amazing!”

“I need to start reading those and take notes on what’s accurate,” Twilight replied. Daniel had finished rearming himself with Luna’s help. Luna took up the rear of the group, leaving her close to Twilight, giving her the chance to study the blades Luna carried. Celestia had said that Luna had claimed the swords from her would-be assassin. From what Twilight could see of the blades, Luna was lucky to be alive after being impaled.

“Those comics are rather uninspired,” Luna said, rolling her eyes as she jutted out her bottom jaw and grunted. “Big dumb muscle-stallion swing axe to solve problem.”

Twilight snickered along with Daniel. Some dumb fun to turn her brain off and enjoy sounded like a wonderful form of escapism from the Wasteland when she went back. If Americans had shown up in Equestria, maybe Celestia had acquired some copies. Perhaps that was where the passage led, a storage chamber full of American relics.

Turning around to face where Princess Celestia had been, Twilight saw she was already down the steps. She picked up the pace to follow, but the burst of speed rapidly bled off as she hobbled her way down the steps after Celestia. Her rear right leg was braced, and Twilight didn’t want to remove it. The leg felt weak, like the bones and muscles weren’t enough to support her for long without the brace. Her left forehoof was also slightly malformed, the leftmost outer edge slightly shorter than the rightmost outer edge of her right hoof. Just like her shortened pinky finger.

Damage translated as best as it could between realms. That was a good fact to keep in mind. She briefly wondered what Fluttershy looked like. Would her tattoo show up on her fur? So many questions, so little time to answer them.

At least Celestia was guiding them to one.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight stared past Celestia as the final, massive secret door swung open. Ancient metal hinges scrubbed together as the thick circular slab of a door swung outwards like a bank vault.

“When I expected a bunch of American relics, I never imagined I’d call it this well,” Twilight said. Beyond the door was a massive vaulted chamber, rectangular in dimensions and around the size of a Buckball field. Every wall and much of the floor space was composed of rows upon rows of shelves stocked floor to ceiling with cans, glass jars, and numerous other items. The center of the floor was dedicated to boxes on massive wooden pallets, large metal and wooden crates, metal barrels, and machinery. Some of which Twilight had never even seen. Some, though, she did recognize. Like a Nuka~Cola machine.

“This is a reliquary,” Celestia answered somberly. She took the lead as she slowly walked through the opened metal doorway. She stopped by a shelf dedicated to nothing but bottles of Nuka~Cola. “One enshrining the memory of America.”

Twilight craned her neck to pick out every little detail of the chamber she could. There were other pieces of furniture towards the center of the room like couches and chairs, but the shelves were the only furniture with objects on display. Folded articles of clothing, pristine boxes of pre-war food, weapons and boxes of ammo, and many other items.

“Where’d you get all of this?” Daniel asked quietly.

Daniel’s tone of voice drew Twilight’s attention. She turned to see Daniel’s shocked expression as he stared slack-jawed at the relics from his home realm. Pristine relics. All without so much as a speck of atomic dust.

“The Americans gave it to Celestia in a trade deal,” Luna said. “In exchange for the Everfree Forest and a portion of arable land around it.”

“She sold the Everfree Forest?” Twilight gasped. “What about the old castle?”

“I did not want it,” Celestia said. “It was the place where Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon, and the same place where I banished her to the moon. The sentimental value it held to me was nothing but painful sentiments.” There was a faint shutter from Celestia before she fluttered her wings to hide it. “And the deal the Americans offered for the wildest, most untamed part of Equestria was a good one. They imported as much as they could through the Everfree mirror. Though, in hindsight and the words of an American I trusted, the deal was supposed to be a poisoned apple.”

There were several things wrong with what Celestia was saying. For one, Celestia had sold land to the Americans, and that was in no history book Twilight had ever read. Secondly, she had never had anything she could identify as American… unless the technological boom in Equestria resulted from a terrifying number of reverse-engineered goods.

Twilight shook her head, stepping over that rabbit hole of a thought to complete her list. Thirdly, a poisoned apple wasn’t a good thing, so what was up with that? She completed the list with a possible fourth thing. Celestia spoke like she’d had an American advisor in the past.

Twilight quickly turned to Luna, who kept herself neutral. Twilight assumed Celestia had already shown Luna this room. With Luna offering no further insight, Twilight turned back to Celestia, and was about to ask what she meant before Celestia obliged the unanswered question with a question of her own.

“Daniel, have you ever heard of the Defense Intelligence Agency?” Celestia asked. She hadn’t turned to face him, instead, she turned away from the Nuka~Cola and walked past a few more shelves of American goods.

Twilight grunted and followed. So. Much. Walking. The stairs alone getting down here had been hell on her braced knee. The passageway down had been too low and narrow to fly in.

“No, your majesty,” Daniel replied. “But you have?”

“Oh yes,” Celestia replied with a dark chuckle. It was a sound Twilight never wanted to hear Celestia make again. It reminded her of Queen Chrysalis’s laugh. “A largely-atheistic, progressive, partially-autocratic government fit the bill to label me as a likely communist sympathizer. The DIA wanted to Americanize Equestria by flooding us with imports. If America wasn’t destroyed in your war, the American I spoke of suspected one of America’s many intelligence agencies would have been tasked with deposing me if Equestria wasn’t Americanized fast enough.”

Twilight came to a screeching halt. What the absolute wagonload of fuck? They were planning to depose Celestia after just meeting her? The revelation was like someone had dropped a piano onto Twilight, followed by an anvil, then chased it with a mini-nuke for good measure. She violently shook her head, trying to wake herself up from the nightmare she was in the middle of, to no avail. When did reality become so absolutely crazy?

“But we’re peaceful!” Twilight cried out, venting her frustration with a hoof stomp. “You were never some iron-hooved Sombra-type ruler. Equestria and America could have been mutual trading partners.”

“Ohhhh boy,” Daniel said with an exasperated groan from behind her. “You don’t know American history half as well as I do, and according to Dad, the Vault textbooks were heavily edited.” Daniel snorted and rolled his eyes. “Now, I’m coming from a heavily whitewashed bias, but I still know enough to know that selling them land was a bad move. Your majesty, did the deal come with complimentary smallpox blankets? You are natives who gave some Americans land.”

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Textbooks edited to censor facts rather than correct any accidents or update them with new historical findings? A history of giving disease-tainted blankets to native populations? Was America made of evil ideas?

“They did not,” Celestia bluntly replied. “They were too busy sending their bioweapons to the Chinese.”

“How do you know that?” Twilight blurted out. Bioweapons, too?

“There was a DIA agent who saw that the nuclear war was coming,” Celestia said with a heavy sigh. “Rather than help his government topple mine, he became my counter-intelligence advisor.”

“So there was at least one sane American,” Twilight groused slowly. “Did you ever go back on the deal to sell the Everfree Forest and the land around it?”

“No,” Celestia replied. “The war destroying the mirror and trapping around a hundred Americans in Equestria ended the need to go back on my offer. There was nothing I could legally do anyways. I had already sold them the land.”

“If I know the pre-war government,” Daniel said, waving a hoof dismissively, “they’d still claim it was their land.”

<>~<>~<>

With his hands tucked into the small of his back, Colonel Augustus Autumn listened to the sound of his boots clinking on the metal grating as he stalked through Hydroponics Garden #3. As he took in the scent of wet earth, compost, and plant clippings, a rare smile slowly creased his middle-aged features

It smelled like what America should smell like. Whole, beautiful, natural.

He paused by a tomato plant. A wrinkled, dead, blackened leaf was easily visible among the rest of the green. He reached for it with a pair of small garden clippers he had tucked in the palm of his right hand.

The old, malformed leaf gave no resistance as he applied slow, even pressure to the clippers. As the dead leaf fell away, Colonel Autumn could have quipped about ‘pruning America’. There was an apt metaphor there about casting off the dead so the rest could prosper. The hydroponics bays had always been his bastion of retreat for quiet reflection, and thoughts of that nature often did cross his mind.

But a counterpoint to the sentiment was the simple fact that countries and people were not plants. President Eden’s genocidal plan would not put them in the good graces of the wastelanders inhabiting American soil. If President Eden wanted to know how well using the forced evolutionary virus as a bioweapon worked out on the first attempt, there was a tribal from Arroyo with a nuke to sell him.

“Do ya always walk like a villain?” Applejack asked from across the planter bed, catching Colonel Autumn’s attention in time to see her tip the large stetson hat she wore. She was dressed in an Enclave uniform under a pair of blue denim coveralls and had her own pair of clippers. “That whole ‘hands behind yer back, slow-walk’ thing makes ya look right sinister. Ya even clip plants like a villain.”

“I clip plants like a villain?” Colonel Autumn asked, raising an eyebrow as he stood with his hands behind his back once again. “Please, enlighten me on how I have achieved this third, secret way of plant clipping, outside of the right and wrong way to clip a plant.”

“Bah, ya do it all slow and calculated-like,” Applejack scoffed as she rolled her bright green eyes. “Like plant maintenance is some confounded mental exercise. Relax a little.”

“Thinking is how I relax,” Colonel Autumn replied sardonically.

“Well, ya don’t look relaxed,” Applejack shot back with a grin. She pruned a few dead leaves off a tomato plant, then apologized to it and gave the remainder of the plant a kiss.

Colonel Autumn watched the routine with fascination. By all appearances, the cornsilk blond woman with the sunkissed, freckled face was completely human. Even the DNA tests came back human with no abnormal mutations. Yet, two-and-a-half-weeks after being let loose in a hydroponics bay without any of the robotic gardeners, expected crop yield was up three percent over the fully automated bays.

“I’ll try and look relaxed, then,” Colonel Autumn replied. He stopped by another tomato plant with a wilted leaf and stared at it.

Drawing in a slow, gentle breath of the garden air, he held it for just a few seconds to savor the smell of what he hoped America could one day become. He eased the breath out as he tried untensing his shoulders and craned his neck from side-to-side. There were far more pops than sounded healthy. He was getting old. Fifty-five, and yet still so much to be done. Perhaps the path he was sending the Enclave down was the incorrect one.

He reached for the plant with his clippers and pruned off the dead leaves. Once the simple task was complete, he continued to stare at the cut plant.

Colonel Autumn had been skeptical that Equestria even existed until the dominos had started to fall. Applejack’s DNA test had been the first domino. The paper trail that followed was something out of a fever dream, but the fact that every piece of paper in that trail was stamped with the seal of the Defense Intelligence Agency and had come from Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling gave it all the credibility Colonel Autumn needed to accept that Equestria was real.

Rainbow Dash trying to hand him a chunk of cloud was just the evidence he needed to know the documents weren’t some coded psi-ops message, and that Equestria wasn’t some euphemism for a secret project. With that in mind, perhaps there was some merit to Applejack’s strange ways.

Colonel Autumn slowly leaned close to the remaining buds and leaves. What could he say? It was a plant. But if Equestria was real, so was magic.

“Stay strong, soldier,” Colonel Autumn said to the plant. He shook his head and groaned as the absurdity of the situation came crashing down on him. Despite feeling the heat on his cheeks, he didn’t back out, and continued to commit. “America’s future depends on you. It’s a lot to ask, but we’re in this fight together. You have the thankless task of being the fuel that allows the men and women of the Enclave to march ever onwards in their own thankless tasks. So, for once, I would like to take this time to thank you personally.”

He pulled his head away and gently patted the largest leaf he saw on the plant with a finger. He drew the line at giving the plant a public display of affection. It was the closest thing he could give the plant to a handshake.

“Feel better?” Applejack asked with a wry smile and another hat tip.

“I think I feel like a fool,” Colonel Autumn replied as flatly as he could manage. He wanted to push the feeling of embarrassment as far away from him as he could.

“Yer so tightly wound, you could make a spool of bailin’ wire green with envy, ya know that?” Applejack asked, gesturing wildly at him with her clippers. “To enjoy life, ya need to live with a little discomfort erry now-and-then.”

Colonel Autumn chuckled. Applejack was amazing.

Homely words of wisdom, grew up on a rural farm, loves her large family, has a dog, and has gone on several carefree adventures with her friends.

She was everything President Eden claimed to be, and so much more. If Fort Horseshoe was still a valid piece of American soil, then she was born a flesh and blood American. Tenuous as the connection may be, even if Applejack was not born on US soil, she had DNA in her that could be traced back to Enclave and DIA records of expedition members sent to Equestria.

“What you smilin’ at all of a sudden?” Applejack asked as they both reached the end of the row of planters and approached one another.

“Just thanking my lucky stars,” Colonel Autumn replied as he met Applejack’s eyes with his own. “Once Rachel is finished with today’s training, I’m going to send her on a special assignment. If she’s successful, what we discussed can go through.”

Applejack frowned deeply.

“I don’t like how we’re plottin’ against your leader,” Applejack said dourly. “The Enclave is just one massive nest of back-bitin’ vipers. Y’all ain’t got nothin’ done since yer all too busy congratulatin’ yerselves on bein’ horrible to each other.”

Truer words had never been spoken in the Enclave.

“I am certain that someone as honest and headstrong as you can help put things on the right track,” Colonel Autumn said reassuringly. He placed a gloved hand on her shoulder and gave a few pats.

If she wasn’t the right choice, he could always use that honesty against her. No president survived a big enough scandal.

Puppet or prodigy, the Enclave would have a flesh and blood president again. And once a human was in office to be the face America saw, the Enclave would be ready to make its return.

America would live again.

Chapter 16: Despair

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Celestia blinked up at the sun. It was well past its zenith, failing to shed light over the high roofed buildings flanking the long alley. Without any artificial light, long sheets of darkness draped over the brick pathway, trapping the narrow corridor in a cloak of darkness.

Any Equestrian who didn’t know the path would fear to tread it. That was by design. Illusion spells to enhance the sinister air were woven into the very bricks paving the hidden avenue. Their purpose was to hide the secret exit closest to the American reliquary in the catacombs beneath Canterlot Castle.

They weren’t planning to take the path to its end, only far enough to exit the teleportation interdiction field around the castle. Luna had already departed to dive into the dreams of early sleepers, which left Daniel and Twilight as Celestia’s companions. They followed behind her, with Daniel walking while Twilight Sparkle flew by his side.

Twilight’s braced leg wasn’t her only injury. Celestia’s faithful former student had been disfigured in the other world, yet Twilight still wanted to return, even with a shattered horn and broken body. Celestia knew that Twilight would never abandon her friends. The determination and compassion she had shown over the years had never wavered.

Celestia wouldn’t interfere with Twilight’s decision to go back. Trusting Twilight to make the right decisions had saved Equestria innumerable times. In fact, her faith in Twilight had only redoubled in the over half-hour spent talking in the reliquary. Even under the grim circumstances, Celestia couldn’t have been prouder of her. Her diligence to ask every possible question about pre-destruction America, and the Americans in Equestria, had surprised even Celestia.

And as they walked, Twilight’s enthusiasm to learn was still going strong.

“So, Celestia,” Twilight quietly intoned from behind her. “How were you able to develop a return spell for the raiders so fast?”

Of course Twilight would ask that question. Celestia slowed her pace as she opened the vault of memories that she normally kept buried deep down. Two hundred years later and the depressing wave of self-pity still lay in waiting to crash over her mood.

“The spell wasn’t originally for the raiders,” Celestia said, her voice as flat as a sheet of paper. Even two centuries removed, how she handled the situation was one of her biggest failures. “I found a banishment spell in one of Starswirl’s grimoires. Some of the Americans trapped on this side of the portal wanted to go back.”

Many who had considered it had been convinced to stay. But Celestia couldn’t keep those that wanted to go back to Earth against their will. Even if it meant sending them back to their blasted, ruined, irradiated, dead world. All twelve of the names and faces of the people she sent to certain death were carved into her memory like chiseled stone.

There was no way of knowing if any of them survived going back.

“Oh,” Twilight said. The ache in her voice was all Celestia needed to hear to crumble inside. She stopped and turned around to face Twilight, her student’s expression was more neutral and composed than her own.

Like worms made of tar, the memories bore through Celestia, sticking to every other thought and dragging them into a tumbling morass. So much potential was reduced to ash. America had been discovered by Europeans and the entire world destroyed all in her time as the sole ruler of Equestria. Not her lifetime, just her time ruling without Luna. If she subtracted a thousand years, then her rule had started sometime around the 1270s in Earth years. Humanity as a whole had achieved so much in the time she spent on her haunches eating cake and drinking tea.

The brightest candles burn half as long.

“So if I’m remembering how banishment spells work,” Twilight said slowly, her inquisitive tone throwing Celestia a life jacket as she drowned in her self doubt. “They send others back to the realm where they had spent the most time residing.” She tapped her chin with a hoof. “Which means, I’m going to have to find a portal to get back to the Wasteland, aren’t I?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Celestia said as she nodded. They were far enough down the path to be able to teleport. “I’m going to speak to Starswirl first, see how much damage my meddling has caused. He may be able to help you find a portal, or create one. Is there anything you need before we leave Canterlot?”

Starswirl the Bearded was a mage second only to Twilight, though Celestia knew he even surpassed Twilight in some areas, such as enchanting and portal making. Twilight was able to cast every spell Celestia had given to her, but had never focused and specialized on just one series of spells. Though, Celestia didn’t doubt that Twilight could outclass even Starswirl’s portal magic given a few months or years of dedication.

And a functioning horn. Every glance at the jagged break sent a shudder down Celestia’s spine that traveled all the way to the tips of her hooves. A unicorn losing their horn was like an earth pony losing their legs.

“Yes, actually,” Twilight said. She shifted from hoof to hoof, before turning her gaze to Daniel and sheepishly smiled while gesturing a hoof his way. “I’d like my parents to meet my coltfriend.”

Celestia backstepped in time with Daniel’s ears flicking straight up, the light brown stallion’s cheeks turning red.

Twilight was in love! Every dark thought Celestia had been having was overcome with the closest thing Celestia knew she could ever hope to have to paternal joy. Little Twilight had a coltfriend. It explained why Twilight had looked at Daniel so much during their journey through the warehouse. She hoped their relationship lasted.

Celestia didn’t want to spoil Twilight’s hopes, or her own refreshed mood, but she wasn’t going to lie to Twilight.

“They’re not in Canterlot,” Celestia replied. She had kept in correspondence with the parents of her prized pupil and chosen successor. “Your mother is in Phillydelphia, while your father is in Detrot.”

“Huh, why?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow in puzzlement. “I thought my dad works here in Canterlot.”

“Your father accepted a new position in Detrot,” Celestia said slowly. She shifted on her hooves. Starswirl wasn’t the only pony she needed to talk to in Ponyville. “They didn’t have a night shift manager. Your mother is back to her old job.”

Celestia kept the details sparse intentionally. She knew why they were at those jobs, but Twilight was intelligent enough to solve the problem. Celestia gave the young mare she had helped raise an encouraging nod while she put the pieces together. Twilight didn’t see the nod, her eyes were too busy flitting from side to side like she was visualizing the abstract. Celestia knew she was already in the middle of figuring it out.

“What do your parents do, Twilight?” Daniel asked, scratching the back of his head. “We didn’t talk about them during our date.”

“Your father is missing, so I didn’t want to bring up a sore subject,” Twilight replied as her expression turned sour. “I nearly have the puzzle together, but I’m not liking the way the pieces are fitting. My father is a night shift manager at a factory making steel dies and punches for heavy machinery. My mother used to work as an alchemist for a fireworks factory before she quit to have my older brother, then me.”

The alley echoed with the sound of Twilight clopping a hoof onto the brick.

“I got it!” Twilight exclaimed. “Not only did you capture weapons from things like Luna’s attempted assassin, but I saw weapons in the reliquary. So if the biggest sheet metal factory in Equestria is going into full production, and my mom, who made fireworks, is back to work, that means we’re about to start making guns?”

Celestia nodded, sighing heavily.

“Wait, what?” Daniel asked. “How soon?”

“Not long,” Twilight stated with a shake of her head. “Equestrians are efficient if we have a goal in mind. Ponyville was completely rebuilt in a few months after a parasprite infestation.” Twilight’s wide, open eyes locked with Celestia’s. “We can’t reasonably stop the production, can we?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Celestia said with a sigh. “I’ve delegated military matters to Tempest Shadow. I’m going to Ponyville to speak with her, but I’m sorry, Twilight. I won’t stop Tempest from arming Equestria. It’s still too early to know if other countries have raiders appearing in their borders to capture firearms from.”

Stopping Grand General Shadow would be a mistake. She had exceeded Celestia’s expectations to horrific proportions, but not without reasons. Any foreigner looking at Equestria’s newspapers could see how easy it was for criminals and monsters from another world to invade in ones and twos at a time, but still lock the entire country down with fear by using overwhelming graphic violence. The rules of war, politics, and the overall safety of the realm had changed.

Celestia knew she had chosen the right mare for the job when the defense budget alone clubbed her in the head when it arrived. Despite having a small book dropped on her face, Celestia felt worse for the dragon who had to send it by spellfire.

“So even after you had the stranded Americans destroy most of their old military equipment in the cave, guns have finally gotten a hoofhold in this world,” Twilight said bitterly. “I guess it was only a matter of time before they were invented naturally. Tempest’s airship had a cannon on it for launching harpoons, and all of it was built in another country. Meaning they could start downsizing the technology.”

“Yes,” Celestia said. “Now, I’m going to teleport you and Daniel first.” Celestia charged her horn for a teleport spell, the golden light only pushing partially through the magically enhanced darkness of the alley. “If your many friendship letters are anything to go by, the best place to start looking for Fluttershy would be her cottage, or at least Discord will be there to help you look since he’s taking care of her house. If she’s not there, nor Discord, find me in your throne room.”

“Will do, Celestia,” Twilight said. “Thank you. And see you soon.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight tried to not think about it. But Equestria was going to—or already had—built guns. Trying to think about anything else was like trying to push her thoughts through mud. The thought hung over her like a black cloud, even as she blinked the afterimage of the teleportation flash out of her eyes.

When the golden light specks finally cleared from her vision, she was in the middle of Fluttershy’s cottage. It was devoid of the normal sing-song of birds and the calls and cries of various animals. But while animals weren’t there to cry, there was a zebra mare with a mottled, almost mangy-looking hide sobbing heavily into her forehooves. She sat in a folding chair next to Fluttershy, who rubbed her back with a hoof.

“There there, it’s okay, Kerri,” Fluttershy said in a soothing, calm voice.

Fluttershy and Kerri weren’t the only ones in a circle of folding chairs that faced each other. There was Discord, a young earth pony stallion, and finally an older male gryphon. There was also an empty chair sitting across from Discord.

Their arrival hadn’t gone unnoticed. The only one not looking their way was Kerri.

“Pretty goatee boy, silver eyes, and a Pip-Boy. Must be Daniel,” The old gryphon grumped with his forelegs crossed. “Is that purple one with the broken horn another one for Fluttershy’s little rehab group here?”

“I’m not a raider,” Twilight said quickly. If her mind wasn’t preoccupied with the prospect of Equestria building guns, Twilight knew she would have realized sooner that the ponies were raiders, even with them all being disarmed and naked. Their bodies were thin as rails, many showing ribs. All of them had dirty, matted fur, with most of them missing fur in places, or heavily scarred in other spots. The pang of old sweat and unwashed bodies clawed into her nose and burned like lit matches had been shoved into her nostrils.

Fluttershy was used to living with animals in her house, but the smell of the raiders was indescribably foul. Twilight clamped her mouth shut. She didn’t even want to risk tasting the air.

“You had me convinced, back when you and Daniel ran into me at the radio station,” Fluttershy said, stepping away from Kerri to give her some space. “Have you seen yourself in a mirror recently?”

“Allow me,” Discord said as he snapped his talons. A few paces from Twilight, the floor creaked and groaned. Twilight stepped back, an eyebrow raised in suspicion. Without warning, a tall and wide full body mirror erupted through the floor like a jack-in-the-box in a cloud of rubber-chicken splinters.

Twilight’s yelp died in her throat as her blood turned to ice. A raider stared down at her from where the reflection should be. A bipedal, purple furred alicorn with a broken horn, both legs soaked in blood, her right knee speared with shrapnel, no left pinky finger, and a dozen other bloody spots peppering her chest and arms.

“T-that can’t be me,” Twilight gasped, turning away from the reflection. “I couldn’t see that mare’s pupils because they were so dilated.”

“Twi,” Daniel said softly, joining beside her and resting a hoof on her shoulder. “I hate to say it, but that’s exactly how you looked.”

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, her voice as brittle as glass. Her stomach churned. Sickness crept up her throat. “H-how close were you to shooting me?”

Twilight would have shot the mare in the reflection without a second thought. After the two weeks in Minefield, Twilight probably smelled like a raider.

“Close enough that Daniel is the only reason why I asked why you were wearing raider armor,” Fluttershy said, staring at the floor. “You once enchanted a doll with a spell that started a town-wide brawl over it. You going raider would be the worst possible thing the Wasteland could see.”

“Oh,” Twilight gasped, shaking her head. She turned her head away, cheeks burning as Smarty Pants was brought up again.

“Seeing you dressed like a raider, but not a raider, got me thinking instead of shooting,” Fluttershy said softly.

The bathroom door opened and a batpony stallion stepped out with a clean, if slightly damp, mane and fur. He stopped just long enough to nod to Twilight and Daniel before he flapped his wings and flew towards the empty seat in the circle.

“Hey, Kerri, maybe a shower will help,” Fluttershy said, turning around to face the zebra. She had stopped crying, but hadn’t looked up from a spot on the floor. She gave a weak shake of her head, mumbled something, and stayed seated. The earth pony took the opportunity to stand up from his seat and walk to the bathroom.

“So this is your gang?” Twilight asked, using the movement of ponies to deflect away from the subject of her being the raider in the room. She knew their names from the description Daniel had given. She put names to faces by process of elimination. Ethan was the batpony, the gryphon was older so he had to be Slim Joe, that left the earth pony as Paul, and Kerri was the only mare.

Daniel had made all of them out to be monsters, but they didn’t look any worse than the Twilight from the mirror.

“They are,” Discord replied for Fluttershy. “And Fluttershy has a good reason for wanting to help them, even if they’ve done terrible things.”

Discord looked away and rubbed the back of his neck, his expression heavy with regret.

Twilight wanted to agree. But they were raiders. And something wasn’t coming together quite right. Something Fluttershy herself had told her.

“I’d like to know the reasons, especially after Glenn,” Twilight said with a low growl. It was strange how Fluttershy had rescued a pregnant kid from the cage of one raider, but was willing to give group therapy to these ones. Glenn should have made her more against raiders in general. Every raider Twilight had seen was a rapacious, chem-addicted, absolutely crazy person.

“Glenn is different,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. She raised a hoof and opened her mouth like she was about to speak, paused, shook her head and dropped the hoof. “We can talk about him later. These people here still have their humanity, Twilight.” She slowly turned and regarded each of the seated raiders with a nod, before facing Twilight again. “This is the first support group they’ve been in. The Wasteland doesn't have mental health specialists. Just finding a trained doctor is rare.”

The light from the ceiling bulb glistened off Fluttershy’s tear filled eyes. She stomped her forehoof once. “Problems are ignored or self-medicated until the ones suffering spiral into an endless cycle. I can’t forgive these people on behalf of their victims, but I can keep them from making more while keeping them from becoming a victim themselves.” She shook her head slowly. “Shooting them and continuing the way things are in the Wasteland just lets the cycle of violence keep cycling. I’ve spilled enough blood to feel like I’m drowning in it. I need to be the change I want to see in the Wasteland, even if that means being the Wasteland’s biggest optimist.”

“Sarah would still be here if Fluttershy showed up to the station a day ago,” Kerri said, finally looking up from the floor. Tears misted her eyes. In his explanation of how Fluttershy took over the gang, Daniel hadn’t left out finding Sarah in the bathroom stall. Celestia had needed ten minutes alone before they had continued. “Fluttershy’s the first person to treat us like we’re sick people needing help, instead of a problem. I tried quitting chems with Sarah, but couldn’t do it. N-nearly overdosed when I saw she killed herself.”

Fluttershy wiped her own eyes with a foreleg, taking a moment to breathe as she wrapped Kerri with a wing.

“I’m not saying we should stop defending ourselves from raiders, even if it means killing them in self defense,” Fluttershy said. “What I’m saying is that we should stop the need to do it in the first place. I want to give people ways out before they become raiders and help the raiders who are saveable find a way out that doesn't involve dying violently. Some are too far gone, but that does not mean all of them are irredeemable.”

“And you’re okay with her putting herself in this much danger, Discord?” Twilight asked.

“I would be lying if I said yes,” Discord said. He craned his long, massive neck to bump his forehead against Fluttershy’s. “But if she didn’t take the risk to reform me, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Kerri asked, her voice losing its waver as she stared at Twilight with puffy, bloodshot eyes. “Fluttershy already lives with a raider. Discord can use his freaky mind powers on people to make them say or do anything he wants, like he did by making Ethan admit to everything he’s done.” Kerri wiped her eyes with a foreleg, sniffling. “If I was Fluttershy, I’d be second guessing if every moment spent with Discord was my own choice, but somehow, both of them share something that’s healthier than anything I’ve ever had.”

Twilight’s eyes shot wide open. No, no-no-no, Discord wasn’t anything like a raider.

“Twilight,” Discord said with a broken sigh. He held up his bear paw and snapped his fingers. A tiny, front-loading clothes dryer appeared in his palm, covered in stickers of Discord’s face. Six brains spun behind the glass door, rattling with the sound of loose coins. Each tiny brain was a different color. Pink, purple, blue, orange, white, and yellow.

Twilight got the point. He hadn’t touched Twilight or any of her friends physically, but he had slipped into their heads without consent. Yet, she considered Discord… something. A friend because he was a friend’s friend? Maybe even a true friend, even after what he did years ago.

“The truth is,” Fluttershy said, “people think good and evil is an adjective they can easily label people with. Like there is a score being tallied… and eventually one tally outweighs the other far too much, but it’s more nuanced than that. The past still matters, but tell me, if someone like King Sombra had started doing good, and kept doing good, would he be a good or evil person? Or the reverse, if I go raider, am I forever evil from then on? In the past I’ve helped animal shelters find homes for orphaned kittens and have nursed sick creatures back to health.”

“I… don’t know.” Twilight said, frowning. What ultimately made someone good and evil in the end? Maybe Fluttershy was right, and there was a grain of hope—as tiny as the grain was—for raiders. “I’m going to the castle to talk to Celestia, let her know I found you and the rai–” Twilight stopped herself mid sentence to correct herself. “Your friends.”

After all of the deep questions Fluttershy had asked, Twilight needed to give Celestia one more friendship report. And maybe take the time to look at the friendship journal from when Discord had been reformed.

Then sleep. Definitely sleep.

<>~<>~<>

Ponyville framed in the setting sun was like staring into Discord’s mirror all over again. Equestria wastelandified. Boarded over windows, armed and armored guards patrolling a makeshift wall, trenches on the outskirts of town, and barely anypony walking the streets.

The inescapable wasteland influence only grew worse and more obvious the longer Twilight leaned on the railing of the balcony attached to her room at the castle. It was one of the few rooms not touched by her castle’s metamorphosis into the Equestrian War Department.

It hadn’t just been her castle that had been overtaken by wasteland-like corruption. The School of Friendship was no more. With Twilight and her friends disappearing, that eliminated most of the professors, leaving a big building with lots of rooms and a dining hall free for use as a barracks.

Armored ponies singing cadence marched along the cobblestone paths she had built alongside her students. They were heading back from the firing range which now occupied the Buckball field where Ocellus the changeling could use her gift for transformation to play any position.

Twilight turned away from the depressing sight with a sigh. Daniel lay across a sofa, his combat armor laying on the floor nearby.

He’d had a bath in the time it took her to talk to Celestia and Starswirl. Thankfully the damage Celestia had caused pulling her back wasn’t as bad as Starswirl’s worst-case predictions, but it was still bad. Rogue portals to the Wasteland were going to become more frequent, stay open longer, while also growing in size from what they had been.

But without a good portion of her horn, there was nothing she could do.

“Come here, Twilight,” Daniel said, sitting up and scooting over. He tapped the sofa beside him with a hoof.

Twilight obliged, sitting next to Daniel. Her heart fluttered as her fur rubbed on his. She had just finished a quick shower and wanted to dry her coat in the breeze before bed.

“I… um,” Daniel said, stumbling over his words. “I just wanted to say thank you. About earlier. You wanted me to meet your parents, and I think that was sweet, and wish I could. I n-never had a chance to do something like that back in the Vault.” Daniel shifted in the cushions, his face red. “I have so many good things to tell them about you, too. And I think they’d be wonderful people if they raised someone like you.”

“And when we find your father,” Twilight said as she slid one of her forehooves towards one of his. Once they connected, she wished she still had fingers to lock with his. “I’ll have so many good things to tell him about you. I don’t just like you because you saved my life. You’re someone who doesn't run away when I start using big words, or when I let my emotions get the better of me. We’ve forgiven each other and still traveled together to find our lost loved ones… I know what we have has been short and crazy, but I was honest when I called you my coltfriend.”

“Heh,” Daniel softly snorted, then motioned a hoof to his face, then chest. “Things have gone crazy lately. I’m glad I have something that feels normal. Especially when I look at what Fluttershy has, and wow, I didn’t picture Discord as that freaking scary.”

“You aren’t kidding,” Twilight chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Everyone was shocked when Fluttershy and Discord told us they were dating.”

“I can imagine,” Daniel said, before he scrunched his face, let out a few snots, and shook his head.

“What?” Twilight asked, smiling. She could tell he was holding back laughter. His face had started to turn red.

“N-no, too inappropriate,” Daniel said. His blush was cherry colored now.

Twilight had to insist.

“Tell me,” she pleaded. Daniel shook his head, so Twilight thumped his shoulder with a hoof. Repeatedly. “Tell me, tell me, tell meeee.”

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Daniel snorted, pushing away Twilight’s punching hoof. “You ever wonder if Discord does all his crazy magic when he has sex?”

“Oh sweet Celestia, please, remove that cursed thought from my head,” Twilight groaned, burying her face into her hooves as her voice rose to a squeak.

Despite the embarrassment, Twilight started laughing.

“It’s good to see you smiling again,” Daniel said with a smile of his own. He leaned back on the sofa with a sigh.

“Thank you,” Twilight said, leaning back on the couch as well. “Today’s been rough, and I needed that laugh.” She turned her head slightly to look at him. It was almost dark. She needed to go to bed and get some rest. But she needed to ask Daniel something first. Her mouth went dry, and she stumbled to speak. “So… I don’t know how to ask this without it sounding weird after that… but can you sleep here with me?”

“Twilight?” He asked calmly. “You’re starting to breathe quickly. Take a deep breath, and tell me what’s wrong.”

Twilight inhaled slowly, her heart pounding in her ears. She took several breaths before she sighed heavily and faced him, waving a hoof around in time with her speaking.

“Ever since I was a filly, I had someone sleeping somewhere in the room with me. Spike, friends for a sleepover, or whoever, but nine times out of ten I knew someone was in the room with me,” Twilight said. She shifted on the sofa and stared down at her hooves. “Minefield was the longest time I’ve spent isolated… I don’t think I can ever go back to not having someone in the room with me. The walls start closing in and I feel like I’m back there.”

Just the idea of Daniel leaving her overnight in her room had nearly sent Twilight into another panic attack. Daniel’s hoof on her shoulder calmed her nerves.

“I understand, Twilight,” Daniel said softly. He threw a foreleg over her shoulders, wrapping her in a hug. “It’s like me with heights or wide open spaces. You feel like your heart will explode from how fast it's beating. Do you need me with you in the same bed, or should I take the couch?”

“Either should be fine,” Twilight said, her panic fading into nothing as Daniel pressed against her. “Let’s go ahead and get to bed.”

With the current track record, tomorrow was going to be another long day.

Chapter 17: Loophole

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Twilight shambled off the last step into the basement of her castle. What once held unlabeled crates and dusty sheets was the Equestrian War Department’s magic and science division. It was clear from the muted din of muttering sorcerers and scholars in the main hall. It was a ramshackle area, too. Desks and tables of varying sizes and types were pushed against the walls, staffed by unicorns Twilight had never met. They wore the customary robes of court wizards—like Starswirl. A tap from Daniel had Twilight bound off before slowing to shuffle through. The desks left little room to maneuver, and several ponies had to siddle by and over one another as they worked.

Their hooves fiddled with alchemy kits or the knobs of scientific machinery, before they scooted over to write on chalkboards. The sight of several books crowding around one another had Twilight grimace. Many were from her personal library. Besides the small tears and needless page folding, she would have to reorganize her books again when she returned from the Wasteland. That was, if she could find a way back.

It had her remember why she came here, and she craned her neck to look over the sea of heads. None bothered to glance at her and Daniel, which had Twilight swell in both pride and relief. She was among fellow scholars, even if they could treat books better. It was a welcome change to passing royal guards in the hallways who eyed her like she was a wastelander until they noticed her wings.

At the far side of the room, where a wall of chalkboards towered over the rest, she spotted Starswirl’s iconic pointed hat.

With all the stress of the day weighing down on her, Twilight had wanted to go to sleep, but anxiety was the biggest hypocrite of them all. It drove Twilight into seeking sleep, only to keep her awake when her head had hit the pillow. She had tried everything. The sheep had been counted, every breathing exercise exhausted, and both sides of her pillow had been warmed from flipping it like a hayburger on the grill so many times.

With sleep eluding her, she had decided to pay Starswirl the Bearded another visit. The first had been shortly after leaving Fluttershy’s cottage, but didn’t last long as he was busy giving Celestia a piece of his mind for her rash decision.

Daniel, who was either not asleep or was a very light sleeper, had leapt off the couch to join her before she had left her bed.

The ancient gray stallion studied one equation next to a diagram of the Everfree Forest, writing a few strings of numbers and letters before roughly erasing them. His ears twitched, and he turned to eye Twilight. The chalk hovering by him in magic drooped.

“Greetings, Twilight,” Starswirl the Bearded said, the movement of his lips hidden behind the voluminous whiskers of his great white beard. “I knew that seven P.M. was a little early to retire for the night. How are you fairing?”

From Twilight’s observances, time was on a similar schedule between each realm. Even down to similar time zones. She had left the Wasteland around the afternoon, about two P.M., and had arrived in Equestria to see the sun in a similar position. She had arrived in Ponyville sometime close to four P.M.

“In hindsight, it was too early,” Twilight replied, sheepishly grinning as she scratched the back of her head. “It’s been a long day, but not long enough to wear me out and get some shuteye. I wanted to come here and talk to you when you weren’t busy with Celestia. Is she still around?”

“She left shortly after you,” Starswirl replied, pointing the chalk to her. “She’s gathering some things to temporarily move here.”

Starswirl then added as Twilight opened her mouth to ask why, “She wants to help fix the damage she caused.”

“Oh,” Twilight said. It was a blunt answer, and had her return to the reason she visited him, waving her hoof idly. “So, do you have an idea on how to get me back to the Wasteland? I had planned for Celestia or Discord to send me back with Daniel, but their method only works because it's a banishment spell. You made the spell, so I thought maybe you had something else in your tomes.”

Starswirl shook his head slowly. “I haven’t had time to devote to looking through my old tomes. I’m busy trying to fix the anomaly. It’s stumping me at every turn, so progress is slow. I’d love to devote time to help you, but I have to stop the random portals first. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Twilight wanted to shout in frustration as Starswirl whipped back around to the chalkboard, tapping his chin. Her friends were still in the other world, and Starswirl was a genius! Couldn’t he devote a little time to getting her back?

“Pardon me, Starswirl?” Daniel asked, distracting Twilight from her anger. He was staring intently at the chalkboard. “Is that how magic is written out? It looks like algebra.”

“Hmm?” Starswirl eyed him as many have the other wastelanders before blinking back at his equation. “Oh, yes. In general, the more complex magical formulas do look algebraic.” Starswirl tapped the chalk onto the board in a simple rhythm as he hummed in thought. He leaned back to look at Daniel. “I don’t suppose you have any ideas?”

Starswirl must have been stumped if he was asking Daniel for help, considering Daniel didn’t even know how to use his horn. Glancing at the chalkboard for herself, Twilight couldn’t figure out the issue from a quick look. From what she could tell so far, Starswirl's formulas were perfectly written, balanced, and should’ve had a solution. But the several lines of script all ended in errors. Starswirl was missing something, and Twilight didn’t know if she could solve whatever it was. But she might be able to given time. It wouldn’t have been the first time she completed some of Starswirl’s work.

“Humans built the portal to this world, right?” Daniel said, his unconvinced tone clearly stating he was throwing an idea at the wall to see if it stuck. “We don’t normally have magic, but somehow someone found out how to do it. What we did is probably crude compared to what you’re doing. Like using geometry to solve a subtraction problem.”

“Huh,” Starswirl said softly, his busy beard swishing back and forth as he shifted his jaw side to side. Starswirl levitated an eraser and wiped the old formula off the board.

He set the eraser back down and turned to Daniel.

“It was right under my horn this entire time,” Starswirl admonished himself, shaking his head. “I’ll have to restart my theories from the ground up and run several tests, but using simpler methods means less skilled unicorns can perform the tasks. I can’t get lightning to strike twice by asking you for an idea on how to get Twilight back to the Wasteland, can I?”

“W-what?” Daniel shook his head, gasping. “I was actually right? Okay, um… well.”

Daniel scrunched his muzzle and scratched his chin.

Twilight stood up a little straighter, leaning close. Starswirl tried to hide it, but he rested against one of his hooves to edge closer as well. If Daniel of all ponies could find a solution… well, it would be one more reason to love him.

Daniel hemmed and hawed for several moments, his brows knit in deep concentration, before eventually he explosively exhaled and shook his head.

“I got nothing,” Daniel said, slumping his shoulders and lowering his head. “Sorry.”

“No need to be sorry,” Twilight said, fully meaning her words. Daniel did have something, and it was big. “If your guess about the magic formula pans out, then you just saved a lot of lives by keeping raiders and wasteland creatures out of Equestria.”

It was such a straightforward idea, too. Starswirl had been trying to solve simplicity with complexity, or had been looking at the problem the wrong way. Twilight considered her own predicament with the same mindset Daniel had presented. She was stuck in Equestria, and the only spell that they knew of which could send people to the Wasteland was a banishment spell.

But what if the solution was as simple as Daniel’s suggestion.

“Starswirl,” Twilight said with an excited clop of her hooves. “You said you found Fluttershy’s gang all together, right? Why did they arrive together?”

“The spike-wearing Zebra said she saw the portal open on Fluttershy and Daniel,” Starswirl said. “It stayed open, so she grabbed everyone else in a headlock and jumped through. We’ve already documented several cases of people arriving together because they were holding onto each other or were attached in some way, so it’s not unheard of to us. Why do you ask?”

“Is there a way to trick your banishment spell into thinking I’m from Daniel’s realm? If anyone could modify your spell like that, it would be you,” Twilight said. “Maybe using a native to the other realm and attaching a non-native as a sort of bypass?”

“That’s insane!” Starswirl said, stomping his hoof. “The accuracy would be off by many, many miles. The banishment spell is supposed to safely return whoever it sends within a few miles of the point they left their home plane. Hacking apart the spell and bolting on additions like that imbalances the equations.”

“I didn’t hear anything about it not working,” Twilight said, grinning. “Would it be able to send groups?”

Starswirl grumped, which was a friendly way of saying he was cornered and didn’t want to admit it.

“Y-yes,” he stuttered before regaining his composure. “Theoretically. But I’d only risk one non-native to the other realm in a group at a time, and also keep the group small. The solution is brute forcing a loophole into a spell never designed to do what we want it to do. Adding in too many variables increases the risk of the failsafes failing… ironically. It could send you fifty hooves into the air, or merged with a wall, or just atomise you. I’d feel better sending you and one, maybe two, wastelanders at the most.”

It would mean Fluttershy and her would have to split up again. But Fluttershy could handle herself quite well. And they knew a place where they could regroup, or at least leave a message for each other if some other business needed their attention, that place being Rivet City.

They had a plan, and the thought sent a surge of energy through Twilight. She hopped to turn herself around with a hoof at the ready.

“I’m going to tell Fluttershy about this!” Twilight nearly shouted. Daniel stepped closer, amused but not nearly as energetic as Twilight felt. “It’s not the most ideal, but we have a way back, what do you think?”

“If it means getting back on track to finding my father and your friends, I’ll risk it. I can’t let the trail go cold, so I’d like to leave as soon as possible.”

Twilight didn’t want any of the trails going cold either. It was settled. They were going to go back as soon as possible.

But there was no reason to rush back unprepared.

“Starswirl,” Twilight asked while organizing things in her mind. The organization was already getting out of hoof. “Can I borrow a quill and roll of parchment?”

It was time to make a checklist.

Chapter 18: Return

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The lights were turned down low as Twilight slowly crept into the map room in an attempt to not disrupt the meeting taking place. The papers in her saddlebag had already been sextuple-checked to make sure nothing had been left out. Triple checked after the first draft, then triple checked again after making several additions at Fluttershy’s and Daniel’s behest. The map was turned on, the light from the projection of Equestria on the magic table framing the several dozen faces with an underglow against the low lights from above. It was like looking at the leering faces telling ghost stories around a campfire on a full moon night. Twilight’s joy from finding a way back so easily and organizing so effectively died as she knew that the horror stories told around this light source were all too real.

She hoped Grand General Tempest was in a sharing mood. The supplies she needed had all been commandeered by the Equestrian War Department. The military had already seized any camping related goods, a fact that Twilight had learned after spending nearly an hour going around town to every store she could before they closed for the night.

In the end, she had to come and ask the military for supplies. That was something that Twilight had wanted to avoid, as it would put her in their debt. She wasn’t naive to believe ponies wouldn’t try to curry favor with her. She was next in line to rule the entirety of Equestria, and even if that wasn’t the case, she was still a princess. It wouldn’t be the first time that her title attracted ponies with less than selfless intentions.

The thought of one day having to manage all of Equestria pressed down onto her shoulders like a backpack full of bricks. She looked to Daniel for support, but was quickly reminded that he wasn’t by her side. The meeting she had entered was private. Her title of princess was the only reason she was allowed in.

She pushed the door closed behind her with her good leg, and as the heavy door slid closed and clicked shut, the crowd around the table stared at her expectantly. She gave a weak smile and motioned for them to continue as they were.

“As I was saying,” one mare said from her place on Applejack’s throne. The light glittered off her gleaming silver royal guard armor, which was trimmed with purple. Twilight didn’t know the mare by voice, but the uniform was that of the captain of the royal guard. “Prioritizing retraining the royal guards with guns would be an effective stop-gap while civilians attend basic training. I know that the royal guards have been useless in the past, but what happened to Luna has shaken us to the core. We will not fail Equestria again.”

Twilight had already known that a new Equestrian military was coming. One didn’t need an entire Detrot factory to equip the royal guards. Or every tent, canteen, and sleeping bag in Ponyville. The royal guards had their own stocks. Tempest was going for something on a much larger scale.

“I’ll take that into consideration,” Tempest said in a low hum. Her dark fur and black armor refused to reflect even a glint of light. She was a black hole within the room. Her dark opal eyes were the sole exception, cutting through the dark room like the light of an oncoming train. “Has anyone received any reports of attacks since this afternoon?”

“Nothing violent to report from my Wonderbolts,” Spitfire replied, her commanding voice echoing throughout the chamber. She was sitting on Rainbow Dash’s throne, dressed in a sky blue uniform shirt. The stormcloud gray lapels sported a single silver sun which framed a shield with a sword crossing over it. It was the rank pin of an Equestrian general. “We seemed to have caught a lucky break with several very confused but friendly wastelanders. The ones who want citizenship are going through immigration, which is of course most of them.”

“About time we didn't get a raider, feral wingless dragon, or kill-crazy machine,” a unicorn stallion said. His lapels sported the silver twin-tailed phoenix denoting a colonel.

So many officers. There were generals, colonels, lieutenants—no one was under the rank of a captain. Twilight wondered just what kind of military matters she was about to overhear. She craned her neck as she looked around the room, searching for anyone not in uniform, only to see that she was the only outlier.

“Now,” Grand General Tempest clopped a hoof onto the table, grabbing Twilight’s attention. “I think we should take a break. I haven’t had the chance to see Twilight all afternoon because of these endless meetings. We’ll rejourn tomorrow morning at oh-eight-hundred.”

Almost all the high-ranking ponies gave nods of approval or a small ‘here-here’ before everyone but Tempest shuffled from their seats to leave. As they all rose, the map table blipped off, and the room lights brightened, sending everyone wincing as their eyes adjusted. Once they recovered, many regarded Twilight with a small wave, nod, or brief hello as they passed.

Twilight reached the table and took a seat at her old throne. Across the table from her was Tempest, who had not taken a throne for herself. Twilight wondered if Tempest was making some sort of statement, or if it was the literal crystal-hard furniture that was the dealbreaker.

With her haunches already sore, Twilight figured it was likely the latter. Two century old barstools from the Wasteland had been more comfortable. The next time she was back, she would be investing in cushions.

“Hello, Twilight,” Tempest said once Twilight had settled down. Tempest didn’t smile, but she didn’t brush Twilight off as she maintained a neutral expression.

“I would greet you back with your name, but I don’t know which one to use,” Twilight said, her voice tense as she held her own neutral expression. If Tempest was back to using her old name, then she could also be back to her old ways. Twilight glanced down at the table, hoping to hide her discomfort at the thought by distracting herself. There were papers left on the table.

“For you, Twilight,” Tempest said slowly. Twilight looked up long enough to see a small smile had spread on Tempest’s face. “Fizzlepop will be fine. I only use Tempest around the soldiers to keep them from laughing.”

Twilight wanted to smile back. But as she looked back to the papers, she knew there was a problem that was about to trample her mood into a curb with all four hooves. The colonel who had been using her throne had terrible operational security.

Skimming the documents which had been left on the table, the hairs on the back of Twilight’s neck rose when she saw projections for expected recruitment numbers, weapon and armor production rates, and the research and development reports. However the last paper that Twilight saw wasn’t the final paper on the table, just the only one out of the group that held her attention. The title of the document was all she needed to see.

A report on the factions of the Wasteland and estimated likelihood of engaging Equestrian troops sent into Washington D.C. - Colonel Pike Ironhorn

“We’re not just preparing a defensive army, are we,” Twilight growled, leaving no room to confuse what she said was a question. She shifted her eyes without moving her head to glare across the table at Tempest.

“No,” Tempest said, narrowing her eyes at the papers in front of Twilight. She leaned forwards in her seat, her forehooves pressed together. “We’re planning on rescuing any Equestrian lost to the other side by any means necessary. With what the Wasteland has sent our way, we’re preparing to overmatch anything we encounter to ensure that they either negotiate with us, or are so irrelevant that we can defeat them with minimal risk to ourselves.”

Twilight’s head spun as dozens of scenarios flashed through her mind. Equestrians with the brutal efficiency of Tempest as their commander. The Storm King had been a power hungry buffoon. Tempest had been the one organizing the army. Now she had an army with guns. Twilight leapt from her seat before she could control herself.

“Are you crazy!?” Twilight shouted. “A show of force like that could provoke a war! Celestia would never approve!”

“Who approved my budget and chose me for this job!?” Tempest shot back, leaping up from her chair and slamming both forehooves on the table. “Twilight, the wastelanders aren’t like the Storm King. You’ve been to the other side.” She shook her head. “How many towns have you been to where you haven’t been shot at or nearly assaulted? Megaton and Rivet City? What about that school right on Megaton’s outskirts?”

Twilight jerked back. Had Celestia told Tempest everything that Daniel and Twilight had told her? Twilight raised a hoof to speak, but Tempest cut her off.

“We aren’t invading to seek a war or to annex the Wasteland,” Tempest said. “We’re only making sure we have enough soldiers to keep Equestria safe while reducing the Wasteland’s threat to us.”

Twilight’s stomach rolled into a knot. Everything had changed for the worse, and it was all out of her control. Celestia approved of what Tempest was doing, Twilight had already known that, but she still didn’t want to accept it. Celestia had even told Twilight herself that she wasn’t going to stop gun production.

Twilight collapsed into the back of her throne, throwing her front hooves over her eyes. How much was Celestia not telling her? What else had Celestia done behind her back?

“I-I’m gone for almost three weeks,” Twilight said, her breath hitching in her throat. “And when I get back, I find out Luna was nearly killed, my home and my school are military bases, and now ponies are gearing up for war. I just want things to go back to normal.”

“I do too, Twilight, I really do,” Tempest said, sitting back down in her seat. “But Celestia entrusted me to protect Equestria. If I have to send troops to the Wasteland to clear every raider nest I find to protect our people, I will do so.” She gestured with a hoof to wave at the whole room. “If it helps, we’re only occupying your school while a military base is being built. Same with the castle. Ground in Canterlot has already been broken for the real Equestrian War Department’s headquarters.”

It did help. But only just a little. Sighing heavily, Twilight shook her head.

“Any idea when Celestia will be back?” Twilight asked. She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out the checklist. “I have a few additions to what I want to bring. That’s why I came to see you—I need to get supplies before I go back.”

“My aide informed me of Celestia’s arrival about thirty minutes ago,” Tempest said, standing up. She shook her head slowly, eyes lingering on Twilight’s broken horn with a heavy frown. “I’ll go get her for you. Least I can do for another unicorn who lost their horn.”

“Thanks, Tempest,” Twilight said somberly. “I hope she can get me what I need on short notice.”

If everything was going topsy-turvy and Equestria was preparing for war, then Twilight would follow Fluttershy’s example and prepare the Wasteland for peace.

<>~<>~<>

The spell testing room was another one of the few rooms of her castle left to its original purpose despite the building being commandeered as the temporary Equestrian War Department. With the magic and science division in the basement, it made sense that they would keep the heavily reinforced, nearly barren room mostly unchanged.

The walls were the only real change. They had been additionally reinforced with the same magic-absorbing alloy that Tempest had used in the cage she had put Twilight in, back when Tempest was the evil right-hoof mare of the Storm King.

The meeting with Celestia had gone far better than seeing Tempest. There had been no shouting, and Celestia had loved her idea. The extra weight in Twilight’s new hiking backpack reassured her she was doing the right thing as she stood in front of Starswirl the Bearded. The tubular metal frame and padding of the backpack helped evenly distribute all of the weight that she carried. Twilight wasn’t even carrying all that much since Daniel had overloaded himself when he had volunteered to take more supplies than he could reasonably carry.

She inclined her head slightly. Daniel stood next to her, and she chuckled as his four legs trembled. His backpack was swollen like a well-fed tick.

“It’s not too late for me to start carrying our stuff more evenly,” Twilight said, absentmindedly brushing a hoof against the chestplate of the camouflage-painted royal guard armor that she wore over her Vault suit. Her new leg brace was enchanted to help assist her movement, rather than hinder it, so she could manage a bit more weight than before.

“Until your leg heals, I can carry a little–” He winced, almost buckling under the bulk of his overloaded pack, “extra.”

“Alright, goofball,” Twilight said with a smile. If he was determined to be a gentlecolt and ended up as a pancake under his backpack, that was his prerogative. She’d wait to insist on redistributing their packs when they made camp, which wouldn’t be long after getting to the other side. An overloaded backpack would slow Daniel down if he needed to run, and there were too many critical supplies to ditch and leave behind.

Twilight did have some spares of what Daniel carried, but not everything was available to double up on. Especially with Fluttershy choosing to bring back two raiders instead of just one. Five going back was a lot to pack two of everything for.

Fluttershy and the raiders she was bringing were off to the side in their own group standing closely to one another. Fluttershy had chosen to be sent back with Kerri and Slim Joe. They all had their own backpacks, with Fluttershy carrying the smallest backpack to make room for the powerful Equestrian relay antenna that she was lugging around on loan from DJ Pon-3. It would be easier for Three Dog to hook up at his radio station, rather than putting another dish back on the Washington Monument where the first one had been shot to pieces. Not to mention Three Dog wasn’t even sure if the dish he had seen in the museum would still be there. If the museum was occupied by super mutants, then the dish Fluttershy and Daniel had been going after was likely smashed apart or pulled off the mounting to be used as a super mutant’s shield.

Kerri burst into laughter and drew Twilight’s attention away from her thoughts. Kerri merrily continued whatever joke had led to her outburst with Fluttershy, laughing and smiling the entire time. Twilight wanted to tell Fluttershy to bring the other raiders, rather than the two she had chosen, but sighed as she recalled Fluttershy’s reasoning.

Paul had only killed one man in a drunken brawl which had got him kicked out of Rivet City. He had been the newest to the raider group, so his rap sheet was the cleanest. Ethan was the second best of the worst. Discord was going to try to handle reforming both of them.

That left Kerri and Slim Joe, one was addicted to so many chems that she didn’t remember half of what she had done, while the other was old enough to have a list of crimes longer than Twilight’s average checklist. Fluttershy wanted to personally care for Kerri, while Slim Joe freely admitted he was too soaked in evil to stay in Equestria.

And both of them were going back with Fluttershy. It sent Twilight’s fur crawling like ants were under her skin. She shifted her eyes to Discord, who stood behind a red line painted on the floor. His apprehensive expression was a mirror of Twilight’s own. Fluttershy was the type of person to dive headfirst into a fire if it meant saving an animal.

Twilight hoped her friend wasn’t going to get burned. When it came to Slim Joe, that might even be literal.

“Is everypony ready?” Starswirl asked. He lit up his horn, charging a spell.

“Yep!” Kerri shouted while she let out a cackling giggle. “I still can’t get over all the horse puns.” She flung a leg over Slim Joe, pulling him into a headlock before locking forelegs with Fluttershy. “Send us back, oh Gandalf the Grey!”

“See you soon, Discord,” Fluttershy said before she nodded to Starswirl. The old mage shot out a bolt of magic. There was no flash as it hit Fluttershy, or a slow fade away, just a sudden brain-bending absence of an entire group of people.

“That was smoother than expected,” Starswirl said, scratching his beard. “They were the ones who all came through the same portal, correct?”

“They did,” Daniel said. “It was Twilight who got pulled back by Celestia, and I arrived through the same portal Fluttershy went through. Why?”

“It means she might have ended up close to her intended destination. The additional outsider could have also assisted the spell sending her back to the other world.” Starswirl swished his mouth from side to side, still scratching his chin under his beard. “We’re so deep into the theoretical here that I didn’t even know if the spell was going to take effect. Unfortunately, with the added variables of you both leaving the Wasteland through different portals, I assume this will not be as smooth as Fluttershy’s return.”

He charged his horn for another spell.

“Ready?” He asked cautiously. “It’s not too late to try and find a safer way for you to get back.”

Twilight frowned. She could wait, but Starswirl had volumes and volumes of tomes to sort through. With her own personal library pillaged by the court mages in the basement, her own resources were unavailable. It could take days to track down every book and sort through them. Days Twilight couldn’t waste by waiting.

And besides her missing friends, she had the clock of the Equestrian military’s arrival ticking down.

“No time,” Twilight said as she hugged herself against Daniel, looping a leg through one of the straps of his backpack while Daniel did the same. They shared a nod, and Twilight turned her gaze to Celestia, who waved her goodbye from where she stood behind Starswirl.

“Ready,” Twilight and Daniel said in unison.

Twilight was not ready for what followed.

<>~<>~<>

The foul muddy soup Twilight had landed in grew even fouler as she collapsed onto her elbows and knees and retched once again. Another stream of vomit splattered onto the mud, quickly washed away by the torrential rain pouring down onto her.

It was dark, she was disoriented, but could hear Daniel moaning in pain near her. She crawled through the mud towards where she had heard him.

“Owww,” Daniel groaned loud enough to be heard over the rain. Twilight found him curled into a fetal position, his body changed just like hers into a human-pony mix. He groaned again before he retched into the mud.

Twilight tore her gaze away from the sight before she joined him in mutual agony. They needed to get out of this rain. She blinked fat raindrops out of her eyes, squinting to peer through the torrent. A light in the distance cut through the darkness like a beacon.

They had landed between a chain link fence and a ditch next to a cracked and sinking asphalt road. Luckily they hadn’t landed within the waterlogged ditch.

“Come on,” Twilight said. “We have to get moving. I see a light down the road.”

She reached a trembling hand to Daniel, who took her purple-furred hand with his brown-furred one. They stumbled together, helping one another stand with the nearby chain-link fence. Without it, Twilight doubted either of them could stand with the weight of their backpacks. Especially Daniel’s.

Twilight regretted not splitting the load before they had left. At least both of their backpacks were enchanted to be waterproof.

“Fuck,” Daniel cursed almost too quiet to hear over the rain. Pain pulled his features back into a grimace. “Next trip between realms is going to be the slow way, agreed?”

“Agreed,” Twilight said, before she clamped her mouth shut, bile tickling the back of her throat. She swallowed several times, thankfully fighting the oncoming rush back down.

Rough was an understatement to describe the dizzying transition back into the human world. It was an experience Twilight didn’t want to repeat.

She swallowed a few more times to make sure the sickness was well and truly fought off, using her hand on the fence to pull herself along it. Daniel took the lead in front of her.

Step by step, one hoof in front of the other, the pair shakily traveled towards the light.

“W-what time is it?” Twilight asked, drawing in ragged breaths. The spell had taken a lot out of her. She was glad to stop behind Daniel as he leaned against the chain link fence on one shoulder so could check his Pip-Boy.

“Ten fifteen P.M, September 2nd, 2277, Sunday,” Daniel read out, the light from the screen glinting off his new horn. “Same day as we left.”

It had been around ten P.M. when they had left Equestria. The date and day of the week were different from Equestria, but that was to be expected since Equestria had different names for the months and days.

“Good, no timey-wimey nonsense to deal with,” Twilight groaned.

With the time checked, they resumed their plodding trudge towards the light. It was so close yet so far away. Twilight only knew they were getting closer because the light was growing in size, and the building the bulb protruded from came into better view.

It was a tall brick building, with a steeply-arched A-framed roof. It was flanked by two small towers jutting halfway out of the front corners of the building, the towers themselves topped with domes. More details came into focus as they grew closer. Small stained-glass arched mosaic windows were evenly spaced around the building. The windows not boarded over were arranged into figures and scenery Twilight couldn’t make out due to the rain.

Twilight could only tell the windows were there because of the light from inside the building.

“Do you know what kind of building that is?” Twilight asked. They were so close, maybe fifty paces, but the chain-link fence had come to an end. They would have to make the rest of the trip without its help.

“I can’t see in the dark as well as you,” Daniel said. He took a shaky step away from the fence. Then another. A small wooden footbridge the length and width of a shopping cart spanned the ditch. Daniel tested the strength of the boards by putting his full weight on the first plank.

It creaked, but held. Slowly, he made his way to the other side. The short distance was almost enough to lose sight of him with his gray combat armor and muddy-brown fur. Twilight knew he couldn’t see her. She took several steps away from the fence towards the bridge. Even after a few unsupported steps she was almost ready to fall over.

She hadn’t even crossed the bridge yet.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight took the first step onto the bridge. Then another. The wood creaked under her meager weight, but if it had held Daniel with all the gear he was lugging, then it could hold her. As her hoof touched the ground on the other side of the bridge, her hoof sank into the mud. The sudden shift sent her falling into Daniel’s arms, the impact sending Daniel down with her.

They lay groaning in the muddy road crossing in front of the building, rain beating down on their fur as they had collapsed only a few dozen paces from the brick steps leading to the double doors.

They lay there for several moments before the doors opened. Framed in the light was an older man wearing a black set of pants and dress shirt. A tight white collar pressed into his adam's apple. His skin was deep brown, almost like Lucas Simms.

He wasn’t looking at them. Instead, he had pressed his back against the door. He shook the hand of the first of many humans about to exit the large building.

“H-hey!” Twilight called out, her throat dry and scratchy despite all of the rain. She rolled onto her hands and knees, the sight of people giving her the strength to force herself back up to stand.

Once she was up, she leaned down and held out a hand for Daniel to try and pull himself up. He grabbed the outstretched hand, but it only ended with her weakened legs buckling. She fell back down with a splash of muddy water, nearly landing atop Daniel, who grimaced in pain.

Twilight’s gaze shot back to the open door of the building. The black-dressed man had raced down the steps towards where Twilight and Daniel lay.

“Hello?” he asked, his voice apprehensive, but hidden underneath a thin layer wavering calm. “By the good lord, you poor things.”

He reached a hand out to both of them.

“Come inside and dry off,” the man said as he pulled Twilight and Daniel to their hooves. He took one of their arms each and pulled them over his shoulders, allowing them both to lean on him as he plodded towards the double doors. “You poor souls are welcome in my Father’s house.”

“Your father?” Twilight asked, blinking rainwater and mud out of her eyes. “Will he let us stay for the night?”

With the man’s assistance, they made great pace towards the doors. The humans who had been about to leave the building had instead waited just past the threshold. Dozens of curious faces watched them as they approached.

“It would be against His nature to turn away world-weary travelers,” The man said. “‘For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in his dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.’”

“That sounds like one of the psalms,” Daniel said from the other side of the man. They had reached the steps and began to climb. An awning over the porch kept the rain off them as they stepped into the light.

“It is,” the man said. Several of the humans beyond the door gasped as they saw Twilight and Daniel, but the man supporting them didn’t balk as the light illuminated them. “Are you a practitioner of the faith?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. Faith? So the man was a priest, and his father was metaphorical. They were about to enter a church. Twilight waited patiently for Daniel’s reply, but was worried he wouldn’t answer the man as he maintained a long pause.

A pause long enough for them to pass the threshold into the building. It was far, far larger than Twilight had been able to see from the rainstorm. The interior was well lit, and consisted of what Twilight could see to be almost entirely one massive room. A large stage was at the back, while between it and the door were dozens of benches flanking either side of a long red carpet.

The space was kept warm by large braziers made from metal barrels cut in half and set on tripods. The raging fires within chased away the dampness soaking Twilight through.

“Not for a while,” Daniel finally said. “But my mother was until she died. Are you Catholic?”

“I am what my Father needs me to be,” the man replied back quickly. “Dividing the flock into denominations is a needless frivolity. We have enough to argue and fight over in this life, so we might as well not argue over something that doesn’t matter.” He set them both down onto a bench at the back of the first row. “We all go to one place or the other in the end.”

He stepped back from Twilight and Daniel, looking over them both with a friendly smile. The other humans looked at them with mixtures of curiosity or worry.

“Thank you for the hospitality,” Twilight said, leaning forwards in the seat to rest her elbows on her knees. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, this is Daniel Neeson. What should I call you?”

“You can call me Reverend Josiah Smith, or just reverend, preacher, whatever is fine,” Reverend Smith said, dismissively waving his hand. “Now, I hope I don’t sound too presumptive, but you two look like mercenaries.”

Both Twilight’s and Daniel’s armor and bodies were caked in mud, and she looked like a manticore’s chew toy. It was an easy assumption to make.

“Looks that way,” Twilight said, stretching the truth. She’d just met these people, and despite them being hospitable, Twilight wasn’t going to tell them everything until she learned more about them. For all she knew they had skeletons in every closet. “Are you offering us work?”

Reverend Smith nodded.

“We can discuss the details in the morning. I have something I need armed mercenaries to ensure that it reaches where it needs to go, but for now, I’m going to go grab you two towels.” He turned and pointed to two doors. “There is a guest room right through that door, and that door.”

“Separate rooms?” Twilight asked, her body going rigid. “I-Is there a chance Daniel and I could share a room?”

Daniel placed a hand on her shoulder, reminding her to breathe.

“No offense, Reverend,” Daniel said, “I know what the good book says about sleeping together when we’re not married, but splitting apart from one another in a new place is a dealbreaker.”

Reverend Smith shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Then you should know I can’t let sin, even well meaning sin, happen on my watch in this house of God. You can either sleep separately here, or find somewhere else to stay. That decision is final.”

A strong wind buffeted the roof, rain pounded the shingles to echo through the church like a constant drumbeat. There would be no pitching the two-person tent that they brought in this weather.

“Does anyone else have a place we can stay?” Twilight asked, turning her head. She gawked at the crowd, desperately hoping her wide eyes and expression were enough pleading without having to resort to begging.

Her gaze fell on each individual in the crowd one after the other, until finally one person stepped forwards. A man, dressed in a shirt and pants that had been patched and repaired so many times his clothing looked like quilts.

“What if you marry ‘em together right ‘ere an’ now, Rev?” The man asked, his accent thicker than Applejack’s. “I don’t see how’d it be a sin then, if’n they were husband and wife. Ain’t nonna us else gonna’ house em’, cause we don’t wanna risk catching whatever mutation gave ‘em fur all over everythin’.” He shook his head. “And if you think it through, Rev, it would be safer an’ cheaper for the town. Only one mattress we’d ‘av to burn after they leave, and only one room we’d ‘av to keep an eye on.”

Twilight faced Revered Smith. He stared at the man with the quilt-like clothes for several long moments before he sighed heavily, slumped his shoulders, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I’ll go get the bible,” Reverend Smith said defeatedly.

“Alright everyone, who wants to walk through the rain or watch a weddin’?” The quilt-wearing man nearly shouted as he walked towards the pews at the front of the room. Several members of the crowd muttered to each other before they turned and followed behind.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked, watching the humans find seats and sit down.

“I think our first kiss will be after we say ‘I do’,” Daniel groaned under his breath.

Twilight blinked several times. Her brain was trying to catch up with what had happened.

“So is this really happening?” Twilight asked. “We’re about to get married on a whim? The idea was to take things slower… this is–”

“Absolutely crazy,” Daniel said with an exasperated chuckle. “I know.” He leaned close to Twilight and whispered. “This is only to get a warm place to sleep tonight, we can take things as slow or fast as we’re comfortable with. This ‘wedding’ doesn't really have to mean we’re married. We don’t even have rings.”

Twilight didn’t have a dress either. Or her best friends as bridesmaids. Spike could even be the ring bearer. He had loved being the ring bearer for Shining and Cadence’s wedding.

As Twilight sat there with Daniel, both of them still covered in mud, she wondered how her other friends were faring. She hoped they were doing better than she was at the moment.

Chapter 19: Bells

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“Did it hurt when whatever new thing ya got was put in?” Applejack asked as she studied Rainbow Dash’s back. Applejack was in her Enclave uniform, sitting on her bed, whereas Rainbow Dash was stripped down to her pants with her back to Applejack.

Rainbow Dash had just returned from another surgery. Applejack had seen her friend’s new spine before; it was a long serpent of shiny silver-black metal half-burrowed under Rainbow Dash’s skin. Each segment of the spine was glossy and smooth, almost having the appearance of black changeling chitin rather than metal.

“No,” Rainbow Dash said. “They said something was slotted into the spine. It took like ten minutes tops, no pain either. I was just wondering if there was anything you could see.”

“If ya told me what it was, I might be able to have a clue on where to look,” Applejack said, rolling her eyes as she waited for Rainbow’s new favorite phrase.

“It’s classified,” Rainbow Dash said.

Of course it was. Every darned thing was ‘classified’ with Special Agent Rachel Dash, United States Secret Service. It was like getting the fancy title had turned everything into a game for Rainbow, despite being right in the villain's lair. And Colonel Autumn wanted her to be in charge for some reason she couldn’t quite wrap her head around.

“With all the manure the Enclave spits, they really should think about growin’ mushrooms,” Applejack huffed, crossing her arms.

“I’m being serious,” Rainbow Dash said, turning around and showing off her bare upper body. “I can’t tell you what it is, but it’s totally five-hundred percent awesome!” Rainbow Dash giggled with glee. “I think I can say it’s a prototype from the west coast, kept off the records, so Eden doesn't know I have it. It’s our rabbit from the hat if Plan A goes pear shaped.”

“Since when did we have more than one pla–?” Applejack shut her mouth as the door to their room opened. Colonel Autumn stepped inside, smiling.

“The last Vertibird has just left for Adams Air Force Base,” Colonel Autumn said. He stared at Rainbow Dash for a few seconds before he inhaled sharply and facepalmed. “Why are you shirtless?”

“Ever heard of knockin’?” Applejack asked, throwing up her arms in frustration. “I spent most my years growin’ up in a barn and I’ve got more manners than you.”

“Does it matter if it’s Autumn? He’s seen us naked before,” Rainbow Dash said. Applejack joined Colonel Autumn in facepalming. “We did arrive right on his desk.” Rainbow Dash laughed. “Oh the look on his face was priceless too. What was it that you said again, Colonel? I remember it was wordy, like every other thing you say.”

“The shame of you two,” Colonel Autumn said with a groan, retreading what he had said. “To sneak into my office using stealth boys is a gross misappropriation of government property. Furthermore, I can assume from the state of your undress that you are here to give me favors for quid pro quo. You are mistaken, and this violation will go on both of your records.”

“Yeah, exactly that,” Rainbow Dash said as she walked over to her side of her and Applejack’s shared bedroom, where the rest of her clothes lay on her bed. “Then you noticed my ears and tail were real and flipped out.” Rainbow Dash started to put on her clothes. “Are we clear for Operation House Party?”

Applejack glared at Colonel Autumn. Now there were code names for their plans?

“What?” Colonel Autumn asked, catching Applejack’s look. He dismissively waved a hand towards Rainbow Dash. “You’d be amazed at how fast she works when you tell her everything is top secret or has a code name attached to it.” He turned to Rainbow, who had her shirt and suit jacket on. “And to answer your question, yes. House Party is a go.”

“Alright, Applejack,” Rainbow Dash said as she casually slid her sunglasses over her eyes. “Let’s go have a chat with Eden.”

<>~<>~<>

The men’s restroom was mostly quiet when Daniel slipped inside, the only noise being the sound of rain pounding on the roof of the church. The magic lantern he had brought from Equestria sat on the counter where three sinks resided in a row, and was already proving useful. A crystal at the center of the small device shone with bright blue-white light, more powerful than his Pip-Boy or Rarity’s lights back in Rivet City. Daniel was thankful for that, since the room was windowless. The light, alongside the cracked mirror running half the width of the room, helped him search for even the smallest speck of mud left on his brown fur.

Fur.

The thought sent Daniel staring apprehensively at his reflection. His eyes were larger, but still silver. His hair was short and still dark brown, almost black, and his goatee was still the same. Yet now he had brown fur and hooves and a horn. The afternoon had been such a blur, he barely had any time to think about—let alone come to terms—with what he was. A pony, and one that was similar to Twilight, just without the wings. A unicorn, she had called him.

“Oh man,” Daniel said with a sigh, tossing the rag he had been using to clean his fur back into the water bucket which sat next to the lantern. “This is going to be one hell– heck of a story when I find Dad.”

Daniel clamped his eyes shut and tensed.

He waited several moments before he relaxed. There had been no divine lightning to smite him for cursing in the church. While Daniel wasn’t religious, he had been a long time ago. The last time he had been to church was when he was seven years old, yet even after having lost his faith alongside his father, he respected the boundaries of a church out of old habit. Sinning somehow felt even more sinful when done in a house of God.

Shaking himself to clear his thoughts, Daniel faced the mirror again before backing up to give himself one final full-body check for any lingering mud. There was none that he could see.

Cleaning had taken longer than he would have liked once he had stripped out of the combat armor over his Vault suit. While the Vault suit itself was waterproof and made of a leather-like material that sent mud and muck sliding easily off, his face, hair, tail, and hands had been different stories. At least this time he had his hands instead of hooves to wash with.

Magic would have helped in Equestria, just being able to float things around. He wondered if Twilight could teach him magic.

Just briefly thinking about Twilight teaching him spells put a smile on his face and a flutter in his heart. He may be a mutant in the eyes of other humans, but now he had even more in common with Twilight.

Picking up a towel, he dried what little water was left on his fur after rinsing it off with the rag. Once he was done, he hung the towel over the door to a bathroom stall to air dry.

He left his combat armor and the ludicrously overloaded backpack on the floor as he walked to the door. His hand hovered over the handle. He was really about to do it. Even if it was just to get a place to sleep, it was still within a house of God.

Daniel clenched and unclenched his hands. Not in worry, but preparation. Rushed as his relationship to Twilight was, Daniel would keep his vows.

With a final self-encouraging squaring of his shoulders and a shake of his body, Daniel opened the door and stepped back into the church proper. Twilight was already on the stage, splendid and beautiful. Revered Smith was close by behind the pulpit, smiling warmly as he held one arm across his chest, a bible clutched in his hand over his heart.

Twilight’s lantern hung from a wedding arch that hadn’t been on stage before Daniel had entered the bathroom. The flowers on the arch were a mix of scraggly wasteland buds wilting on the vine and faded two-century old fabric or plastic artificial flowers. It was the thought that counted, in Daniel’s opinion. At least the strangers had given them an arch for the shotgun wedding.

There was no wedding march as he crossed the expanse of the large church. Barely any sound either. Only the sound of the crackling braziers or the cough of one of the townsfolk who had chosen to stay and watch the impromptu wedding over taking a walk through the storm.

Every step he took towards the stage sped up his heart rate exponentially. This was really happening. He was going to get married to a woman who he liked, and one who liked him back. Someone who had, just a few short days ago, came into his life and changed it for the better forever. His mouth went dry. Sweat dampened his furred palms. If only his dad were there to see it, and Twilight’s friends. It was a sour note to dampen the high spirits Daniel was in.

Finally, after what felt like he had walked a mile, Daniel stood in front of Twilight. Lightheaded with excitement. His smile could have reached the moon. Twilight nervously smiled back at him. He wondered briefly if she had the same worried-yet-excited thoughts he was having.

Reverend Smith walked around the pulpit to approach Daniel’s side. Twilight had set up her own lantern, allowing Daniel to see the older black gentleman in more detail than what the light of the braziers had offered. He was bald and clean shaven except for a thick black mustache. Reading spectacles were perched on his nose, the frame one size too small for his head, so the legs of the glasses bowed outward and scrubbed against his ears. Reverend Smith leaned close, and Daniel turned an ear towards him as Revered Smith held up a hand like he was about to whisper.

“Sorry about Jackson roping you and everyone into this situation,” Reverend Smith said apologetically in a hushed tone. “If you two truly aren’t ready, I can call this off and let you two sleep in an old barn here in town that nobody uses. It has a few leaks, but the loft is good. I’ve already asked Twilight if she’s ready to marry.”

“What did she say?” Daniel asked. Twilight looked away for some reason, so he couldn’t see her react to his question. He wondered if the preacher had asked her to turn around and not clue Daniel into her response.

“I won’t say. She should not influence if you’re ready for marriage or not,” the revered quickly replied. “Speak from your heart, not the heart of another. Only you know if you’re ready. If one of you said yes but the other said no, I’ll call it off. Only if you’ve both agreed will I join you two in matrimony.”

Daniel took a deep breath, his heart thumping in his ears.

With how the week went, with every day being one long string of events, Daniel knew either Twilight or himself could die any day. Be it super mutants, raiders, or just sheer coincidence deciding today would be the day a piece of rubble fell off a ruin while they were in the path of its fall. There were many ways to die suddenly and unexpectedly in the Wasteland. Twilight had almost died to a landmine. With all that taken into consideration, Daniel had walked onto stage ready to say ‘I do’ from the beginning.

“I’d love to spend the rest of my life with her,” Daniel said quietly. “However long that may be.”

“Twilight, turn around please,” Reverend Smith said as he grinned, sidestepped two paces to the right, and stopped in the center of the wedding arch. Twilight spun around so fast Daniel thought she would lose her balance. Her face was cherry red as she twirled her hair in that cute little way she did everytime Daniel had seen her embarrassed. Daniel’s heart skipped a beat. Had she wanted to marry him?

“S-so,” Twilight stuttered as she stopped twirling her hair. She locked her eyes with Daniel’s, her voice still quivering with nervousness as she asked him. “How do human marriage ceremonies usually go?”

Daniel stumbled in place, his knees trembling. Twilight had said yes! He didn’t know what to say. Well, there was one thing he could ask to make it official.

“Well,” Daniel said, dropping to a knee in front of Twilight, taking her hand. “Usually this question gets asked before the bride and groom are at the altar.” Daniel took a breath. She had already agreed to the marriage, but Daniel wanted to ask the question and do things the right way.

“Twilight,” he asked slowly, breath quivering. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes, yes, a hundred-million times yes,” Twilight nearly shouted, her head nodding so fast that Daniel thought it would come flying off from how fast it moved.

Daniel reached into the pocket of his Vault suit, his fingers brushing across something metallic. His fingers clasped around it as he pulled it out of the pocket and presented it to Twilight, her eyes going as wide as dinner plates as she stared at it. It was the piece of shrapnel he had pulled out of her knee.

“I know it’s not a ring, but nothing really says ‘till death do us part’ like a piece of the mine that nearly killed you,” Daniel said with a dry chuckle. “I saved it for you, but was going to wait a few more days before asking if you wanted to keep it.”

Twilight didn’t say anything, tears brimming in her eyes as she clutched the piece of shrapnel in the palm of her right hand before bringing it close to her chest.

Tears? Had he upset her? Panic shot through Daniel. Had what he did been a mistake? He quickly stood back on two hooves.

“Twi?” He asked, mouth dry as sand.

His worry melted away as she threw her arms around him before pressing her lips to his.

“And here I had a whole service planned,” Reverend Smith chuckled as Twilight pulled away, leaving Daniel breathless. “I’ll skip the exchanging of vows. I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride… again.”

After the amazing kiss, Daniel was going to take any chance to return the favor.

Chapter 20: Coup D'état

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Applejack followed in the wake of Colonel Autumn’s booming footsteps as they marched down the hallways of Raven Rock, closing in on President Eden’s room. Autumn moved like a man possessed; no distraction would draw his attention away from his mission. Rainbow Dash stepped in line with him, giving off the same feeling of fierce determination.

Their moods were almost infectious, like there was an aura around them that drew Applejack into nearly copying their movements. But Applejack wasn’t propelled by the same determination her co-conspirators held. There was too much she had been left in the dark over for that. Rainbow Dash always talked like she knew far more than her.

It didn’t sit right with Applejack. The Enclave had gotten one of her best friends to lie to her. Or at least withhold information, which was just lying without using words. Was Rainbow Dash’s loyalty that easy to buy? A fancy new spine, a suit, and a title she could force into every introduction like it was actually important? If Rainbow Dash was supposed to be in the secret service, blabbing the title to everyone defeated the purpose.

Secrets, lies, and hypocrisy. The Enclave’s core values summed up in three words. And Colonel Autumn wanted Applejack to be in charge. He hadn’t told her why he had wanted her, outside of the fact she had been born in Ponyville and was related to some humans who came to Equestria. With how the old American laws worked, Applejack could honestly say she was American.

And after signing a paper to legally change her name, she could tell everyone that she was Abigail Jacklyn. Autumn had said it was necessary to hide the fact that she was a pony by birth, even though magic had turned her into a human.

Even more secrets and lies.

Colonel Autumn and Rainbow Dash abruptly slowed their brisk pace to a slow walk, and Applejack nearly slammed into Autumn’s back before she pulled herself out of her own thoughts. President Eden’s room was just a few doors ahead.

On the left side of the hall, there was a woman in grease-stained overalls working on some conduits that had been hidden by a wall panel which leaned against the wall near her.

“House Party?” She asked as she turned towards Autumn. He responded with a nod as he passed.

The technician saluted Colonel Autumn before she reached into her toolbox. Her hand came out with a pistol grip topped by a small green box with an antenna and a few switches and dials on it. The woman flipped a switch, followed by the red plastic trigger guard, then pulled the trigger.

Applejack felt the floor shake beneath her boots. A split second later, alarms blared and the lights turned red.

“What in tarnation was that!?” Applejack asked with a gasp, rushing to Autumn’s side.

He didn’t answer, but Rainbow Dash did.

“It was President Eden losing some very important wires,” Rainbow Dash replied. “If he throws a tantrum, he can’t use the base’s self-destruct anymore.”

Self-destruct!? The Enclave didn’t just have to be pathological liars, or have black armor and black uniforms, or a secret underground base no one outside the Enclave could know about, but the base had a self-destruct button! Good guys didn’t rig their homes to blow up. Any lingering doubt Applejack had that she was wrong about the Enclave was destroyed. The Enclave were the villains.

Applejack would have voiced her opinion if things weren’t moving so quickly. The distinct bark of plasma weapons echoed as they passed through a doorway. Two soldiers in power armor were straight ahead, fighting two floor mounted turrets flanking another door at the end of the hall.

Executing the turrets was necessary, since President Eden controlled most of the electronics in the base. Applejack’s room terminal had been disconnected from the network because of that fact, which kept Applejack even more in the dark as she didn’t have any of the Enclave’s internal memos. Everything she knew had been filtered to her by Rainbow Dash, Autumn, and a few of the Enclave personnel she would talk to at lunch. The last group didn’t offer much insight, either, as anyone not an officer in the Enclave had about as much information about anything as Applejack had.

The Enclave kept their own people out of the loop. It made Applejack sick to be around so many lies. How could the Enclave get anything done when no one could trust anyone else to be telling the truth!?

As they reached the final door, Colonel Autumn stopped.

“Do you remember the plan if she can’t talk Eden down or he tries something?” Colonel Autumn asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, Plan B,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, tapping her belt full of grenades with a finger. “B for ‘break stuff’.”

Colonel Autumn then inclined his head Applejack’s way.

“Ready?” he asked, drawing his 10mm pistol. “Eden could have hidden security measures I haven’t seen, so stay behind Rachel and I.”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to overthrow a government,” Applejack grumbled, stepping back so that Colonel Autumn and Rainbow Dash could enter the room first. The soldiers who had slagged the turrets took up positions where the turrets had been.

Their black, fully enclosed helmets and power armor turned each one of them into a faceless goon. The swept-back antennas on the helmets resembled black horns, making the black armor appear even more sinister. There would need to be some changes to make the Enclave better and more approachable. All of the shiny black reminded Applejack too much of the Changelings when Chrysalis had been their queen, rather than King Thorax.

“Then there is no time to waste,” Colonel Autumn said, opening the door.

As soon as Rainbow and the Colonel were through the door, Applejack followed.

<>~<>~<>

President Eden was a massive machine. A literal tower of circuits, wires, and lights held within a large rectangular casing extending from floor to ceiling in the two-story tall room, which was so large that Applejack suspected it was bigger than her family’s barn back home.

There had been no hidden turrets or robots blocking their way, outside of the dead turrets outside. Reaching President Eden had been easy. Almost too easy. It set Applejack on edge, but she took a calming breath while she approached the large console filled with buttons and dials beneath a single massive screen.

A spherical camera with a large lens above the screen tracked her as she approached. It was like being watched by a lone massive eyeball. Another calming breath didn’t ease the anxiety of knowing she was being stared at by the machine masquerading as the president of the United States.

Once she was about ten paces away, John Henry Eden’s unmistakable, charismatic voice emanated from a speaker underneath the screen. A large sine wave line danced on the display in time with Eden’s words almost like it was a giant pair of electronic lips.

“Hello there, Applejack, or would it be more appropriate to call you Abigail now?” Eden said conversationally. For a machine, Eden’s range of voice and expressions were almost organic. Applejack even picked up the subtle bitterness behind the greeting.

“Mr. President,” Applejack replied, tipping her hat. Even if she was here to replace him as the leader of the Enclave, there was no reason she couldn’t be civil about it. Besides being the president, Eden was also the central mainframe storing vast collections of irreplaceable data. Talking him down would deal with Eden and let the Enclave keep the archive fully intact. Destroying him would damage or outright destroy the data only Eden had access to. “Either is fine with me. I assume you know why I’m here.”

“I do,” Eden said, his tone still conversational, with a bitter undertone. “In fact, I know more than you think. I saw this betrayal coming, although I must admit that the speed at which you enacted this ridiculous plan baffles even the likes of me. My loyal soldiers aren’t even halfway to Adams. They should turn back at any moment. Your plan to usurp me will fail. Raven Rock and Adams aren’t the only bases the Enclave has left. You do not have their loyalty.”

“Whoever tries to come for us will run straight into the anti-air defenses,” Colonel Autumn said from somewhere behind Applejack. She didn’t turn around, instead choosing to stare back at Eden’s eye-like camera.

“This doesn't have to end in anyone’s death,” Applejack implored as she waved a hand towards herself, then Eden. “The Enclave needs to be different. So far, yer tryin’ to be the shadow government, but there ain’t no government left to be the shadow of. It’s time to step up and help the wasteland.”

“And I will help the wasteland,” Eden responded, his tone agitated. “The water purifier is the key to purifying the wasteland. Just a little FEV and any mutant in the wasteland will die, making way for the pure, true Americans to take their rightful place on the surface. Something you wouldn’t understand, being from Equestria. Your people tolerate ideas that make you weaker, such as your romantic interest in Rainbow Dash.”

“Her what!?” Rainbow Dash cried out as Applejack backstepped. She hadn’t told a soul she was interested in Rainbow. Not even Rainbow Dash. Applejack had only written it down in the journal she had started on her… her terminal. But how had Eden accessed it?

“My terminal was disconnected from the network!” Applejack yelled.

“You tech ignorant savage,” Eden growled. “I am the network. I noticed the missing terminal and had technicians fix the issue while you were out of the room. From there it was simple to display that it was still disconnected. I know everything your over-honest heart spilled into that journal of yours.”

“And this is why we kept you in the dark, AJ,” Rainbow groaned, coming into Applejack’s peripheral vision. She was pinching the bridge of her nose. “You’re too damned honest sometimes. I’m sorry we lied to you, but as you can see, the wrong person could have asked you the right questions. Or just be a mule and read your diary.” She flapped her wings and flew right up to the camera, tapping it aggressively with her finger. “Also, bozo, what’s so weak about her liking me? I’m awesome.”

Applejack facepalmed and looked down to hide her smile. Rainbow Dash was the one pony who could match her in just about every challenge Applejack threw at her. If Rainbow Dash wasn’t so self centered, Applejack would have already asked her out a long time ago.

“You are both women,” Eden replied. “Your relationship would not continue the Enclave, putting aside the fact that one of you is both a mutant, and a non-American.”

“Plan B?” Rainbow Dash snarled through clenched teeth.

“I’m strongly considering it,” Colonel Autumn said. “Attempting to purify the gene pool is the kind of logic that destroyed the Enclave once before.” Colonel Autumn joined Applejack’s side, staring up at the camera as well. “You have our history books, Eden. Genocide has never attracted allies.”

“Ah, Colonel Autumn, my once-faithful ally,” Eden said with mocking cordiality. “During the Civil War, the North cut a path of destruction through the South to reunite the country. Violence is politics without words, and we live in an age of violence just like those dark times. These Equestrians have never understood the struggles our great nation has had to go through, but you’ve seen what America has become. It’s not too late to rectify your reputation in my eyes. Dispose of these mutants and we can pass this failure of a coup under the bridge. Do not let them infect you with their unamerican ideas.”

Applejack angrily clenched her fists. ‘Infect’ was a choice of words that she didn’t like, it was like free thinking was a disease to Eden. His opinion of homosexuality was also reductive; people were more than machines to produce other people, and what went on in the bedroom wasn’t the government’s concern as long as everyone involved could consent and was old enough.

“Unamerican ideas?” Colonel Autumn laughed. “Here is a thought for you, Eden. We’ve been biding our time in this bunker for over thirty years. Twenty of those years have been spent watching the Brotherhood of Steel win over the hearts and minds of the people living in the Capital Wasteland. You want to know who pointed that out to me?” He motioned a hand to Applejack. “She did. Abigail was right when she said we’re the shadow government with nothing left to shadow. We’re trying to play kings to a pile of ashes and broken bricks. We can take this chance to rebuild America, and build it back better. Equestria can help us do so.”

“Help how?” Eden asked. “They’re communists, infecting good Americans with their radical ideology. Harmony, friendship, bah, ponies are slaves to their god-queen and the marks on their flanks. How long has your Princess Celestia ruled for by now? A thousand years? A little more?”

“Equestria sure as sugar outlasted your county,” Applejack shot back, crossing her arms. Eden’s knowledge of Equestria was limited to outdated files and whatever she had written down. He didn’t know about Luna being back, or Twilight being next in line for the throne, which was a good thing. The less Eden knew the better. It was a bitter irony that she was the one keeping him in the dark now, but Applejack could tolerate a lie if it was necessary to keep Equestria safe. “We aren’t slaves, either. In case you’re too blind to see, we’re freer than your people if we can love who we want, live where we want, and don’t have some giant machine reading our diaries.”

“Comfort, recreation,” Colonel Autumn said bitterly. “How many of these freedoms does the Enclave actually support? We’re a military dictatorship with barely any civilians. How many Enclave members can say they’ve kicked their feet up onto the coffee table and watched a baseball game? You say one thing and have everyone do another. Your propaganda won’t survive contact with reality. How long will it be before people rebel against the Enclave when our boots start pressing on their necks?”

“ENOUGH!” Eden roared, the speakers crackling. “I will not back down to your… your infection. I have stayed my hand in the vain hope that you could see the error of your ways, but it is clear to me now that I must say goodbye to you, Colonel Autumn.”

There was a loud clunk from the ceiling, and two bipedal robots with the body shape of athletic women dropped down, landing between the exit door and Applejack’s group, trapping them inside.

Neither robot had hands. Instead, each of the black-painted female-esque robots had machete-length serrated blades angled like the graspers of a praying mantis. Both of their heads were glowing with red light, building energy in large sparking capacitors.

“Assaultrons!” Colonel Autumn yelled, “Rachel, use it!”

Use what? Applejack thought as she quickly turned to face where Rainbow Dash had been flying by the camera. Except that by the time she turned, Rainbow had shot towards the assaultrons faster than Applejack had ever seen Rainbow move, the gust of wind and noise was like a miniature sonic rainboom.

Spinning to try and catch her friend’s movement, by the time she refocused on the assaultrons, they were collapsing to the floor in a twitching, sparking heap. Dozens of wide puncture wounds dotted their chassis. The mirage of a black and blue hung in the air, shooting back towards Eden’s terminal.

Following the mirage to its end, Rainbow Dash was flying close to the tower-like case holding all of Eden’s electronics. Her belt of grenades was in her hands. Blood poured from her right nostril, but she was otherwise unhurt.

“How!?” Eden screamed, his spherical camera spinning in search of Rainbow Dash before it found her. “That shouldn’t be possible!”

“A little thing called implant GRX,” Rainbow Dash said, wiping her bloody nose with a sleeve. “Enhances my reaction time to the point everything is moving in slow motion, and I can already survive flying at mach speeds.” She waved the belt full of grenades at the camera. “Now, surrender, or we see how many grenades it takes to brick you. I have plasma, pulse, frag, and even a cryo grenade.”

“You are making a critical mistake,” Eden muttered threateningly, before the speakers crackled from his declaration. “I’m the only one with the non-redacted files on Equestria and the schematics and locations for the technology used to get there! I am your only hope of getting home! Without me, you will never be able to return, never!”

Colonel Autumn had already told Applejack that the Enclave had been heavily involved in the project that built the portals to Equestria. One of the few things he had told her about. The DIA’s files contained information on there being multiple portals that had been built, not just one. Unfortunately the papers had so many black bars drawn on them that the documents mostly resembled barcodes, rather than sources of helpful information.

“Our friend Twilight will find a way. I know she will,” Applejack said. Twilight always came through in the end. “She knows magic far better than a bunch of ones and zeroes.”

There was a pause, as though Eden was processing a lot of information at once.

“Can she do magic with a broken horn?” Eden asked, much calmer than before.

“Tell us where she is!” Rainbow yelled, drawing one of the grenades from the belt. “I swear if you’ve touched her!”

“I did not,” Eden said. “I see all that goes on in the wasteland. My eyes are everywhere. Kill me, and you lose what I know about all of your friends. There are many, many other things I know that you’ll lose out on discovering or stopping. I have already set things into motion, even before this pitiful coup. Ask yourselves, what is the price of your victory, hmmm?”

“How the hay can a machine sound smug?” Rainbow groaned. “Is he telling the truth, AJ?”

Applejack frowned. Eden was a machine. Everything he said was literally calculated. There was no face to read the expressions of, no movement to pick up subtle cues on. Eden was unreadable if he kept his cool. They had the weapons, yet he was holding them hostage with words alone.

“I… can’t say for sure,” Applejack said. “But he’s been sellin’ snake oil over the radio for years. No sense in trusting him now. Goodbye, Eden.”

“Before you kill me, indulge me for just a moment,” Eden said as Rainbow Dash held her thumb over the activation button for the pulse grenade she held. “If you wish to treat me like I am the villain, then allow me one final monologue.”

Applejack rolled her eyes.

“Go ahead and say yer peace.”

President Eden chuckled.

“Your actions and hubris have led me to make many unfortunate choices. Choices unfortunate for you, that is. My final words will be a literary reference that your backwards people will not understand. ‘From Hell's heart, I stab at thee.’”

The pulse grenade clattered into the mainframe housing, and President Eden died with the final words of, “God bless America. God bless the Enclave.”

<>~<>~<>

Colonel Augustus Autumn collapsed into his office chair, sighing heavily as his back thumped against the cushion. Technicians were attempting to repair the mainframe and restore what they could without reactivating Eden.

Their victory hadn’t felt as triumphant as it should have. No one chose the words of Captain Ahab to be their last unless they were sure they were taking someone down with them. But finding out what Eden had planned would be a waiting game until some functionality had been restored to the mainframe. With any hope, whatever was coming would be manageable.

Colonel Autumn knew he should hurry and help consolidate Abigail’s position as president, but it could wait. He was tired.

The metal wall closest to his desk held a large analogue clock, ticking away. Every chunk-chunk of the seconds passing by served to remind Colonel Autumn that time marched on, even if he was sitting down. It was just before midnight.

Chunk-chunk, the seconds passed, more grains of sand slipping through his fingers. Fifty-five years old, and not much to show for it.

Chunk-chunk, time marched on. With a loud clack, the hour, minute, and second hands shifted to point straight up to midnight.

Fifty-six years old and he had finally started to accomplish something of value.

Pulling himself up to his desk, Colonel Autumn turned on his terminal. Without Eden acting as the central mainframe, everything was disjointed and confused in the base. Automated systems were offline or stuck in the on position, terminals had no network connection, and even critical systems like air purification were reduced.

He turned his head slightly to stare at the tomato plant in a pot on the shelf, the newest addition to his room.

“I need to shake the hands of every technician in this bunker,” Colonel Autumn said to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn’t envy the task of the mechanics and terminal specialists. The pulse grenade had thoroughly fried Eden.

Chunk-chunk, the clock ticked on.

The sound spurred Colonel Autumn into movement. He unlocked his terminal; even without Eden, he could still make notes on the terminal’s hard drive. He would do what little he could to help the new president before sleeping. Time waited for no man, and there was still so much to be done.

He barely had the text program open before there was a knock at the door. Colonel Autumn knew who it was from the sound, only one person would knock that gently.

“Come in,” Colonel Autumn called out loud enough to be heard through the door.

It opened, and President Abigail Jacklyn entered, her arms crossed and face set into a frown. Colonel Autumn knew she would come to his office, and he would deserve every bit of anger the new president had towards him.

“Madam President,” Colonel Autumn said, swiveling his chair in her direction. His achy joints creaked as he pushed himself to stand.

“Spare me your silver tongue,” Abigail hissed. “You had that darned implant thing installed in Rainbow knowin’ good’n well it’a put her in the hospital. It made her too fast. That nosebleed only stopped just before I left the infirmary.”

“And she knew the risks, but she would have told you that,” Colonel Autumn said, nodding. “You’re here about something else, aren’t you?”

“Eden’s dead, so I think it’s time you come clean with me,” Abigail said, staring him in the eyes. There was a fire in those eyes. A fire Autumn hoped could forge his nation anew. “What are you planning? You put me in charge. Why?”

“Because you’re a good person,” Colonel Autumn said. He sat back down, wincing as arthritis stabbed at his joints. “You’re honest, and you try to solve problems without violence. If you had been a human from birth, I think you would have had a fair chance at talking Eden down, but the Enclave isn’t the most tolerant of groups. I have my own intolerances; I nearly shot Rachel on the spot when I saw she wasn’t fully human, and that would have been a regrettable choice because I consider her a valuable colleague now. I’m not the leader this country needs.”

“Playing the fight with Eden back in my head,” Abigail said, “I noticed you said you were against Eden’s plan to kill everything, even if it was only slightly mutated. But ya didn’t say nary a word against his nasty opinion towards, well–” Abigail trailed off as she scratched the back of her head, looking away and blushing.

“I have my faults,” Autumn said dourly. “The Enclave is isolationist. We rarely recruit wastelanders unless they prove to be exceptionally skilled, so we need our men and women to make more men and women. I–” Colonel Autumn grunted. Fumbling over the words in his head. He didn’t want to sound like the one in the wrong, even though he knew he was. “I was raised my whole life in the Enclave with that mindset. I won’t come out and say I support queer ideals, but I won’t discourage them. The people who hold those ideas are still people and are entitled to their opinion and way of life.”

The idea of two people of the same gender marrying was an uncomfortable thought to Colonel Autumn. But as a wise woman had told him not too long ago, sometimes you need to live with a little discomfort to enjoy life.

She had her opinions, he had his. Regardless which side was right or wrong, the world kept turning and time kept ticking on.

Chunk-chunk.

Chapter 21: Black Book

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Twilight slowly cracked her eyes open, staring at the ceiling as her waking brain struggled to chase away the fog of deep sleep. She could hear the pitter-patter of a light drizzle hitting the roof of the small yet comfortably furnished guest room. It was like there was a stampede of tiny hooves on the shingles. The heavy wind had died off sometime through the night, leaving the fat water-laden clouds to lazily hang around all night long.

Twilight only knew it was morning by the wavering orange ray of dawn slipping through a narrow gap in the curtains, peeking through the even narrower span between the horizon and the clouds. The light illuminated the sheet and blanket covering her and Daniel as they shared the bed.

He was her husband. The word bounced around Twilight’s head. Husband, husband, husband. She had really gotten married!

As if she needed a reminder, she rolled and reached over to the nightstand. Her bare arm brushed the covers aside far enough for cold air to slip into her cocoon of comfort. The sudden shock to her naked body blew away the remnants of fog in her brain as she snatched the piece of shrapnel off the nightstand next to her pistol and cradled it against her chest. Holding it close, she thought about everything that had led up to her saying ‘I do’.

Three or four days had gone by lightning fast, but those days had been harrowing ones. Twilight guessed that Daniel probably thought the same, since he had agreed to get married as well. He was a good person who was considerate enough to try and improvise something in place of the wedding rings; no one gave a gift like that from the heart and didn’t mean it. He had even gotten on a knee and proposed to her. It somehow made the wedding feel more legitimate than it should have, and proved to her that he would want to make it work just as much as she did.

The only thing that could have made the wedding perfect was having all her friends and family there to see it, rather than a bunch of bored strangers who wanted an excuse to stay out of the rain just a little longer.

Twilight’s smile faded as she carefully traced the tip of a finger along the edge of the jagged metal splinter she held. Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Spike were all still out in the Wasteland while she was busy getting married. Now Twilight understood what Rarity had mentioned feeling: a crushing wave of guilt for having fun while her friends could be in mortal danger.

Especially Fluttershy.

A knot of worry coiled in Twilight’s stomach. Her friend was alone with two of the worst criminals that Twilight personally knew. It was a small relief that Fluttershy seemed to know what she was doing, or at least had the skills to defend herself, but the raiders following Fluttershy weren’t the worst thing in the Wasteland.

Scribe Glenn’s whereabouts were still unknown. After Fluttershy’s description of him before leaving Equestria, Twilight would travel with a dozen Kerris or Slim Joes before she would want to be in the same postcode as Scribe Glenn. He was so past redemption that Fluttershy had vowed to kill him, and Twilight would be there to cheer her on to do it. Necromancy and blood magic were past King Sombra on the evilness scale.

With her thoughts lingering on the dark mage as well as everything else she still needed to do, Twilight knew she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. So of course, her stomach chose that moment to softly growl.

That decided it. There would be no sleeping in with her new husband… at least for now. She placed the piece of shrapnel back by her pistol before she steadied herself with the nightstand. Slowly she brushed the covers off of her, careful not to disturb the fabric too much so she wouldn’t wake her husband up. She then swung her legs out, putting more weight on her good leg since she hadn’t slept with her brace on. It was on the floor, heaped together with her Pip-Boy and the rest of her clothes. Daniel’s clothes were in a similar heap, close to where their backpacks and armor lay.

Seeing the clothes reminded Twilight of how things had escalated rather unexpectedly last night. It reminded her that there was another reason to try and not wake Daniel up other than common courtesy. He had enough beginner’s luck for both of them, and had stayed a stallion in all the right places. Even with her thoughts lingering on all the negativity, just the small and brief thought of last night made Twilight want to curl her hooves as she stood beside the bed.

Embarrassment, guilt, worry, joy… almost every emotion she knew. She wouldn’t forget a second of what she had experienced in this town she hadn’t even learned the name of. It would be easy to forget the Wasteland and her worries for just a little longer. The temptation to re-experience it all with Daniel was certainly there. Her many textbooks hadn’t conveyed just how indescribably amazing being with a stallion was.

Twilight shook her head, chasing away the thought. She needed to get moving before she gave in and jumped back in bed with Daniel. It was a selfish desire, anyways; she had people counting on her. She was still the Princess of Friendship and had friends in need. With no time to get distracted, she limped away from the nightstand towards her little heap of clothes. She started to get dressed, leaving the leg brace for last.

Thankfully, her leg held up long enough to get dressed. The hardest part didn’t even involve her leg; it was getting her wings through the holes in the back of her plum and maroon Vault suit.

Once she was dressed, Twilight gave her husband a passing glance, watching him curled up in bed. She could wake him up, but it was still raining outside. She could get things done on her own while he slept in a little, like talking to the priest about the job he needed mercenaries for. If she was quick enough she could even cook Daniel breakfast as a little ‘thank you’ gift for just being there for her, even if their relationship had more arguments than dates… so far. After everything calmed down, there would be time for dates.

Giving her knee brace a final adjustment, Twilight walked towards the bedroom door, crossing the small room in just a few steps. She reached for the doorknob and turned it slowly, the old brass ball squeaking like a mouse as it turned. Twilight’s heart fluttered with anxiety. She whipped around to face the bed, but Daniel thankfully still snored away.

Sleep tight, Prince.

Pulling the door open just a crack, Twilight slipped into the main room of the church, closing the door behind her.

She observed the room beyond until her gaze settled on the windows. She hadn’t had a chance to get a good look at what the stained glass showed in the firelight of the braziers. The braziers themselves had burnt down to coals through the night, but that wasn’t an issue. Her low-light vision and the dawn light filtering through the windows let her see well enough. The glass mosaics were a lovely mix of reds, greens, and amber-golds, with some browns here and there.

The predominant imagery was of a woman cradling a baby, or three crosses on a hilltop, the central cross draped with a purple sash. Twilight was in awe at the artistry and craftsmanship of the mosaic, her thoughts dwelling on what the meaning was behind the images. When she had the chance, she’d have to learn everything she could about the religion, even if she didn’t intend to practice it. It was part of the culture of the people who lived in this world, and Daniel had once been a part of the religion, though Twilight didn’t know why he had departed from it. She hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to Daniel before the sparks started to fly, and what little she had learned was just a few basics.

Twilight dwelt on the significance of the people and images in the mosaic for a little while longer before the front doors to the church opened with a loud creak. Whipping her head around, she saw Reverend Josiah Smith carrying a bundle of split firewood in his arms as he nudged the doors closed behind him. Twilight quickly closed the distance between herself and him, reaching her arms out.

“I can help,” she said to the black-skinned man.

“Oh, thank you,” Reverend Smith said, passing over half the stack. “Is Daniel up yet?”

“Not yet.” Twilight shimmied the firewood into a more comfortable carrying position as she followed beside the reverend. “I never thanked you for offering me the chance to back out of the wedding.”

“It’s the least I could do,” Reverend Smith said, smiling widely as they walked towards the closest braziers to the door.

“I do want to ask why you didn't suggest the barn earlier,” Twilight said, stopping alongside the reverend by the brazier.

Reverend Smith placed most of his firewood onto the still glowing coals from the previous night before he answered with a shrug. “I’m only human, and Jackson put me on the spot. I didn’t think of the barn right away.” Reverend Smith placed the rest of his firewood onto a little green rug covered in wood chips and splinters near the brazier. Once he was done, he took the bundle of firewood from Twilight and placed it on the rug with his bundle. “In the end, I decided that marrying you and Daniel falsely would be more of a sin than offering you two a place you could go sleep together.” The reverend stepped away from the brazier, turned, and headed towards a simple three-drawer cabinet pushed against the far wall. “Unfortunately, if you try to follow the commandments like I do, sometimes being a good Christian and a good person don’t line up, or any choice you make leaves you culpable to a sin.”

Twilight nodded. Daniel had explained to her that there were holy laws written in their religious textbook. Premarital sex was against the rules, which some sects took to the extreme of segregating sleeping areas to entirely different buildings.

“Could you tell me a bit more about your religion?” Twilight asked, watching as Reverend Smith retrieved a grill-top from beside the cabinet. Her stomach growled again, this time loud enough she caught the reverend’s glance her way. Splaying her ears, Twilight sheepishly grinned. “Sorry, I haven’t been able to keep a full stomach for long these last few days.”

So many things in this world had made her vomit. It was becoming an uncomfortable theme.

“Hunger is natural, no need to apologize for your stomach making noise,” the reverend said, walking back over to the brazier and placing the metal grating over the fire. “I would ask if you wanted to help me cook for the town, but I doubt they’d want a mutant handling their food. The mutation isn’t contagious, is it?”

“So far I’ve only seen people turn into mutants like me under very specific circumstances,” Twilight said. “I don’t know if you believe in magic, but it exists.”

“I do,” the reverend said. “The Bible—Christianity’s holy texts—are filled with examples of what can only be called magic. Some examples are clearly divine intervention, others not so much.” The reverend paused, his eyes lingering on her horn before he spoke again. “The gate guards say they never saw you enter town. Can you do magic?”

Twilight froze, unsure how much she should reveal. She could probably tell him everything. She was already in town. The worst he could do was attack her or kick her out. Equestria would be safe.

“Yes,” Twilight said after a moment of hesitation. She tapped her horn with a finger. “Well, normally I can, but my horn was broken recently, so I needed help from another one of my kind to teleport Daniel and myself. Unfortunately, we were sent here by accident. We didn’t mean to bypass your walls, we just want to get back to the Capital Wasteland after an inconvenient detour.”

“That place?” The reverend raised an eyebrow. “Makes sense someone with fur would come from there, no offense. Heard the place was cursed beyond reason, though I’ve never been.”

She and Daniel had looked at their Pip-Boy maps after the ceremony. They were a few days south from Smith Casey’s Garage, and they could save a lot of time if Twilight could fly a cart like Fluttershy, but Daniel’s agoraphobia could be an issue with that option, even if they found a cart to use.

“Yeah,” Twilight said. “What’s the name of this town so we can mark it on our maps?”

“Drifter’s Rest,” the reverend said with a lighthearted chuckle. “Probably the last town before you get far enough into Virginia for Three Dog’s radio station to be out of range. Though it hasn't been transmitting for a while.”

“One of my friends is hoping to fix that soon, she works for the Brotherhood of Steel,” Twilight replied. “Speaking of work, you said that you had a job for Daniel and I?”

“I do, and luckily, or unluckily when it comes to that place, it’ll take you to the direction you’re heading,” the reverend said. He was about to say more, but the room door opened and Daniel stepped out, dressed in his combat armor. Twilight wondered if she had accidentally woken him up after all. “Ah, good, you’re awake. I’ll grab the package now.”

“Package?” Daniel asked as he crossed the room, joining her side. Twilight smiled as he drew close, and she leaned into him. “Are we delivering something?”

The reverend didn’t answer, instead, he walked towards a door and quickly entered the room beyond.

“Seems like it,” Twilight replied in the reverend's stead. “Morning, Danny.”

Daniel rolled his eyes and smiled. “I’m not going to let that pet name stick, Twily.”

“And that one won’t stick because that’s the nickname my brother uses for me,” Twilight said back, playfully bumping her hip into Daniel’s. “I was going to cook you breakfast, but the reverend and I kept going from tangent to tangent.”

“He’s definitely a preacher then,” Daniel chuckled. Twilight raised an eyebrow, not understanding what was funny. Daniel explained, “It’s an old joke about preachers being long winded.”

“Ah,” Twilight said. “I wouldn’t know, religion really isn’t a thing in Equestria. Well, unless you count the towns far enough away from the capital, then you have ponies who deify Celestia.”

“I was wanting to ask about that,” Daniel said. “Are Celestia and Luna gods or something in your world?”

“What, no?” Twilight snorted. “I’ve seen Celestia and Luna get tossed around enough to know that’s FAR from accurate. They’re just bigger than everyone else, immortal, spin the sun and moon around Equestria–”

“Totally not gods then,” Daniel said as he smirked.

Twilight facepalmed. The way she put it, Celestia and Luna did sound like gods. Luna even entered ponies’ dreams to protect them from nightmares.

“Okay, some ponies may have a valid reason to be confused,” Twilight said. “But they aren’t gods, just very powerful beings. Living with them and seeing how flawed they are—as well as them telling you not to worship them—is probably why religion hasn’t caught on too hard in Equestria.”

Twilight and Daniel’s conversation died off as the Reverend emerged from the door he had entered. He was carrying a large, thick metal briefcase, his shoulder sagging with the weight of it. The symbol on the briefcase’s front was three black triangles arranged like the leaves of a clover around a central black dot, set on a yellow circular background.

“Do you need help with that?” Daniel asked.

“No,” Reverend Smith replied, grunting slightly as he approached the counter against the wall. “You said you were once part of the faith?”

“Yes,” Daniel said, shifting from hoof to hoof as she scratched the back of his neck. “Respectfully, I’m not interested in converting back.”

“Not my intention,” Reverend Smith said, hefting the heavy metal briefcase onto the countertop. “I have a question about a particular piece of scripture. I know you said it’s been a while, but do you remember the first of the ten commandments?”

“I think it’s ‘Thou shalt not have any other gods before me’,” Daniel replied, although his tone sounded more like he was questioning if he got it right. The way the scripture was spoken sounded like how old Equestrian was written.

“Correct,” Reverend Smith said with an approving nod, turning the tumblers on the briefcase’s number lock. “What does it mean to you, Daniel?”

“It's God saying he’s the one and only god,” Daniel replied.

“That can be one interpretation,” Reverend Smith said. “But when Moses went to free his people from slavery in Egypt, God turned Moses’s staff into a serpent when he threw it down, correct?”

Twilight had turned a boulder into a tophat, and an orange into a frog. A staff into a serpent sounded a lot like magic. She almost missed Daniel’s slow nod.

“What are you getting at, Reverend?” Daniel asked. The reverend clicked open the locks.

“I want to know,” the reverend began. “Who turned the staffs of the Pharaoh's magicians into serpents?”

The reverend slowly lifted the hefty lid of the briefcase, his body blocking her view of what was inside. But she didn’t need to see it to feel it.

Twilight dry heaved as the scent and taste of sulfur and tar filled the air, clawing deep into her nose. Her eyes watered and horn itched.

As the reverend stepped aside, showing off the contents in the box, Daniel jerked.

“Twilight,” Daniel asked, his voice a rasp of panic. He looked around, anywhere but back inside the box. “What am I feeling?”

“Dark magic,” Twilight said, her own voice thin. She swallowed heavily, tasting acid.

Inside the briefcase was a black leather-bound tome. One almost exactly like the one Fluttershy had seen Glenn with.

The reverend slammed the briefcase closed, the oppressive feeling in the air departing as the book was locked away. The reverend’s dark skin had turned a few shades lighter brown.

“I take it from your reactions that you both agree this thing needs to be destroyed,” Reverend Smith said, his mouth working to swallow several times.

“Y-yeah!” Daniel shouted, stumbling away. He snorted his nose and hacked phlegm before spitting into the brazier. “It tastes like my teeth are made of copper… or my mouth is full of blood or something.”

Twilight agreed. She wasn’t a fan of books being destroyed, but knowledge was power and there were some powers that needed to be out of the hands of everyone. Glenn had tortured and raped a young girl to satisfy a spell in his book. If Fluttershy hadn’t found Melissa, Glenn would have used her and her unborn child as spell components.

If Twilight still had the entirety of her horn, she would have ripped the book apart herself. Even if it meant using the dark magic she had learned to defeat King Sombra.

“My ministry was having a prayer service late last night,” Reverend Smith said. “I recently came into possession of the book, and was preparing to take the journey myself. I am a man of the cloth, not a warrior, but my Father above provided me with two capable and good-hearted people.”

Twilight was skeptical that there was some sort of divine intervention at play. Yet unexplainable magic had been the norm in her life the last few years. The Tree of Harmony had provided her with an entire castle like it was pre-destined to happen, with a map inside of it that would lead her and her friends on quests to solve friendship problems across the world.

Who was she to deny that there was something similar in this world that she didn’t have the capabilities to understand? Regardless if it was a god, strange magic, or fully coincidental chance, there was still an evil artifact before her that needed destruction.

“What do you know about the book?” Twilight asked. “I assume like most magical artifacts, it’s incredibly resilient.”

The preacher would have burned it if it were that easy to destroy.

“It’s tough, that’s for sure,” Reverend Smith said. “A missionary from another Christian sect called the Abbey of the Road warned me of books like these. I didn’t want to believe something this evil could actually exist in the world. That was until reality arrived in a trade caravan a few days ago. I’ve tried fire, battery acid, even one of Junker’s jury-rigged mini-nuke landmines didn’t touch it. The missionary said it has to be destroyed by an equally malevolent force.”

“Is there anything else you can tell us about the book?” Twilight asked, before she jerked. “Wait, was there a thin bald man with head scars following the caravan?”

“No,” Reverend Smith said with a deep frown, rubbing his chin. “The missionary said there were three books. She was heading for Point Lookout to retrieve the Krivbeknih, this is the Dhulrhonvir… you’ve encountered the third?”

“My friend has,” Twilight said. “The holotape left by Scribe Glenn said it was the Nalanakrivmir.”

<>~<>~<>

Jack fell backwards onto the sofa he had found in the alley way. The damp cushions sloshed with water from the absolute rainstorm the night before, but he needed a rest.

He felt like shit, and there was a reason. He pulled his pants down to check his thigh. The wound he found was certainly infected. Jack didn’t need booksmarts to know that the fragments of needle left in his thigh weren’t a good thing, and he didn’t have a stimpak to push the fragments out. He pulled his pants back up.

Every step of his walk of shame after she had defeated him had been agony. What Med-X he had been able to push through the needle before the pink-haired dyke had roundhouse kicked the syringe hadn’t even touched the pain. He would have needed the full hit to feel slightly numb.

“When I get my hands on her,” Jack growled. “I’m gonna make it slow… start with tearing those yellow feathers out her wings one-by-one.”

He lost himself in thought, building up idea after idea, one spawning two others until there were too many plans. He rearranged the order of his favorite ideas into a playlist of agony he would dish out on the bitch when he found her again. He’d have to get creative to make her last. Hanging her up by the ankles like he was carving up a radstag would kill her from shock too quickly… unless he paid off the right doctor, of course.

“Am I interrupting something?”

“Jesus-fuck, man!” Jack cursed as his eyes shot open. Reflex trained from years of being a raider boss had him reach to his side and draw iron on the man who had jumped him.

The man did not flinch back. He stood at the end of the alley like the grim reaper, leaning heavily on a tall staff topped with a skull that dripped with blood.

“Hey, cue–ball,” Jack cursed at the bald man. The man was a raider, that was for sure. His face was carved up like a jigsaw puzzle, all lines and letters not from any alphabet Jack recognized. The man was thin, too, like skin stretched over a skeleton. Most of his bulk was probably from the bloody Brotherhood of Steel robes he wore. “Nearest pool-table is a few blocks down. This alley is taken.”

“Bald jokes,” the man said, no inflection or change in his voice. He didn’t even blink. “Cute.”

“Last chance, fucknuts, back the fuck off or I cap you,” Jack threatened, turning his revolver sideways as he drew back the hammer.

“And my search for an apprentice continues,” the man said, turning from the alley and walking away. His voice trailed around the corner. “Shame, so much potential with that rage of yours.”

Jack stared at where the man had been for several long seconds.

“Fucking cocksucking weirdo,” Jack scowled, lowering the pistol and looking skyward. A few raindrops hit his face. “Ah, good… more fucking rain. Can this get any worse?”

A shuffling sound drew his attention back to the entrance of the alley.

Lumbering around the corner of the alley was a dog… but not like anything Jack had ever seen. It was taller, broader, and made of rusted metal, like a sculpture that had come to life. Carved into its body were more of the strange letters like on the head of the bald man. Its glowing eyes flickered between dark purple tinged with abyssal black, and lambent green. A knife-like tongue made of steel screeched and sparked as the wolf licked its pointed rebar teeth.

“E-easy boy,” Jack stuttered as he slowly raised the pistol.

The wolf pounced.

Chapter 22: Blood and Mud

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Even disappointments could be useful.

Fresh, wet sinew for thread, a needle made from a sliver of his tibia, and a foolhardy heart full of misplaced courage.

Glenn was lucky Hel hadn’t eaten it.

To the south-west he had felt the pulse of dark magic. Another tome calling out to be read.

Hel followed in his footsteps, his steel maw coated in gore.

<>~<>~<>

Daniel hadn’t even left the church and there was already another obstacle between him and finding his father. Twilight and Reverend Smith were busy talking about the black books and Scribe Glenn. The most he could offer was a comment here and there as he waited by Twilight’s side.

A small salve to his growing annoyance was the fact that he had felt the clawing, wet, foul energy radiating off the book. Pointless distractions didn’t hit him like a mini-nuke; this book was pure evil. He wasn’t a Christain, not for a long time, but feeling something that messed up pushed him closer to believing. God or not, there was magic on Earth already, and it wasn’t as friendly as Equestrian magic. If the book ended up in the hands of the wrong people… Daniel pushed the idea away. Fluttershy’s description of what she’d seen during the failed Brotherhood raid was enough. As much as it pained him, the book had to take priority over his father.

“So where can we destroy the books?” Twilight asked Reverend Smith as they stood across from each other over a brazier crackling with fire. The conversation seemed to be growing to a close.

Daniel tapped his hoof impatiently as he ran his tongue over the backside of his teeth. He could still taste copper, like he was sucking on a pre-war penny.

“A place called the Dunwich Building,” Reverend Smith replied. He turned and picked up the lead-lined briefcase off the counter with a grunt before he faced Daniel. “The missionary from the Abbey of the Road gave me a map.”

“We have our own maps,” Daniel replied. He held up his left arm and waved his Pip-Boy. “We can transfer the information so you can keep your own copy.”

“Great thinking!” Twilight beamed from beside him, smiling her bright, wonderful smile. His impatience and worry melted away with Twilight’s compliment. “I’m going to repack our bags so someone doesn’t have to lug everything around.”

Twilight bumped him with her hip before she departed in the direction of the spare bedroom.

“You two are a cute couple,” Reverend Smith said with a chuckle, approaching Daniel and holding out the briefcase. “I’ve already apologized to Twilight, but I’d like to apologize to you about how forced the wedding was.”

“It’s fine,” Daniel said, accepting the briefcase. He was indeed fine with it. Twilight was an intelligent, caring, supportive friend who he enjoyed spending time with. It had started out rough with a couple arguments, but overall things were heading in the right direction. “We’ll have a proper wedding with all our friends and family when we’re ready. Or at least renew our vows.”

Daniel’s smile slowly faded as he worked his jaw in thought. Sure, Twilight was amazing, but the wedding had been too fast and so sudden. He had to improvise something for the ring. Was their relationship strong enough to last? Then there was what had happened last night.

“I think I need to apologize to you,” Daniel’s voice was low, and he turned his head away from the reverend in shame. “I messed up.”

“What do you mean, Daniel?” Reverend Smith’s voice was calm and radiated with understanding. Like a father, or how Daniel expected a preacher should have been. Not the lackey of the Overseer he had dealt with for seven years back in the Vault, who twisted the lessons of the Bible into parody to suit the Overseer’s desire for control.

Daniel rubbed the back of his neck and looked down to his hooves, like a child caught with their hand in a cookie jar. He knew that the wedding wasn’t as legitimate as it should have been to actually mean something.

“I gave in to lust,” Daniel said, shaking his head slowly. A goodnight kiss turned into another, then a few more. Next thing Daniel knew, he was the one reaching for the zipper of Twilight’s vault suit and things escalated from there. “In the guest room of this church.”

Daniel winced as the preacher placed a rough, calloused hand on his shoulder. It was the hand of a man who worked a hard life every day. Unlike his hand, though, his voice was as soft as silk. “You are a married man.”

“But a shotgun wedding isn’t a real wedding,” Daniel replied, stepping back and looking the preacher in the eyes. He had been so caught up in the moment the night before, he had quickly jumped to saying ‘I do’ without a second thought. After a night of sleep and a cursed book in the briefcase he carried, Daniel was having second thoughts. “We both know that it was just to get around the rules, even if I love her, it’s too early.”

“Perhaps,” Reverend Smith said with a shrug. “But the Lord made Heaven and Earth in six days. Great things can happen in a short time. The fact that you care enough to feel ashamed is proof enough that, even if I didn’t think the wedding had merit—which I believe it does—you deserve forgiveness. Mine and the Lord’s.” The older black man chuckled mirthfully. “And don’t worry if there was a mess. Jackson was right, we were going to burn the mattress and the sheets anyways just to put the townsfolks’ minds at ease. Twilight told me the mutation doesn’t spread easily, but a little show to make them feel safe won’t hurt.”

Daniel didn’t know what to make of Reverend Smith. He was a holy man who was both firm with the rules, yet willing to bend them. A hypocrite was too harsh a word to describe the Reverend, even if it fit. Daniel decided that ‘Christian’ fit perfectly. God himself was polar opposites between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Sodom and Gomorrah one moment, Jesus on a cross for humanity’s sins the next.

“Thank you for the hospitality, Reverend,” Daniel said. “I’m going to go help Twilight pack. Do you have that map handy?”

“I do,” Reverend Smith said, reaching into the breast pocket of his vestments. “God’s blessing be with you, and your wife. Safe travels.”

<>~<>~<>

The hot afternoon sun of early September baked the mud into clay to the point that it cracked under Daniel’s hooves with every step, revealing fresh mud underneath. The baked layer hid deceptively deep pockets of wet earth beneath. Crack the top layer, and his hooves would sink, sometimes to the ankle, but more often than not it was to the shins.

Daniel should have known from how few trees and rocks were standing in the valley that it looked too easy to cross. The nearby rocky hills had all drained down into the almost barren valley, turning the entire area for miles in every direction into a literal sea of mud.

Twilight, with her wings pinned under her bulky backpack, was struggling just as much as him. At the moment she was walking over the trunk of one of the tipped-over trees, her Pip-Boy playing static at max volume. She had tuned it to Galaxy News Radio before leaving Drifter’s Rest, which was a few hours behind them.

The rough travel had kept their conversations to a minimum. Just getting through the valley was proving to be difficult, but turning back and taking a different direction was out of the picture. Following the ancient roads would take them around the rocky hills, but it would take them days out of range from the Dunwich Building.

A straight shot north from Drifter’s Rest had been their best option. After the Dunwich Building, they could keep heading north to hit Girdershade, or north-west for Smith Casey’s Garage, where his father had last been heading.

Movement from Twilight caught Daniel’s attention. She stared at her static-playing radio with worry again. She had been looking at the radio off and on for the last thirty minutes. Daniel knew she was anxious about Fluttershy. He was just as anxious.

“I’m sure–” Daniel was cut off with a grunt as his hooves broke through a thicker layer of clay he had thought would hold him, only to end up waist deep in a mud puddle. He scrabbled for the handle of the lead-lined briefcase in the muck, and thankfully found it. “Sure she’s fine.” He finished as he forced his way through the soupy earth towards the log Twilight walked on.

“She’s with raiders, Daniel,” Twilight fretted. She brought a hand to her mouth and bit one of her nails as she waited for him on the log. “You heard what Slim Joe said he’s done. What if he wasn’t telling the whole story? Fluttershy kept Discord from forcing the truth out of them.”

“I know you’re worried, Twi,” Daniel said, his Pip-Boy occasionally clicking as he encountered a minor patch of radioactive mud here and there. He reached the log and clambered up, his arms straining to pull his doctor’s physique out of the sucking soup. He sat on his knees, panting. “I’m sure she’s fine. She’ll have Three Dog’s new transmitter up and running in no time.” He wiped sweat from his brow. An odd sensation when the moisture was coming off his furry head. “Take five?”

“Yeah,” Twilight sighed, plopping down onto her butt beside him. She carefully slung her backpack around to her side, opening the flap and retrieving a small jar.

“That food?” Daniel asked, adjusting himself to sit on his butt as well. In his new position, the jar’s large white RX label was clear. It was prescription medicine.

“No,” Twilight replied, breathing exhausted pants as she set the jar between her legs. Daniel smelled mint as she opened the jar and used two fingers on her right hand to scoop out a large glob of snot-green gel filled with blue sparkles. She rubbed it on her horn, starting at the base and working up towards the broken end about two-thirds up. “It’s something to numb pain and help me regrow my horn.”

Daniel’s heart leapt into his throat at the thought of his wife hurting. “Is the break causing you constant pain?”

“No,” Twilight said, her response short as she focused on working her fingers up and down her horn.

Daniel smiled, brushing his worry away with a funny thought.

“Ya know, with you moving your hand up and down like that, it almost looks—”

Daniel’s lips were forced closed, purple light springing up in front of his face in time with Twilight’s horn glowing.

“It also keeps my head from turning into a sparkler,” Twilight said, giggling with glee as she clapped her hands and kicked her hooves. “Oh my goodness, it feels so good to do magic again without a headache.”

She slammed the jar lid closed and tossed it back into her pack, quickly pulling out several sheets of paper. Not paper, Daniel realized from the title, but a plain white pamphlet with a large bold title and a few black-and-white pictures. All of the pictures were of unicorns missing all or part of their horns. The title explained why. “Therapy Exercises After the Loss of the Horn”. It was a medical pamphlet, much like the ones he would give to a patient after a sprain or broken bone.

He had given a similar pamphlet to Miss Beatrice after she had dislocated her shoulder in a fall.

“Hey Twilight,” Daniel asked, though it was more of a ‘Hmm Hi-hmmph’ with his mouth still closed by her magic. Twilight released his mouth with an apologetic grin.

“Ah,” Daniel sighed, working his now free jaw before continuing. “If those exercises are simple ones, could they help me learn magic?”

Magic. Just the thought of being able to do something as simple as float tools around had spawned so many ideas for implementation. Daniel’s eyes drifted to Twilight’s leg. Her braced leg. If he had magic, maybe the operation wouldn’t have been such a hack-job.

“Theoretically?” Twilight answered, drawing his attention back to her beautiful and exotic purple furred face. She was frowning. “I see your expression. Don’t blame yourself for my bum leg. I ran off on you.”

Daniel hadn’t realized he had been frowning.

“Sorry,” Daniel apologized, feeling his ears flex back without his input. Having new flexible body parts was strange. “Just thinking of what I could do with magic. I could have helped so many people back in the Vault, or maybe saved the full use of your leg. I know I’m connected to magic now because I felt that.” He nodded to the mud-encrusted metal briefcase.

“Well,” Twilight said, smiling widely as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s put the theoretical to the test.”

Twilight pulled the hand away before she levitated out a pencil from her backpack, then handed him the pamphlet.

Daniel opened the first page and read the instructions aloud.

“Step one; Take relaxing breaths, focus on channeling your magic and attempt to lift an object no heavier than half a pound. There may be some pain from your injury, but your prescription horn gel should help with the pain and prevent magical flare ups. If magical flare ups or extreme horn or head pain is present, stop the exercise immediately and seek medical attention. Your injury may be worse than first diagnosed.”

Daniel smiled, this was like going step-by-step with a patient. Twilight had step one already completed. Now it was his turn.

Taking a long breath in, then slowly letting it out, Daniel tried to keep his nerves in check. But he was about to do the impossible. How could he not be anxious? He was about to do magic. Or maybe not. What if he couldn’t? Anxiety and excitement contended for first place in his mind, overriding any sense of calm he felt.

Biting his lower lip, Daniel tensed. He didn’t know the first thing about magic. What if he blew himself up by accident?

Twilight set the pencil down onto the log, releasing it from her magic, before she leaned forwards and kissed Daniel on the lips.

“You got this, hun,” Twilight said with a bright, reassuring, comforting smile as she pulled away. “Just relax, take it slow, envision your horn atop your head. Feel the energy flowing through it. Let it reach out like a third hand.”

Staring at the pencil, Daniel breathed slowly. The lingering warmth of the kiss and Twilight’s gentle words steeled his resolve. He could do this.

Squinting, Daniel envisioned his horn, envisioned it thrumming with energy, envisioned that energy forming a hand to reach out. He felt… something… a tingle.

A tiny flash of silver, the same color as his eyes, flashed above his head and wrapped the pencil in a sheath.

Daniel jerked in surprise, and the aura collapsed like a soap bubble.

“W-what!?” Daniel called out, blinking several times.

“You did it!” Twilight brought him into a hug. “You just did magic!”

Daniel broke from the hug as he leapt up with joy.

His joy didn’t last as his muddy hooves refused to agree with the concept of friction, and he tumbled off the log into the mud with a wet splash.

“Oh my gosh!” Twilight yelled, leaning over the log to stare down at him. “Daniel, are you okay?”

“Never better!” Daniel called up at her in pure joy. He was neck-deep in the mud as he lay on his back, his hooves deeper than his head.

“Whew, I’m glad you’re oka—”

“Hellooooooo, Capital Wasteland!” Three Dog shouted at max volume. Twilight jumped, slipping on the mud Daniel had left behind. She ended up falling right onto Daniel, her radio still blaring. “I’m back, baby, and the signal is stronger than evah, courtesy of a nifty gift from a fellow DJ who I assure you is out of this world.”

Twilight was the first to stand. She reached a hand down to him, which he accepted. They both stood there, panting and listening to the broadcast.

“In other news, I’m sure many of you have heard that Eden’s off the airwaves, replaced by the Ghost of Bullshit’s Past. I hate to say it, but I prefer the old programming over someone reading a phone book. Moving on, I have it on very good authority that those lights that have started showing up more frequently, and as far out as Girdershade, are portals to another world. Now, a quick PSA… do NOT seek them out. Most portals are showing up in raider territory, for some reason. And where you end up is random, as in, you don’t know where they’ll spit you out. If that wasn’t enough to discourage you, coming back from the other side leads to some interesting mutations if all the feathers on my ex-raider friend are any hint. I’ll give out some more information later, but first, something new for your ears courtesy of Octavia and DJ-Pon3. That’s right, Wasteland, I have more than twenty songs now!”

“Told you Fluttershy was fine,” Daniel said with a laugh, he turned to start the rest of the trek.

Twilight spun him around and shut up his laughter with a kiss.

Chapter 23: Cold Case

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Chapter 23: Cold Case

Cold Case sat at his desk, telekinetically placing his mug of steaming coffee back down. It was straight black, the way he preferred it in the early morning as he waited for the Manehattan Daily to arrive. It was eight A.M., and just like clockwork, the newest issue of the newspaper arrived through the mail slot of his office. It landed with a thump on the doormat before he could catch it in his magic. He levitated the paper over and flicked it open to read. Massive bold black letters practically screamed the headline on the front page.

‘PRINCESS SPARKLE SPOTTED IN PONYVILLE!’

Cold Case reread the headline several times before simply staring in shock at the photo of the Princess of Friendship under the headline. Her horn was snapped off about two-thirds of the way up. Cold Case winced in sympathy, averting his gaze from the snapped horn to take in other details.

Being a private eye meant that he needed to have an eye for details.

Princess Sparkle was dressed in a tight purple and red suit that looked like it could be leather or a similar material. There was a bulky black device around her left foreleg, a medical brace on her back right leg, and a pistol holster on her front right.

“Even a Princess needs something lethal on the other side,” Cold Case mused, scratching his chin. The last thing he noted before switching to reading the article itself was that Twilight’s holster was different from the one he had tucked away inside his trench coat.

After the Butcher Pete incident, everyone in Manehattan had wanted a lethal weapon. Even the kitchen knives in the supermarket were sold out, but Cold Case knew a pony who knew a pony who could get things discreetly.

“And just as soon as she’s back, she’s gone,” Cold Case muttered, finishing the short article. Princess Twilight hadn’t stayed long, which was probably a good thing. If she was back in the other world, then maybe she would stop the criminals from crossing over. It would lighten his load a little, at the very least.

And as if thinking about work summoned more to be heaped on him, there was a knock at his door. Cold Case scowled, folding the paper up.

“It’s open,” he said, pulling himself closer to the desk so he could lean on his forehooves. His secretary should have stopped any visitors until nine A.M, and she always announced herself after knocking.

The door slowly swung open. If it had made a sound, Cold Case likely wouldn’t have heard it as he was distracted by the fact that one of those zombies turned zombie-pony from the other world opened the door. He nearly drew his revolver on reflex, but stopped as he realized the zombie wasn’t a shambling monster.

Still, even with the clean, tailored suit, the stallion’s smell preceded him. Cold Case’s nose wrinkled, and he took a deep breath before the unicorn entered the room.

“Can I help you, mister?” Cold Case asked, wasting a little of his fresh breath.

“You can call me Capone,” the rotting stallion said, his voice as ragged as sandpaper. Red flesh was exposed under his gray, almost furless skin. The tuxedo and fedora he wore barely helped offset his nightmarish appearance. He shut the door behind him with his magic, which was red like his eyes, though they were hard to see under the milky film. “Don Mozzarella requires your services.”

Cold Case frowned. The don was calling in the favor already.

“What’s the job?”

“Last night someone iced one of our guys right in front of him,” Capone said. The zombie leaned close, the air growing thick with the stench of carrion to the point Cold Case could smell it, even though he tried to not breathe it in. “Skull fragment of the poor guy ended up lodged in the don’s shoulder.”

“Sweet Celestia!” Cold Case exclaimed, wasting the rest of his held air. Ever since the other-worlders had come, obituaries were far too common. “Who’s in the pine jacket? Alfredo, Fettuccine…?”

“Starry Stripes,” Capone said, scowling. “Good kid, and way too young to get whacked.”

“I knew of him,” Cold Case said. A twenty-something year old earth pony stallion who was pretty reserved, had the air of an ex-royal guard, and loved going to the same jazz bar he did. That was about the extent of his knowledge, though. “Do we know who did him in?”

“We don’t,” Capone said, shaking his head slowly. A small piece of skin flaked off like dandruff, revealing the necrosed meat underneath. Cold Case swallowed down his breakfast creeping up his throat. “It’s why we need a private dick to do some poking around.”

“So why me?” Cold Case asked, leaning back in his chair to try and get away from the zombie’s smell. “The cops should handle murder cases.”

“You’re the only private eye who won’t spill Family business to the authorities,” Capone said, waving a forehoof around casually. “That .44 magnum you have also ties you to us. You wouldn’t want to risk the cops taking your new toy, huh?”

And who would be the one to tell the cops he had an illegal firearm. Cold Case knew a threat when he heard it.

“I guess not,” Cold Case said, shaking his head. He patted the space in his trenchcoat where his holster and gun were. “You sure the target was Starry and not the Don? Not to disrespect the dead, but Starry was a pretty average stallion.”

“We’re sure,” Capone replied. “I was on guard duty when he came running up to the mansion in the middle of the night, shouting that someone was after him and that he needed to see the don. Once we get him inside to meet with the boss, there’s a flash on a roof about six hundred yards away. The window shatters and his head fuckin’ pops. That close and we should have heard the gunshot, even indoors. It was a professional killer with a silencer on a rifle. They aren’t in the business of missing. Especially if they could hit him through a window.”

“You saw the shooter?” Cold Case asked.

“No, just the shot they took and the aftermath,” Capone said. “We don’t know who did it or why, which is why we’re coming to you. We don’t even know if the kid had any enemies—from what I was told, he’s only been with the Oregano Family for about nine months now.”

Capone’s mouth twitched, like he had to force down a smile.

“You okay?” Cold Case asked.

“Sorry, just the Italian puns,” Capone said. He opened his suit jacket and pulled out a long, thick brown paper stick stuffed with leaves and stuck it in his mouth. He lit the end opposite his mouth on fire with his horn until it burned ember-orange. Acrid smoke rolled off the thing as the zombie puffed on it, then blew the smoke out. It was at least preferable to the smell of rotting meat. “Anyways, we’ve been talking too long. We’re going to Starry’s home to see if you can dig up anything on him or his killer.”

“We,” Cold Case scoffed at the implication, shaking his head. “Sorry pal, I work alone.”

“Not this time, Detective,” Capone’s tone of voice implied there would be no alternative. He wagged the burning smoke-stick around with his magic and grinned. “Don said this was non-negotiable.”

“Fine,” Cold Case said with a bemoaned sigh. “But after this, tell the Don we’re even for that time I let him off for smuggling pizza past customs.”

“Sure, sure,” Capone chuckled. “You ponies are so damned cute, you know that?”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight stepped around a pothole in the muddy, half-buried road. The road twisted and coiled like a snake up the rocky hills, which were closer than ever since she and Daniel had found the road and started using it to make better time, rather than trekking through the swamp of mud.

They had found the road shortly after their stop at the large fallen tree, and despite nearly an hour and a half having passed, Three Dog still played the music brought from Equestria in a non-stop celebration of their introduction.

Twilight hadn’t stopped smiling and bobbing her head to the beat since the radio had come back on. Her plan was working, at least on Three Dog. Offering the people of the Capital Wasteland gifts that would show off Equestrian culture, and that Equestrians were inclined more to help than harm, could go a long way to win over the opinions of wastelanders. Or at the very least keep bullets from flying at her people when they arrived.

Daniel walked beside her. He had been picking up every object he could manage as practice, and smiled in child-like joy as he slashed a muddy stick through the air like it was a sword while making ‘swoosh’ sounds.

“Enjoying yourself?” Twilight sarcastically asked with a grin.

“Heck yeah!” Daniel cried out. “I think I’m getting good at this.”

He indeed was, though, she wasn’t going to ruin his joy by explaining that telekinesis was a unicorn’s first spell. Even babies like Pumpkin Cake could levitate their toys around.

“Good enough to stop me from doing this?” Twilight asked, grabbing the stick from his magic with her own, then poking him in the shoulder with it.

Daniel gasped in mock horror, grasping at the spot she poked him, mouth agape.

“How dare you!” He recovered after a split second, grinned, then flared his horn, snatching the stick back with his own magic.

Daniel was getting good.

“I wonder how far I can throw this,” Daniel said. He didn’t wait for a reply before he tossed the stick towards the edge of the road. Twilight watched it arc through the air before it clanged against something metal on the side of the road. “Huh, did you hear that?”

“No, must have been the wind,” Twilight rolled her eyes in time with the joking response. “Maybe an old road sign?”

“It would be the first here,” Daniel said. He started to make his way towards the side of the road where the stick lay, and Twilight followed. “We haven’t seen anything like telephone or power lines on this road. Not even half-buried stuff, either.”

Twilight hummed. It had been sheer luck that they had stumbled across the road poking through the mud in the first place.

“Now that you mention it, yeah,” Twilight said. They both arrived at the side of the road, and Twilight saw that Daniel’s guess was right. The stick had impacted a tipped-over and half-buried, rusted, and very faded sign. Twilight squinted her eyes and bit her tongue as she pieced together what it said.

“Car Tunnel, Northbound,” Twilight read aloud. "That's as much as I can make out."

If a tunnel was ahead, then that meant there could be an easy way through the mountain. That would be good, Twilight was tired of walking uphill, and the idea of rock climbing wasn't one she held any enthusiasm for.

And once they were past the rocky hills, it would only be a short trip to the Dunwich Building.

<>~<>~<>

“God-damnit, that isn’t cute,” Capone cursed under his breath as another taxi driver ran away. Capone violently shook his right foreleg in the air in time with his thick smoke-stick dancing in his teeth. “If I still had fingers you’d be seeing my middle one… prick.”

“This happen often?” Cold Case asked. He stood about a half-dozen hooves away from the stallion. Even in the open air of a Manehattan street, Capone was pungent. “I mean, you are a zom–”

Capone wheeled around to glare at him, cutting him off as he stared Cold Case in the eyes.

“Say the Z word and I eat your face, capiche?” Capone growled, sending Cold Case jerking back and nodding. “I’m a ghoul, not a zombie.”

“S-sorry,” Cold Case said, his ears pivoting back as he faced the ground. “Didn’t mean to offend. I didn’t know.”

“Right,” Capone said with a heavy sigh, stepping back and wiping his suit jacket with a hoof. “How would you know? Maybe I should do an interview for the papers so ponies know that not all of the ghouls coming over want to eat your brains.”

Cold Case had seen the tabloids. They had covers like ‘Sewer Zombies are Real!’ and other attention-grabbing front pages. It was easy to hate a ghoul for how they looked and smelled. Cold Case could honestly admit that he was just as guilty as the tabloids in that regard.

“Let me hail a cab,” Cold Case said, stepping up to the edge of the sidewalk. He waved for another taxi, which veered their way. “If this one runs off on us, we can walk.”

Capone said nothing. Cold Case didn’t want to walk all the way to the east side of Manehattan, but he would if it meant solving a case.

As he waited on the cab, Cold Case decided to keep the conversation with Capone going, “That interview doesn’t sound like a bad idea. There’s a reporter I know named Hot Press who would love to write a piece.”

“You’d do something like that for me?” Capone asked skeptically. The taxi stopped, and while the puller of the cart gave Capone a wary look, they didn’t run away.

“I would,” Cold Case said as he nodded sadly. Capone’s world must have been rough if it was doubt-inducing that a stranger could be kind. It was rough. From what little that Cold Case knew, it was rougher than rough. It was an absolute nightmare. “It’s what ponies do for other ponies… even if they’re squishy and smell a little off.”

<>~<>~<>

The car tunnel had to be just ahead. Twilight could see three massive white dishes on large metal constructions peaking over the crest of the mountain.

With every step her anticipation grew at the prospect of no longer walking uphill. Even with the enchanted brace, her right leg still felt wobbly. But they needed to keep going.

She and Daniel rounded a bend in the road and finally laid eyes on their destination.

Twilight’s anticipation disintegrated like a popped balloon.

“Collapsed!” Twilight screamed in sudden, incandescent rage. The Wasteland couldn’t throw her a break, could it? Just a teeny tiny break to let her walk on level ground. Heaps of rubble blocked the entrance to the car tunnel, spilling out into the road beyond to form a tiny hill of boulders and cracked concrete.

Grinding her teeth, Twilight took the first step to start pacing, but Daniel placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“Maybe we can make it through there?” he offered, pointing to a metal door half-hidden by the fact it was at an angle to them. The door was set into a small cinder block shed off to the side of the collapsed tunnel, with the shed itself extending into the mountainside.

Twilight’s sudden fury petered out as rapidly as it had come. She let out a sigh and facepalmed at her rashness.

“Oh… yeah,” Twilight said. She was so tired from walking that her exhausted brain had leapt to the defeatist conclusion. Even Equestria had maintenance shafts and emergency exits in their tunnels in case of a collapse. It would make sense if humans built some in their tunnels if they were reinforcing them for a nuclear war.

“Let’s hope it isn’t locked,” Daniel said with a shake of his head. “I suck at lockpicking.”

Twilight chuckled as she walked towards the door with Daniel, opening her backpack with her magic as they walked. Since she had packed the bags, she didn’t even need to look to extract a black metal case the size of a cigarette pack.

“Even if it is, it’s a good thing that I liked to learn about very obscure subjects,” Twilight beamed with confidence as she shook the metal case full of tiny, precision tools. “I got really into the history of Equestrian locksmiths for a few months, so locks became my new crossword puzzle.”

“Twilight,” Daniel said, grinning at her widely. “Did I ever tell you that you never cease to amaze me.”

<>~<>~<>

For as loving and tolerant as he tried to be, Cold Case had to admit that a corpse still stank, no matter if the corpse could still hold a conversation with you. Sitting next to one was almost unbearable. Almost.

Capone had gone quiet after boarding the taxi, allowing Cold Case to dwell on the job thrust on him.

A stallion from one of Equestria’s only crime families had been assassinated right in front of Don Mozzarella by a human weapon—bows and crossbows didn’t produce a flash. The victim had come in the middle of the night seeking protection, so Starry had to know that the killer was after him. Which meant he possibly knew the killer as well.

“I really enjoy Manehattan,” Capone said. Cold Case blinked, coming out of his own thoughts to look at his co-passenger, who stared wistfully out of the carriage window. “Reminds me of Manhattan.”

“Don’t you mean Manehattan? We’re already here.” Cold Case said. Had whatever turned Capone into a walking corpse scrambled his brain? Cold Case was starting to wonder.

Capone let out a weak, broken chuckle.

“Manhattan was a borough in New York City, back home in my world,” Capone said, his voice going extra raspy. “I’m from a slice of it called Little Italy.”

“Our worlds are closely connected, it seems,” Cold Case said. “Baltimare and Baltimore, Fillydelphia and Philadelphia, now Manehattan and Manhattan.”

Cold Case shook his head, working his tongue in his mouth after saying so many similar yet slightly different names in a row.

“Fucking crazy, am I right?” Capone said, using one of those human curse words as he turned away from the window to stare down at his hooves. “So… you ponies are a lot more open about your emotions, right?”

Cold Case nodded slowly. “Bottling them up turns you into a balloon. Keep going and you go ‘pop’… best to let it out.”

Capone closed his eyes, baring his teeth as he quickly blurted. “I cried my eyes out like a little girl when I saw the Statue of Friendship.” He opened his eyes and faced Cold Case. There were tears there.

“Feel better?” Cold Case asked, placing a hoof on Capone’s shoulder. He fought back a wince at touching a rotting corpse, but Capone seemed like he needed the support. “I assume that if our worlds are similar, you have your own Statue of Friendship, and it reminds you of home?”

“Y-yeah,” Capone stuttered, pulling away from the hoof. “But you just accept that our worlds are so similar with no issue? Don’t you think it’s crazy?”

“I used to live in Ponyville,” Cold Case said, rolling his eyes. “After everything I saw there, a universe mirroring my own isn’t that much of a stretch.”

“Riiiiiight,” Capone drawled, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his suit. “Might have to visit that crazy town. It has a reputation.”

It was a well-deserved one, in Cold Case’s opinion.

The taxi slowed and veered towards the side of the road. They had arrived at the apartment where Starry had lived.

“Looks like we’re here,” Cold Case said unnecessarily. He paid the cabbie a generous tip for being the only one to stop for him and Capone, then turned to the ghoul. “Starry lived in 2-B, right?”

“Yes,” Capone replied, exiting the carriage ahead of Cold Case.

The apartment building was a simple three story brick building with fire escapes jutting off the front of the building like balconies. A couple of ponies were even using them as if they were balconies. Cold Case waved to an old Pegasus sitting in a lawn chair on the second story fire escape. He was drinking a bottle of Apple family hard cider through a bendy straw while soaking his back hooves in an old ice-cream bucket full of water.

“You a cop?” The old pegasus bluntly croaked, looking down at Cold Case and Capone with a sneer that only the elderly could produce.

“No, I’m not,” Cold Case replied. “Do you live in apartment 2-A?”

“If this is about the noise complaint,” The old pegasus growled, “it’s my neighbor in 2-B. They’re—”

The entire second story of the apartment building disappeared in a sudden fiery explosion.

Chapter 24: The Equestrians

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Cold Case stood frozen in place as shards of glass and powderized brick fell like rain. Smoke and dust obscured most of the street. Everything was muffled, like he was underwater. Everything but the head-splitting ringing in his ears.

The old pegasus had disappeared. One second he was there, then he was gone.

Somepony shouted something at him, and sound came rushing back to Cold Case as he blinked, then coughed out a lungful of dust. Capone was standing in front of him, eyes wide.

“What just happened!?” Cold Case shouted, choking on the dust in the air. Even his own voice was distorted by the ringing in his ears.

“Someone bombed the building.” Capone’s voice was loud enough to hear over the ringing in Case’s ears. Case guessed that Capone’s own ears were ringing as well. Behind Capone, Cold Case caught the sight of movement through the smoke. Ponies rushed out of the apartment building. Cold Case couldn’t see them very well through the haze hanging in the air.

“S-should we help them?” Cold Case asked, his voice stuttering.

Capone turned and saw the ponies emerging from the building.

“First responders have the training to handle them,” Capone said quickly, turning back to Cold Case. “We’ve got to go before they get here.” Cold Case was about to ask why, but Capone cut him off before he could open his mouth. “No time for arguing. A building just exploded, and I’m as good a suspect as any… if we’re going to get whoever did this, we can’t waste time with the police, and whatever leads we had here just went up in smoke.”

“By Celestia,” Cold Case growled. It was heartless, pragmatic, and… correct. Cold Case shook his head, cursing himself for what he was about to say as he turned towards an alley, the air still thick with obscuring smoke. “Come on, we can cut through here. There’s one pony I know who might be able to give us a lead.”

“And who's that?” Capone asked from behind Case.

“His marefriend.” Case said simply.

The pair made their escape through the heavy fog of brick dust and smoke.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight muttered her entire repertoire of human curse words under her breath as she reset the tumbler of the lock once again.

Fifteen minutes.

Fifteen minutes she had been trying and failing to open the door that would let them into what she hoped was a way around the collapsed car tunnel. The metal door was unfortunately too reinforced to kick down. Daniel could attest to that. Climbing the steep slopes of the rocky hills would be doable, but the risk of injury was too great since mountaineering gear was one of the few things Twilight hadn’t considered packing in their overstuffed rucksacks, thus Twilight needed to get the door open. Unfortunately, human locks and pony locks were different enough that she was nearly at her wits’ end.

Daniel stood off to the side of her, watching her work as he levitated around small objects. Twilight herself kept her lockpicking tools levitated rather than using her hands. Even with her broken horn, she had slightly more dexterity with her magic.

“This is a tough lock,” Twilight groaned. She applied slight pressure on the torsion bar she had pushed into the top of the keyhole one more time, before she worked a slightly curved, thin metal lockpick all the way to the back of the tumbler. “Feels like this thing is nothing but security pins. Whoever installed this didn’t want anyone picking their way through this door.”

The number six pin slid upwards as Twilight leveraged her pick against the bottom of the lock.

“I’ll take your word on it,” Daniel said with a laugh. “You’re speaking a new language to me. Couldn’t you try manipulating the pins with your magic?”

Busy with focusing on the lock rather than speaking, Twilight simply shook her head. Under normal circumstances, it would have been very likely that she could. But with her snapped horn, her fine control was impaired. Daniel was asking her to focus her magic into an object and manipulate multiple small internal parts.

Number five pin slid into place, quickly followed by pin four. It was pin number three that always tripped her up.

“That time of the P.M.! You know it, you love it, it’s newwwwwwwwwwws time, children, and I got some juicy ones for you this afternoon,” Three Dog’s chocolate smooth voice drifted out of her Pip-Boy. Even with the radio being turned to a lower volume, the sudden shouting of Three Dog had Twilight jerk to the point she nearly lost focus on her tools. She had waited for the news, which was why she hadn’t turned the radio off entirely. “So all of those songs you people just heard were from that other world I mentioned earlier, hard to believe, I know, but trust me. These people, the Equestrians, are peaceful and compassionate. Now that’s something rare in the Wasteland. ‘But Three Dawg’, I hear you ask, ‘Yew seriously want us to believe in magic?’. No, I’m just the messenger. You see, the Equestrians have been getting hit hard by raiders coming over to their world. Not just the ones from the Metro gangs, either, but those absolute cannibal psychos that roam the wasteland. The Equestrians are coming soon for some payback. So when you start seeing strange mutant soldiers burning down raider camps, give them a wave, or even better, some ammo… because my brothers and sisters, they’re coming to join the good fight.” There was a brief pause and a shuffle of paper. “Last up before I get back to the music, I just had a recorded message dropped off for Twilight Sparkle from her friends, so if you’re out there, listen up.”

Twilight stopped her work as she turned all of her attention to the radio.

“Hiya, Twilight,” Twilight’s heart leapt with joy as she heard PINKIE PIE over the radio, her voice doubly distorted. Once from the holotape her voice was recorded on, and once more by the fact the holotape played over the radio, but there was no mistaking Pinkie’s sugar-fueled voice. “Spiky and I are in Point Lookout trying to save up enough bottlecaps for riverboat tickets which are suuuuper expensive. Four-hundred bottlecaps for each of us. I’m having to give Tobar a hundred caps just to bring this holotape to D.C., so maybe the radio station there can tell you where we are. Please hurry if you can, we found a super cursed book. Which reminds me, if you can hear this and are stuck on something, remember to take a breath and check under Eeee.”

Twilight shared a look with Daniel. Cursed book… Point Lookout. There was no way. But Pinkie Pie was involved, so of course there was the chance she and Spike had somehow found the Krivbeknih. There was a brief pause, and Twilight’s mood whiplashed back to pure joy as Spike’s voice came over the radio.

“Hey, Twilight,” Spike said slowly. Her joy faded into confusion as Spike’s voice sounded… off. Deeper, more mature. If he had turned partially human like Twilight and the rest of her friends, then Spike would be past the age of puberty for humans. “I want you to know that I love you. Pinkie and I are doing as well as we can, but parts of this place are worse than the Everfree Forest. We’re living in the Homestead Motel right now, but that might change. I can’t wait to see you and the rest of our friends again. I love you, Mom.”

The message ended, and one of Three Dog’s old music tracks began to play.

“You okay?” Daniel asked as he placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder.

“No,” Twilight said, wiping a single tear away with the back of her hand. It felt as if someone had reached deep within her and grabbed her heart. She swallowed, the heartache turning to worry as Twilight went over Spike’s message again. “T-that’s the first time Spike intentionally called me Mom. Something terrible must have happened!”

“Hey, Twilight, hang on, they both said that they’re fine,” Daniel reassured her, placing both hands on her shoulders.

Twilight took a deep, calming breath. Daniel was right, and Pinkie was too.

“Alright,” Twilight said as she let out the breath. She turned away from the door and looked at the steep slopes of the hills. She couldn’t fly with her backpack on.

With her backpack on…

“I’m the smartest idiot I know,” Twilight groused, facepalming.

“What do you mean, Twilight?”

“I know how we can get around this,” Twilight said. She telekinetically placed all her lockpicking tools back into the black case, shoved the case back into her backpack, then took the backpack off entirely. “The answer was so simple. If I can’t fly with my backpack on, I can just carry it up the hill. Then I can fly back down, grab your bag, fly back up, then come grab you.”

“Damn it,” Daniel groaned, rubbing his forehead. “I should have known that! It’s that fox, hen, and birdseed logic puzzle all over again!”

Twilight suspected the puzzle was similar to the hydra, the cockatrice, and the cucumber.

“Let’s see if I can fly up with both of the packs,” Twilight said as she grabbed her rucksack by the straps.

“Wait,” Daniel said as he took off his backpack. “How about you fly me ahead first and come back for the packs? If you run into trouble, you’ll at least have me with you. Remember last time.”

Twilight glanced down to her knee brace. How could she forget?

“You’re right,” Twilight said slowly. She set her bag down, and Daniel placed his next to hers.

“So, I just hold on tight?” Daniel asked, approaching Twilight and grabbing around her waist. He had made sure to grab around her tightly, almost to the point it felt as if he was crushing her waist.

“Yes,” Twilight said, grabbing around Daniel a bit more gently than he did. “We won’t be flying for long. I know you’re afraid of heights and wide open spaces. We’ll be back on the ground soon.”

“Thanks, Twilight.” Daniel said as she spread her wings and took to the sky.

<>~<>~<>

Cold Case knew Manehattan’s alleys like the backs of his hooves. He had chased many criminals through them in his years since leaving Ponyville as a young colt. Now he used his criminal-chasing skills to become one as he and Capone jogged through the back streets and alleyways of the city. The apartment building was over a dozen blocks behind them now.

“We shouldn’t have left the scene,” Cold Case said evenly. The jog hadn’t even made him break a sweat. Thankfully, his head had stopped ringing, allowing him to think clearly. He slowed to a trot as they turned into a long narrow alley full of trash cans and detritus.

“What makes you say that?” Capone asked, sucking in air. His wheezing voice rattled like a spraycan.

“If somepony saw us, we’re prime suspects… and it was wrong to just leave those ponies,” Cold Case grumped. He stopped in the alley to talk to Capone and let the ghoul catch his breath.

“If we stayed, we’d be there for hours getting questioned,” Capone groaned. He trotted over to a tipped over trash can and sat on it. “H-how aren’t you out of breath?”

“I’ve spent years chasing criminals,” Cold Case said. “And I don’t smoke.”

“Right,” Capone wheezed as he leaned forward, sucking in air. “How far is Starry’s marefriend?”

“Just around the corner,” Cold Case said. “But us barging in with you out of breath won’t do us any good if whoever killed Starry is there after his marefriend. Do you have one of your human weapons?”

“I do,” Capone replied as he used his red magic to pull aside his suit jacket and revealed the grip of a pistol. He let go of his jacket before he slowly stood up, his breathing under control. “So how’d you know he had a marefriend? Not even the boss knew anything about her.”

“I may be misconstruing things, but I’ve seen him go backstage a few times after her songs were done,” Cold Case said as he walked calmly down the alley, Capone by his side. “But if Don Mozzarella didn’t know about her, that could mean we’re in luck and whoever bombed his apartment doesn’t know about her either.”

The pair exited the alley and into the street. Across the road, printed on the velvet-red awning in gold lettering on a black background was the name of the jazz club. The Swing.

It wasn’t one of the most upscale joints Cold Case had attended, but it had its perks. Cheap booze and good food, and even better music. A place to hang out and relax that was only a small cab fare away from his apartment.

Crossing the street at a crosswalk, Cold Case and Capone made their way to the front door. Cold Case was the first to enter.

Just like always, the lights were down low in the club. The stench of alcohol was heavy in the air, as heavy as the atmosphere of sadness radiating from the stage at the back of the club. Nightingale Song was on stage, and she was absolutely beautiful, dressed in a midnight black cocktail gown and a wide-brimmed white dress hat ringed with alternating black and red roses.

Her mane fell away from her head like a stormcloud-gray waterfall. The silky locks draped over one of her slitted azure eyes, obscuring half of her chestnut-brown face as she sang her long sad notes into the microphone in front of her.

“Wowza,” Capone said beside Cold Case. “Is that gal our dame?”

“Yeah,” Cold Case said with a dumbstruck nod. Nightingale was the best thing about The Swing. She always took Cold’s breath away. He made his way through the club, looking left and right over the circular tables of the low-lit club. Most of the seating was in front of the stage, allowing Cold Case a good overview for any suspicious figures. Unfortunately, there were a lot of ponies to keep an eye on. It was always a full house when Nightingale was on stage. Luckily, she was so good that nopony seemed to notice the literal corpse that had walked through the door with him. “I know the owner, she’ll let us backstage to speak to Nightingale.”

“Got it,” Capone said from behind him. “Need me to stand guard outside or something while you do your detective work?”

“No,” Cold Case said, his voice low so it wouldn’t carry and be overheard as he headed towards the bar. The mare behind the counter was the owner. “If the perp is as professional as you say, I’d rather not give the creep our heads on a silver plate by isolating us.”

“Hmm, good point.” Capone said, his voice low as well.

Cold Case overheard a few patrons that they passed complaining about something smelling, but with the low light, only pegasi or batponies would see Capone for what he really was. If any did see Capone’s ghoulness, they had the courtesy to not scream in panic.

“Think anyone here felt what happened at the apartment?” Cold Case asked. They were halfway to the bar.

“I doubt it,” Capone replied. “No blinding flash so it wasn’t a mini-nuke. If I had to bet my horn on it, it was maybe two to four pounds of C-4. But don’t quote me on that, it's probably been a century since I used it.”

“Wait,” Cold Case asked, startled. “You’re how old?”

“Two-hundred and thirty… seven,” Capone said, though he sounded unconvinced. “Let’s just say I’m old, and really want to talk to your princesses about their skin care regimen, because they look good for women five times my age.”

Cold Case snorted. Capone had a sense of humor.

They reached the bar. With Nightingale on stage, nopony was nearby to order drinks.

“Cold Case,” the mare behind the bar greeted, a chartreuse green unicorn with a star anise cutie mark. She was busy wiping down the bar with a rag. Her nose wrinkled. “Sweet Celestia, what’s that smell?”

“Hey, Absinthe,” Cold Case said, ignoring her complaint about Capone’s stench as he hopped onto one of the stools and leaned halfway over the bar. “My friend and I need to talk to Nightingale. But first, what can you tell me about Starry Stripes?”

“Starry?” Absinthe asked, raising an eyebrow, as well as her cleaning rag to her nose. “Not much. He seemed like a quiet stallion. I love him because he pays his tab. He stays away from the harder stuff and is absolutely head-over-hooves for Nightingale. Good in a fight, too. I offered him a job last week when some stallion came in here starting crap.”

“Did Starry know this stallion?” Cold Case asked. He’d missed that fight.

“I think so,” Absinthe said. “He’s a fire-wagon red pegasus with a two-tone orange mane and tail, like fire. Can’t tell you much more than that, since he was out of here as fast as he came in. I think his name was Red Glare or something like that. What’s this about?”

Cold Case looked left and right before leaning even more over the bar. He raised a hoof to the side of his face and whispered. “Starry was murdered. Nightingale’s a long shot, but she might have a lead on who did it.”

“What!?” Absinthe shot out in alarm, but thankfully kept her voice under a shout. Cold Case quickly looked around, but the patrons were all still mercifully engrossed by the beauty onstage. “G-go ahead backstage. I’ll signal Nightingale to end her set after this song. She’s almost done… In the meantime, I think I smell a dead mouse somewhere… unless it’s your friend lingering in the shadows there.”

“Thanks, Absinthe,” Cold Case said. He levitated more than enough bits to the counter before grabbing a bottle of whiskey off the shelf behind Absinthe. “Keep the change.”

If Nightingale and Starry were involved, Cold Case would offer his condolences the only way he knew how, which was a stiff shot in the stallion’s name.

<>~<>~<>

The walls of Nightingale’s dress room were dark black, with red curtains breaking up the flatness alongside faux arched windows set between decorative columns jutting from the wall. The floor was a checkerboard of black and red tiles, while most of the furniture was evenly split between white or black and heavily ornamented in a gothic style, heavily set on arches and engravings.

“Do all batponies sleep in coffins?” Capone asked as he shut the door behind him.

“Only the ones who lean into the whole vampire stereotype,” Cold Case said, tuning from his observation of the room to take a look at the queen-sized bed inside an oversized coffin. “I never took Nightingale as the type. Guess you can never guess a book by its cover.”

“Story of my last two-hundred years,” Capone said flatly. He walked over to a white ottoman and sat down. A chessboard on the coffee table nearby was already in the middle of a game.

From what Cold Case knew of chess—which wasn’t much, he had to admit—black appeared to be losing by a considerable margin. There was a black ottoman on the other side of the coffee table.

“So how long have you been in Equestria?” Cold Case asked as he meandered around the room. Cold Case had picked up the fact that Capone had adopted Equestrian phrases and terminology. Besides that, with Nightingale out of the room, there was no reason to not look around for clues. Especially if she was involved somehow. He started by her makeup table. Nothing immediately leapt out to Cold Case, besides his own unfamiliarity with the beauty products he looked over.

“Been here two and a half weeks, was probably one of the first to arrive,” Capone said, he slouched on the ottoman as he watched Case walk around the room. “It didn’t take me long to fall in with the Oregano family. One of the cops who found me was from Roam. When he saw me, he started shouting in Italian, or Roaman, and that took me way back to my childhood.” He finished with a wistful chuckle.

“How’d a cop speaking Roaman get you in with the Oregano family?” Cold Case asked, moving on to the dresser tops. The three dressers alternated colors, starting and ending with white, and the middle being black. The objects on top, thankfully, didn’t conform to the color palette. Cold Case was getting tired of the alternating colors. There was a jewelry box pulled out farther than the rest of the objects on the dresser top, almost overhanging over the front.

“I was so shocked to hear Italian again that I started a conversation with him, which led to his family, which led me to his cousin who got me in,” Capone said, as if it were a simple process.

Cold Case opened the jewelry box lid. At the very top was a necklace made out of a bottlecap with a hole punched into the rim in two places close together for a thin chain to loop through so the bottlecap would lay flat against the chest.

Cold Case levitated up the bottlecap. A pretty, faintly-glowing blue star was painted on the inside of the cap. He turned it around, revealing the exterior of the bottlecap was painted red and yellow, with black lettering.

“Huh, never heard of Sunset Sarsaparilla,” Cold Case said.

The ottoman scraped against the floor as Capone jumped up.

“No fucking way!” Capone said. “How the fuck did a west coast soda’s bottlecap end up in Equestria?”

“Hello, somepony in here to see me?” a lovely female voice cooed as the door swung open. It was Nightingale. Cold Case hadn’t heard her approach, so he stood with her necklace still clearly visible in his telekinesis. Nightingale locked eyes with him and frowned. She adopted a snarky tone. “If you’re going to burgle me, at least take something with more value than sentiment—Starry gave that to me.”

Cold Case quickly placed the necklace back into the box and closed it.

“Sorry, ma’am, was just admiring your—”

“Cut the horse apples and get to the point. Starry’s dead, isn’t he?” Nightingale asked with a scowl.

Cold Case was taken aback by the brusqueness of Nightingale’s words. He also didn’t expect her to suspect he was dead. Cold Case disguised reaching for his pistol by floating over the bottle of whiskey, which he had previously sat on the dresser nearest the door.

“I brought alcohol as a condolence,” Cold Case said. “But it seems that won’t be necessary. How’d you know?”

“Because I’ve put the pieces together,” Nightingale said. “He started acting strange the moment the humans started coming over. He argued with Red Glare, and it would get nasty. His neighbors filed a few noise complaints, and they actually came to blows here one night. That one was the worst. They argued with carefully chosen words, but a death threat is hard to cover up.”

Nightingale took a deep breath, wincing as she pulled in the scent of Capone, but her reaction was milder than Absinthe’s.

“So you think Red Glare killed him?”

“Yes,” Nightingale said. Her angry facade crumbled as her eyes welled up with tears. “And I… I think Starry and Red are humans.”

<>~<>~<>

Lieutenant Alex Monroe—or Red Glare to the horse mutants he had spent the last nine months infiltrating—hated being a pegasus. At the very least his mutations had their upsides. Upsides that coincided with his duties to America, and to the true Enclave. Not those posers following the spineless, president-murdering coward Colonel Autumn. The moment President Eden’s signal went offline, everyone at SOCOM knew about it.

The only logical explanation for the perfect replacement for Eden in Colonel Autumn's eyes was that Equestria had somehow grown wise to the fact that the Enclave’s Special Operations Command had infiltrated them. There was only one person that Alex knew who would tip off Equestria and give them a psyche profile on Autumn… and that traitor died running for his life, as all treacherous cowards should.

Alex shook his head, chasing away the distraction as he checked his timepiece. The charges he had set should have gone off by now. He had given himself enough time to fly far, far away before the explosions would erase any evidence in the old safehouse. Still, if Starry had talked and compromised the entire mission, erasing the safehouse wouldn’t do any good. There would be only one chance to make his shot before having to bug out. But one shot would be all he needed to get back at Equestria for Eden’s assassination.

Adjusting his position, he took stock of his environment. Or at least the details that mattered. Which, given that he was in Equestria rather than back in the Capital Wasteland, was easy to know given that every aspect of the weather down to the barometric pressure could be controlled by the pegasi in their damned weather factories.

Windage, barometric pressure, humidity… opening his mutated senses to the weather, he could feel that everything was as it had been announced it would be in the papers.

Next came the head game, the mental math his new body assisted with.

If he was a conically shaped pegasus that could only flap his wings once, how would he need to launch himself in order to reach his destination.

Pressing his shoulder into the stock of his rifle, he adjusted the settings on the scope with his hoof to compensate for the bullet drop as he lined up his shot. It wouldn’t be anything fancy or personally motivated like blowing the brains out of Starry through a window.

Center mass would do fine.

“If ponies are similar to radstags,” Alex said, drawing in his breath so his breathing wouldn’t knock off his aim. All that was left was to make the final micro-adjustments and pull the trigger between a heartbeat. ‘Her heart should be right about…. there… good luck surviving two assassination attempts.’

A single, muffled shot struck its target in Canterlot.

Chapter 25: Reasonable Paranoia

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Dust fell from the rafters like snow in the shadowy attic of a nearly unused tower on the western edge of Canterlot Palace. Two mares, one gryphon, one pony, lay beside one another.

“Waited till the last fucking second didn’t you,” Onyx Sword muttered, peering through a tripod-mounted spotting scope beside Blackhawk.

“Pegasi are cheating bastards, and Alex—” Georgia Blackhawk caught herself, “—Red Glare, was twenty years younger than me.” She grumbled curses under her breath as she lowered her rifle scope away from her eyes. She was getting too old to be useful. At least turning into a gryphon had improved her eyesight enough to spot the firetruck-red pegasus, who had taken up a position in a room on the third story of the Palace-View Hotel. Blakhawk shifted into a more comfortable position on the soft pillow she lay on. “At least Princess Luna won’t need to find another changeling to be her body double.”

“Don’t count your chicks before they hatch, granny birdbrain,” Onyx laughed bitterly, not peeling her eyes from the spotting scope as she scanned for other targets for them to neutralize. “I don’t see the spotter he was sent with. Starry could be anywhere.”

“Gonna be a long fuckin’ day of cat and mouse then,” Blackhawk complained, slowly cycling the bolt of her silenced rifle. The smoking brass shell casing flew out with a soft ‘ching’, clattering and rolling away on the wooden floor.

With how the infiltration teams worked, there had been minimal contact between them pre- or post-crossing to reduce the chance of everyone getting captured. Blackhawk wasn’t even sure how many teams there were, much less how many were loyal to Eden’s insane plan. Red Glare’s spotter was as loyal and adamant to the cause as Red Glare had been. It would take something special for Starry Stripes to betray the Enclave. His entire family had given their lives for the Enclave, many having been on the oil rig guarding President Richardson when it was destroyed, and too many more had been picked off afterwards in the flight east. The only memento Starry had was the star-cap necklace given by his father to his mother before he was born.

Blackhawk’s beak twisted with her grimace. “If Starry needs to go down, can you take the shot?” she asked. “I was in his mother’s group during the big escape east. I helped deliver him into this world. I can’t be the one to take him out.”

Onyx didn’t respond right away, her eyes closed in thought as she breathed deeply.

“Yeah,” She said, her voice low. “This whole situation is fucked.” Onyx shook her head, finally looking away from her spotting scope. “Nine months ago, I get orders saying I need both of my ass cheeks tattoed. Now, I’m laying here in the attic of a palace, shooting our own people over a bunch of fucking colorful horses as one of them. Is this how you older soldiers felt when the rig blew? Like nothing makes sense anymore.”

“This is a close second,” Blackhawk said. Her tone was clear that she wasn’t going to talk about it any further than that. The situation was crazy, but not as crazy as everything crumbling to pieces around her while fleeing from the New California Republic.

Blackhawk wondered how many Enclave soldiers would have joined the New California Republic if given the chance. Just to be in the military again. But the NCR hadn’t given them the chance.

Power armor was good at keeping the smell of burn pits out, but it didn’t block out the sight of them, and the smell clung to the armor which had to come off eventually.

At least Luna kept the nightmares away, and for that, Blackhawk would do anything to keep Equestria and the Enclave from going to war. Even if it meant protecting the Enclave from itself by betraying it. War was pointless, honorless, and wasteful no matter where or when it was fought.

Blackhawk knew… because war never changes.

<>~<>~<>

Major Alex Dobson stood at parade rest with his chin held high in the command room of the Rockland Satellite Relay Station. The room was a large, dimly lit space so full of nooks and crannies that the lights embedded into the ceiling and the glow of dozens of terminals and screens didn’t quite reach all the way.

Despite the dozens of televisions around the room, none of them were for entertainment… usually. Today, however, was proving to be unique.

“They’re determined, that’s for sure,” Major Dobson said with a smirk, eyes locked to the largest of the color screens on the back wall of the room. The live feed coming directly from a concealed exterior security camera displayed a pair of unicorn mutants fumbling with the back door of the base. The brown one had resorted to kicking the door to no effect.

Casually lounging in a nearby chair was his second-in-command, Second Lieutenant Marisha Bailey. She chuckled into her mug of coffee as the brown mutant threw his hands into the air and yelled something, clearly frustrated. Major Dobson didn’t know what it could be, he didn’t read lips, and the external microphones had been a lower priority on the repair list.

“Sir, permission to start a betting pool on if they’ll get through?” 2IC Bailey asked.

Major Dobson regarded his 2IC with a mild-mannered frown. Gambling was a violation of the Enclave’s rules and regulations, but tensions were high after contact with Raven Rock was lost. A little distraction wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“Go ahead,” Major Dobson said. 2IC Bailey saluted him and rose from her seat. She traveled around the room and took up bets as Dobson looked down to the boots of Comms Officer Sara Brown. The comms officer was laying on a small wheeled-sled underneath a large console. The glow of the flashlight she used to inspect the inner workings glowed bright enough to illuminate her legs. Major Dobson raised his voice slightly so Brown would hear him under the electronic equipment. “Status update on our comms to Raven Rock?”

The stained overall-wearing woman rolled out from under the console. She looked like microwaved death—the bags under her eyes had their own luggage. “I’ve triple checked my double checking. Our equipment is fine, sir. It must be on—” she cut herself off with a yawn, “—Raven Rock’s end.”

Major Dobson regarded her with a nod. Comms Officer Brown had been troubleshooting and diagnosing the issue all night. If it wasn’t their equipment on the fritz, and Enclave Radio had defaulted to a numbers station…

Major Dobson’s teeth ground from the intensity of his scowl. He didn’t want to complete the thought. With as many technicians and specialists in Raven Rock as there were, a comms blackout for this long could only mean that Raven Rock had suffered something catastrophic. Further pointing to the grim possibility was that Adams AFB was sending them messages every hour asking for an update on what was going on. They weren’t talking to Raven Rock, either.

After a moment of slow breathing to compose himself so he would appear level headed to his troops, he said to Comms Officer Brown, “Try messaging them one last time, then go hit the rack, you’ve earned it.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Comms Officer Brown said, pulling herself upright with the aid of a desk.

2IC Bailey had finished her round of collecting bets and stopped her tour of the room beside Major Dobson. The officer cap held in her outstretched hand was halfway-full of credit chips. She waved the hat at him with a playful grin.

Staring at the hat bursting with code violations, Major Dobson reached into his right pocket and pulled out a five credit chip, which was styled after an old American quarter.

“What’s the current odds?” He asked.

“They’ve already been there for ten minutes,” 2IC Bailey said. “Most think they aren’t getting through.”

“Then it’s five credits to them getting through,” Major Dobson said as he let his chip fall into the hat with a satisfying clink of metal coins hitting more coins. “That purple one is the only wastelander I’ve seen with a proper set of lockpicks.”

“Do you think that they’re with SOCOM?” 2IC Bailey asked, nodding her head to the side to point to the screen. “They’re better equipped than most wastrels.”

“I don’t know,” Major Dobson said. “Special forces can’t get off their—”

“SIR!” Comms Officer Brown yelled, all trace of exhaustion in her voice was gone. “Raven Rock is calling us this time, and it’s a video call.”

Major Dobson’s heart quickened as he snapped into motion, spinning in place on his heels to face the Comms Officer and asked with a raised voice, “Can you split the call with the feed from the security camera?”

“I can’t, sir,” Comms Officer Brown replied. “These systems are two-centuries old. I’m not sure that they can handle a dual-feed, even if I knew how to do it.”

Of course she couldn't. It was to be expected with the age of the equipment and the deaths of true technological progress. A vast quantity of technical knowledge had simply disappeared with the great war. Even the Enclave wasn’t immune to attrition. Most of the power armor suits his soldiers wore around the base were cheap imitations of Advanced Power Armor, and were only on par with the T-45d model that the Brotherhood of Steel used, which had been obsolete even before the apocalypse.

“Someone else can keep an eye on them, then,” Major Dobson said. He shifted to the left a few paces so he was in the central view of a camera on the ceiling before making sure that 2IC Bailey had hidden the evidence of their mass infraction. Satisfied that the wastebasket the hat was thrown into was sufficiently out of view of the camera, Major Dobson puffed up his chest and snapped a crisp salute.

“Put it through,” he ordered with gusto.

The large screen on the wall flickered, and at once was replaced by the video of a woman he didn’t recognize. The camera being used was a top-tier government issue one, providing a higher fidelity and sharper color palette than the external base cameras. The woman was in a large leather office chair, leaning forwards against a wooden desk on her elbows. She was a caucasian with sun-tanned skin, blond hair, and stunning green eyes. She wore an Enclave officer’s uniform with no rank insignia of any kind, alongside a large brown cowboy hat.

Major Dobson slowly lowered his salute. He had been expecting Colonel Autumn, who after a moment, stepped into view to stand behind and off to the side of the large leather office chair.

“Howdy,” the woman said with a friendly smile, tipping her hat. “Yer Major Dobson, correct?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Major Dobson said, then inclined his head just enough to regard Colonel Autumn without being disrespectful to the unknown woman. The woman was uncomfortably friendly, which could only mean she was dangerous and wanted something he had. Major Dobson had verbally sparred with Colonel Autumn several times in the past when jockeying for promotions and assignments over his peers. He would prefer to deal with a known entity. “Colonel Autumn, sir, this is highly irregular. The woman with you doesn’t have any rank or insignia on her, so I don’t know how to address her.”

Was there some sort of test? That was unlikely, Raven Rock had gone silent on Adams AFB as well.

“That’s because she does not hold a rank,” Colonel Autumn said with an even, genteel voice. “You are addressing President Abigail Jacklyn. It is with a heavy heart that I must regretfully inform you that President John Henry Eden is no longer among the living.”

There were several mutters from the other comms officers and staff in the command room. Colonel Autumn certainly didn’t sound regretful. The side-eye President Jacklyn gave him made it clear that they shared the same opinion.

“How?” Major Dobson asked. “All of us knew that he was a machine.”

And machines could be fixed.

The secret of President Eden being an Artificial Intelligence was the worst-kept internal secret of the Enclave. Even with Colonel Autumn or his father before him being the only ones to ‘see’ the President, after over thirty years on the East Coast, enough maintenance guys had complained about the massive tower-sized mainframe that needed constant tender loving care. Colonel Autumn and clunky robots weren’t trained or suited for delicate mainframe maintenance. With no chefs at Raven Rock ever making or delivering custom food orders—a luxury many officers like himself enjoyed when rotated to Raven Rock—it didn’t take a genius to figure it out.

“That darned box of scrap gave us no choice,” Abigail said, frowning heavily. Her accent was thicker than Colonel Autumn’s or the late President Eden’s. “We tried talkin’ to him, convince him to resign, but he wouldn't peaceably step down.”

“So it was a coup?” Major Dobson asked, inhaling sharply and clenching his fists. Colonel Autumn was the last person Major Dobson expected to betray the president. He was a model officer, proud, and with a rich pedigree including a living family member who had made it to the rank of General. Colonel Autumn was one of the few officers who was both old enough to remember the oil rig, and still had living family members. Even if some of that family hated his guts.

“Yes,” Abigail said, with no hesitation. She didn’t try to deny it. Major Dobson narrowed his eyes. The blunt honesty was concerning. No one told the honest truth in the Enclave unless it was to serve some greater goal. But if she was in the oval office, what greater goal did she have? She had become queen of the castle, especially with Colonel Autumn backing her.

“Major,” Colonel Autumn said in a tone that told Dobson he had seen the look in his eyes. “Tell me this, how many of us were truly loyal to the machine that has directed us on a path to nowhere in the thirty-six years since we lost the West Coast? I only had to send six vertibirds of Eden loyalists to Adams AFB.”

Major Dobson worked his jaw, biting his lower lip as the tips of his fingers dug hard into his palms. They had spent decades hiding while claiming that the Enclave were the mightiest power ever, and that they were there to save America and rebuild it. An entire generation had grown up listening to Eden’s patriotic music and propaganda. Yet a single contingent of the Brotherhood of Steel was able to waltz into the Pentagon and do more for the Wasteland than the Enclave had ever done.

Major Dobson was forty-two. He had vague memories of the great flight from the West Coast and dodging bounty hunters from the New California Republic. Many of the officers of the Enclave remembered the great shame of those years. A shame uncorrected over thirty-six years.

After a moment of consideration, Dobson finally untensed. A shakeup of leadership could be a good thing.

“So what is your plan, Madam President?” Major Dobson asked. “Have you been made aware of the security threat to the Enclave?”

The last two and half weeks had been the strangest ones of Major Dobson’s life. With Rockland being a communications and satellite relay station, they also had the equipment to act as a listening post. Unless there were some other listening posts that Major Dobson was unaware of—which was likely given that it was the Enclave—they were the only Enclave soldiers he knew of that were allowed to listen to Galaxy News Radio and other radio chatter in the Capital Wasteland without being harshly reprimanded, since it was for intelligence gathering purposes.

“We have,” President Jacklyn said, shifting in her seat. “Which goes right nicely with why we called. I was mighty shocked when technicians recovered some of Eden’s records. Apparently, a unicorn’s been workin’ fer the Enclave for months now. Tell me everythin’ you know.”

“Yes, Madam President,” Major Dobson said. He was of course going to withhold as much as he could get away with for leverage later. “She was some mutated woman from SOCOM… her mutations line up with what we’ve been hearing about the Equestrians on Galaxy News Radio, but she had the paperwork and clearance levels to have free reign of the base. Your predecessor even sent us a forewarning about her arrival. She said that she was here to prevent security anomalies. Left a lot of carvings on the walls and engravings on the metalwork before she left.”

“Sounds a lotta like the runes that our maintenance folk have found recently,” President Jacklyn said to Colonel Autumn. “Thank ya’ kindly for your cooperation. If you encounter any Equestrians who aren’t with SOCOM, treat them kindly and direct them away from your bases to the nearest civilian occupied zone. Don’t hurt any a’ them.”

“Madam President,” Major Dobson said, tensing again. “They’re mutants. Not as ugly as the zombies or supermutants, but they aren’t human.” He turned slightly to regard the screen a sergeant was using to view the security feed. The pair had stopped their lockpicking and had taken off their backpacks. The fireteam waiting on the other side of the door was probably getting bored waiting on them. “I have two unicorns trying to sneak their way into my base right now. One of them even has wings.”

“What!?” President Jacklyn’s eyes went wide as she leapt up from her seat, the office chair tipping over to crash behind her. “Harm them at yer own peril. I’m sending a special agent to collect them now.”

President Jacklyn turned and ran offscreen. A split second later, a door opened, then closed with a loud hiss.

Colonel Autumn stepped into the center focus, and the Major stepped back from the intensity of the baleful scowl on the Colonel’s face.

“S-sir?” Major Dobson asked, snapping to a salute.

“Let me make this ultimately and undeniably clear,” Colonel Autumn’s voice was like knives made of ice. “If you have a death wish, I can put you on the wrong end of a firing squad. Otherwise, you and your men will stand down and treat any and all Equestrians with respect. They come from an industrialized nation with a population in the millions. Pissing them off would be the end of us.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight was glad to be on terrain that didn’t want to swallow her ankles. The hills were rocky and uneven, and gave her braced leg a fit, but at least she and Daniel were dry.

Daniel had volunteered to try and carry both bags so she could fly, but Twilight declined. He still had to lug around a suitcase lined with lead… and filled with an evil book. Twilight wasn’t going to overload him with her backpack. There were too many sharp stones around, and she didn’t want to be the one stitching him up this time.

They had lucked out so far and neither of them had tripped, though as a precaution, Daniel traveled behind her, ready to catch her if her leg gave out.

Weaving between a pair of massive boulders, Twilight looked ahead and up the rest of the hill. They were close to the top, only a few more hoofsteps away, then it would be downhill from there. She smiled with glee at the thought of being able to see the giant satellite dishes more clearly. She was curious about them, since pony-made satellites, and space exploration in general, weren’t really a thing in Equestria. Princess Luna had to be sent to the moon with the Elements of Harmony. Humans, in their infinite insanity, had filled metal tubes with explosive chemicals to brute-force themselves into space.

“And that’s the extent of what I know about space travel,” Daniel finished the short explanation he’d been giving while they’d been hiking. His explanation had been a lot more eloquent and well spoken, but Twilight liked her shortened synopsis better.

Pushing herself the last few hooves to the top, Twilight crested the hill, and immediately ignored the satellite dishes as she took in the sight of the vast expanse of the Capital Wasteland.

She could already see the Dunwich building, maybe two miles away down the mountain. Farther off past there was an almost fully intact white tower surrounded by a wall. She could see power pylons and old overpasses crumbling away. And far, far off in the distance was the DC ruins.

Twilight’s attention ripped northwest to the mountains on the horizon as an impossible flash of darkness exploded across the sky.

Like a sonic rainboom… but as black as a starless night.

Chapter 26: Highs and Lows

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Twilight stared with her jaw slack at the growing ring of darkness on the horizon. A faint black contrail peeled away from the ring, streaking across the sky like a comet made of tar before it banked hard and turned in her direction.

Recovering her senses, Twilight blinked. There were two pressing questions. Why was Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom black, and how did Rainbow know to fly her way? Was it a coincidence or something more?

Twilight turned from the streak in the sky to Daniel. He mirrored her earlier slack-jawed expression before it formed into a grin.

“That was a sonic rainboom, right?” Daniel asked.

“I’m leaning towards ‘yes’,” Twilight said, shifting her eyes back towards the oncoming ring of dark-light. “Rainbooms are normally rainbow colored, though.”

Telekinetically reaching into her backpack, Twilight extracted a pair of binoculars. It was the same pair she had used to spy on Pinkie Pie's strange powers years ago. Luckily, the binoculars had survived the falling piano.

“You brought binoculars?” Daniel asked.

“Yep,” Twilight said after a moment, her lips creased in contemplation. “Going to try and make sure it’s Rainbow.”

Twilight didn’t know if her binoculars could make the source of the black contrail any clearer at their distance, but it was worth a shot. All Twilight had to do was follow the contrail to its source and…

Sonic boom, check; Sky blue wings and ears, double check; Aviator shades, check; Sharply dressed in a black suit… not something Twilight would normally expect from Rainbow, but it fit with the shades and hair color. Three out of four, with the forth being a strong maybe.

“I think it is Rainbow Dash!" Twilight hopped with glee, landing poorly on the uneven terrain. Loose stones rolled out from under her hooves, sending her stumbling into Daniel as she landed. He caught her, helping her reorient herself before she put her binoculars away.

“So you weren’t kidding when you said she really can fly that fast,” Daniel laughed, then blushed as he scratched the back of his neck, sheepishly looking at the rocky ground. “Just don’t expect me to get into any wagons pulled by her.”

Twilight wouldn't do that to him.

Turning back to watch the sky, the black ring was slowing down and starting to dissipate, leaving the black contrail as one of the only few blemishes in the mostly clear sky, apart from some stubborn rain clouds from the morning that had lingered into the late afternoon.

The journey through the mud and the trek uphill had taken all day. Hopefully, with any luck, Rainbow could help her and Daniel reach the Dunwich building before nightfall.

“Hey, you two up there!”

Twilight spun towards the female voice that wasn’t Rainbow Dash’s. Her mane stood on end as she laid eyes on three figures in dark black power armor running uphill towards them from the direction of the satellite dishes.

The one in the lead wore a suit much bulkier than the two trailing side-by-side behind them, or even the Brotherhood of Steel. Its massive pauldrons made them look like a super mutant. The eyes were puny in comparison, their amber glow swallowed by the blacks of the insect-like helmet.

The smaller suits were of a similar shape, but only slightly heftier than the combat armor Daniel wore, like a miniaturized copy of the bigger armor.

They were all armed; the rear two carried rifles covered in piping and glowing changeling-green lights, while the middle one carried a supersized version of the rifle that had to be carried by large handles. The cannon’s long, thin metal barrel ended in three cruel looking blade-like protrusions.

“Where did they get a plasma caster!?” Daniel yelped, struggling to raise the lead-lined suitcase up with one hand as he extended the other upwards in surrender. Twilight joined him in raising her arms despite the black-armored soldiers not aiming their weapons at them… not yet at the very least.

Twilight froze in place, her brain working overtime to analyze the situation. She needed a plan. Soldiers running after her was never a good sign. Running wasn’t an option, the soldiers had guns. Twilight couldn’t teleport, her horn was broken. Fighting them wouldn’t work, Twilight had seen a power helmet deflect a super mutant’s rifle round, and all she had was her 10mm pistol since her rifle had been left behind in Rivet City.

All that was left was to surrender and play nice.

Her arms trembled, and she prayed under her breath that the humans weren’t in a shooting mood.

The three figures ended their uphill charge around a dozen paces from them. Thankfully the weapons remained lowered, and Twilight got a better glance over the armor since they were closer.

The larger middle suit was dirty, with chipped black paint and visible dents and repair marks, while the smaller two were nearly pristine. Both types of suits bore markings. Their right pauldrons had names stenciled in white lettering in what Twilight assumed was ‘rank abbreviation, last name, first initial’, style.

Twilight raised her arms even higher in surrender when she saw that they weren’t the Brotherhood of Steel. On their left pauldrons, rather than a sword overlaying cogs insignia, was a gold E surrounded by a ring of stars.

Despite her worry, Twilight couldn’t help but chortle as she thought back to Pinkie’s singsong voice.

‘It was under Eee’.

Whoever they were, they had advanced technology, like the hovering eyebot in Springvale broadcasting the Enclave radio.

E for Enclave!

“Wait, are you guys the Enclave?” Twilight asked the middle one of the group, smiling at what was either an insane coincidence or yet another example of Pinkie’s powers.

“Good guess, maggot!” The middle soldier yelled. The name stenciled onto the armor was SGT. Dornan. A. Her orange-eyed helmet bobbed as she studied Twilight and Daniel, before she yelled without stopping to take a breath, “I am under orders to escort you two civilians off base, do you understand!?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Twilight shouted, suddenly feeling the urge to salute. It had worked for Fluttershy and the Brotherhood of Steel. The Enclave were by all appearances just as militaristic.

“Excellent!” Sergeant Dornan yelled at a volume below ear splitting. “Private Smith, search their bags and that suitcase!”

That wasn’t good. If the Enclave opened the suitcase they would find the black book. However, neither of the rear two soldiers approached.

“Permission to speak freely, ma’am?” a male soldier to Sergeant Dornan’s left asked. The Sergeant merely grunted an acknowledgement. “Is that necessary? The special agent is already on the way.”

Twilight sighed a little in relief.

“I’d sooner retire my father’s power armor than let trespassers slip past this base unchecked. We’re going to do this by the book,” Sergeant Dornan sternly intoned, shattering the relief Twilight felt as she kept her gaze locked tightly on Twilight and Daniel. Then it was back to screaming. “You two have been caught trespassing on government property! You are about to be searched for any photographic or surveillance equipment! If you do not comply, you will be compelled, do you understand!?”

“L-let’s talk this out” Twilight stuttered, looking sideways to the horizon. Rainbow Dash herself was visible in the distance without binoculars and closing fast. If Twilight could stall for time until Rainbow Dash saw them… then what?

Was Rainbow Dash even a part of the Enclave? Of course she was, one of the soldiers had called Rainbow a special agent. Or was it coincidence that Rainbow Dash had made a sonic rainboom and the special agent was someone else? Was the Rainboom what had drawn the soldiers to the top of the mountain?

Twilight looked back to the soldiers in time for Private Smith to hand off his rifle to the other rifle carrying soldier, before he aggressively stomped forwards without a second remark to his sergeant. Sergeant Dornan raised the barrel of her plasma caster to keep her soldier covered and to dissuade Twilight from making any sudden moves.

It was an unnecessary gesture, one suit of power armor was enough to make Twilight feel sufficiently dissuaded.

“Your bags,” The private said. “And that briefcase.”

They couldn’t be allowed to have the black book.

“Don’t open it!” Twilight blurted before she could stop herself. She cursed under her breath as the Sergeant’s helmet whipped to the briefcase.

“And why not?” The Sergeant growled. “Are you two spies here to bomb the base? Do I have a couple saboteurs smuggling a briefcase nuke? There is a radiation symbol on it. Well, lucky for us power armor blocks radiation. Private! Open that case.”

The private reached for the case, and Daniel instinctively flinched. The private in turn reached for the pistol on his hip. Daniel released his hold of the handle, and the pistol wasn’t drawn. Twilight couldn’t blame him for giving it up.

“You really shouldn’t open that,” Daniel pleaded.

The private ignored him, holding the suitcase up with one armor-assisted hand. He used the other hand to casually flick open the first latch, then the second, then slowly opened the briefcase.

Twilight tasted ashes and bile as the lid swung open. The perverse sensation of dark magic wasn’t as intense as her first exposure to the book, but it still clawed at the back of her throat. Daniel, meanwhile, gagged.

“The fuck is wrong with them? All they have in here is a book,” Private Smith sputtered as he shut the briefcase, cutting off the magic. “My HUD didn’t ping any CBRN hazards. It’s just a book that these dumb muties chose to put in the heaviest suitcase they could find.”

“Alright,” Sergeant Donan said. “Give it back to—”

“Hey, bozos!” A familiar voice called down from the sky. “Hands off my friends!”

Rainbow Dash landed between Twilight and the sergeant, arms crossed in displeasure as one final wing flap kicked up a mininuke’s worth of dust and gravel before she back-stepped to look between both groups. Reaching for her aviator shades, she pulled them off with two fingers and a twirling flourish to dramatically reveal her magenta eyes.

“Excuse me but—!?” The speaker in the sergeant’s helmet crackled from the gain before cutting out. The sergeant’s body went rigid as the grips of the plasma caster groaned under the pressure of clenched armored fists. She let out a slow breath that was loud enough to hear through the muffling of her helmet before she knelt and set down her plasma caster. Standing back up to full height, she reached for her helmet and removed it, revealing her soft brownish-tan face, like coffee with a lot of added creamer. Twilight wasn’t good at guessing the ages of humans, but Twilight went with forty. She had the beginnings of wrinkles and a few sprigs of gray mixed into her short, curly, dark-blonde hair.

Sergeant Dornan pressed the helmet to her hip, where it clanged as it magnetically locked into place.

“These trespassers haven’t shown any military papers,” Sergeant Dornan said slowly. Her natural voice was as scratchy as Rainbow Dash’s, no doubt left hoarse from years of yelling everything. “I’m taking them through the proper procedures before booting them over to you. Do you have the authority to override my standing orders?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Rainbow said as she faced the sergeant head on and slipped a hand under her jacket, pulling out a black wallet. She flipped it open with a flick of her wrist. Twilight couldn’t see what was inside. “Special Agent Rachel Dash, United States Secret Service.”

‘Rachel Dash?’ Twilight thought while staring at her friend’s back. There was something off about her suit, like there was a ridge running along her spine.

“So you’re the new Horrigan I heard rumors about. Imagined you’d be… taller.” Sergeant Dornan scoffed. The private setting the briefcase down by Daniel’s hooves pulled Twilight away from Rainbow’s back.

“Not every secret service agent has to be a twelve-foot-tall cyborg super mutant,” Rainbow said as she turned to the side and pointed with her whole hand like it were a blade. “Anyways, those two are under my protection and jurisdiction. President’s orders.”

So, Rainbow worked for President Eden. Maybe she could explain his sudden absence on the radio. That, and several other questions. Rainbow had somehow acquired a title half as big as her ego… and it was a title that carried weight. Twilight didn’t know if she should be worried or impressed.

“Yes ma’am,” Sergeant Dornan said. “Understood.”

“Good,” Rainbow chuckled. “Now that this situation is done and dusted, you three are dismissed.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Sergeant Dornan bellowed in time with the other two. She bent over to pick up her plasma caster off the ground.

“Before you go,” Twilight said to Sergeant Dornan. "I might be able to fix your helmet.”

“My father died for his country in this armor,” Sergeant Dornan hissed. “I will do the same before I let a mutie touch it.”

Okie… dokie… loki. No touching the equipment of the violent xenophobe.

The three soldiers turned and stomped back down the hill, leaving Twilight and Daniel alone with Rainbow Dash. She slowly looked over Daniel, then Twilight, lingering a moment on the leg brace, and even longer on Twilight’s snapped horn.

“Sorry about them,” Rainbow Dash said, placing a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Twilight said, knocking the hand away to wrap Rainbow in a crushing hug. “Not the first bigot I’ve—” Twilight cut herself off as her arms pressed into several hard ridges under Rainbow Dash’s suit. “Are you wearing something under your suit?”

“Yeahhh,” Rainbow Dash said while gently pushing away from Twilight with one hand, and scratching the back of her head with the other. “We’re going to have to do a lot of catching up on the way into the base.”

“The base where those Enclave guys just went?” Daniel asked, jerking a thumb in the direction of where the three soldiers had left. Twilight shared his sentiment.

“I flew so fast out of Raven Rock I didn’t grab any comms gear,” Rainbow Dash said, nodding her head before she looked Twilight in the eyes, her voice low and serious. “But before I did leave, the President insisted on telling me they wanted to see you.”

Twilight gulped. President Eden wanted to see her…

<>~<>~<>

“And you said that there were similar runes in Raven Rock?” Twilight asked, passing by the fourth one she had seen on the way to the command room. The rune was precisely carved onto a concrete wall in the hallway, low to the ground to be out of notice unless it was being pointed out. Thankfully, the technician leading Rainbow Dash at the front of their group had been doing so.

What Twilight noticed at her quick glance of each rune was the quality of the carvings. They were clearly done by someone who knew exactly what they were doing, and had the tools to make the runes. Rune-making took months of practice to perfect and specialist tools. According to Rainbow Dash, the unicorn who carved the runes had those few months… inside Equestria. Runecarving tools could be bought at any number of magic shops in Equestria.

Or just given to her because she claimed to be an aspiring young mage.

“Yeah, exactly the same shape. Do you know what they do?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Eden’s records said they were to prevent teleportation.”

Twilight recognized the style of runes as the creation of Astrolathe the Amazing, who had been Starswirl the Bearded’s last apprentice over a millennium ago. Twilight possessed every copy of Astrolathe’s work in her library. She even remembered loaning out a spare to a unicorn mare named Electrum Eagle... over a year ago.

‘It was under Eee’

“I do,” Twilight grumbled. “They’re defensive wards against teleportation and many forms of magical spying.”

The perfect spellbook for people not wanting to be found. The Enclave special operations command had been in Equestria for a year at the very least, and Twilight had given them something that could help destroy Equestria by allowing them to hide anywhere.

They reached the command room’s door, and Twilight took in a breath. At least it wasn’t President Eden who wanted to see her… just President Abigail Jacklyn.

The insanity of the situation Twilight found herself in outweighed any joy she felt in reuniting with another friend. An uncomfortable running theme the last few days.

The technician stepped aside and Rainbow Dash entered the command room first.

()><~>()<~><()

Sergeant-Major Ellie King had been in Equestria too long. She dreamt herself as Georgia Blackhawk more and more, and with it, other aspects of the dream took on Equestrian qualities.

Human or Equestrian, the charred corpses in the pit were still charred corpses.

Couldn’t she have one peaceful night before she died?

Blackhawk closed her eyes, but even in the dream she still saw them. She didn’t even know who was in the pit. NCR troopers who lied about their age to enlist? Farmers who didn't give the Enclave everything and then some more, and paid the price for it?

All closing her eyes served to do was heighten her senses. The weight of the flamer was even more pronounced strapped to the side of her power armored gryphon body.

“You always come back to this memory,” Princess Luna’s soft voice drifted over the pit. She was standing across it from Georgia in her own suit of Enclave power armor, sans a helmet. Georgia thought black looked good on Luna. “Why?”

“It’s what I deserve,” Georgia said, her voice as coarse as the sand of the Californian Wasteland. A smoker’s voice, and a drinker too. Anything to put the memories off until later. It was years later, and she was alive. They were charcoal memories.

“I’d like to think I’m an expert on torturing myself in my dreams,” Luna said, slowly walking around the pit. As it always did, the pit grew wider, deeper, and yet more bodies filled the void as fast as it grew. Some of the unburned ones close to the top Georgia remembered. Red Glare topped the pile. How many more recognizable faces would be there by the time the Enclave was done tearing itself apart? “You can’t undo the past. Only work to make it right, and this—” Luna’s horn glowed, and the pit stopped growing. “This is torture.”

Georgia’s talons dug into the sand. She was naked now. The greasy, oily smoke rising from the pit clogged her nose. Her eyes stung. She closed them to blink out the tears, but closing her eyes never worked.

“Look at that and tell me I don’t deserve it,” Georgia coughed up blood. “Most of those people didn't deserve it.”

She knew by this point one more corpse would be in the pit, somewhere, buried among all the others. The one murder she couldn’t forgive herself for.

Luna placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“You have made many mistakes,” Luna said, her words soft and maternal. “I know your pain… I made a mistake so terrible that I created a dark spirit to give me nightmares that were out of my control. But, if you really want this dream to play out, I’ll be here and stick with you to the end.”

Why would she stay? Why did she care? Georgia didn’t deserve her kindness. Not after what she had done.

Georgia opened her eyes. They were in a wastelander’s hovel, sitting across from each other in a booth scavenged from a diner. She faced towards the door. Luna had a Nuka~Cola. It fit right in with Luna’s scrap metal armor and the broken windows and rusting corrugated metal.

“Why do you care? What does your bullshit have to do with me!?” Georgia yelled as two malnourished gryphons in patchwork armor and ponchos entered the hovel from the front door. One male, one female. Georgia remembered how it all played out. Didn’t need the dream to show her. Didn’t want it to show her, either.

“Sis,” Joseph said in a low voice as he pulled the door closed with his tail. “We need to talk.”

“Goddamnit, not this one,” Georgia ground her beak, darting her eyes anywhere but the two. Luna lit a cigarette, offering her one as the only salve from the dream rather than ending the torment like usual. Georgia took the cigarette and burned it down in one long drag. She could still hear the pair. She drummed her clawtips on the table. It didn’t drown them out.

“Can it wait until we’re back at camp?” Ellie asked after knocking over some furniture. A thrown rug landed on the table, knocking over Luna’s Nuka~Cola. “Maybe they have some old cans of pork and beans stashed in this place. I’d be fine with anything that’ll put meat on our bones.”

“No, it can’t wait,” Joseph raised his voice. The only time Georgia had heard him angry. “We just traded some of our stuff with these people… and they need food just as much as we do. It’s not right robbing them blind when they aren’t home.”

“You think the others are going to let these wastrels keep Enclave tech?” Ellie asked. “They aren't coming back.”

Did she really talk like that back then? Of course Georgia did, she was Ellie, and this was more memory than dream. She couldn’t forget, no matter how many bottles of whiskey she drank or how many chems she took.

“We’ve done this across the entire damn country!” Joseph yelled. “I’m sick of burning corpses and plundering homes. Eden can’t fix the Enclave because we're just… raiders… with better gear. I’m leaving.”

Georgia burned down another cigarette.

“Joe!” Ellie screamed. “The Enclave is our family. You don’t turn your back on family!”

“I just di—”

Bang.

Georgia blinked. She stood with the pistol clutched in her talons. Her younger brother was on the floor, a growing pool of crimson staining the wood. He wasn’t moving. Dead at twenty.

The dream melted away like wax in the sunlight. A field of grass and flowers surrounded her. Equestria. Luna stood before her, dressed as her normal regal self, but still missing half her face like her physical form.

“You asked what my story had to do with you,” Princess Luna said. “I know what it’s like to make mistakes. My sister and I both know very well, and we still make mistakes… like not telling Princess Twilight about the Enclave in hopes that she wouldn’t do anything rash and focus on finding her friends.”

“Doesn’t seem like that big of a mistake,” Georgia grumped, falling back onto her haunches.

“It may or may not be, but mistakes are mistakes, and the little ones pile up so high over the centuries,” Luna said with a sigh. “As I said before, I know what it’s like to torture yourself. I didn’t finish my story.” Luna sat down onto her own haunches, mimicking Georgia. “You see, the creature I made grew too powerful and escaped me, endangering everypony I knew by infecting their dreams. It was only because of Twilight Sparkle and her friends that we were able to defeat it. My friends.”

“If there is a moral to the story, I don’t get it.”

“My self-inflicted punishment spilled out and hurt those I cared about, and those that cared about me. It made me think about other forms of self punishment I had considered,” Luna said softly. The small sad smile on her face and tear filled eyes brimmed with knowing sadness. Luna knew her pain. “Since coming to Equestria, and even before you left Earth, you’ve made friends. Friends that care about you, and would miss you if you tried to punish yourself to the extent you feel would be just for what you’ve done. I would be among those missing you.”

Georgia looked away, her cheeks flushed with shame. Luna spoke the truth. Georgia had met so many wonderful people native to Equestria. She still kept in touch with Yellow Shores after meeting him during a trip to the beach. Blue Blossom from the flower shop she liked to go to. Embershard the dragon who lived next door.

But how many would be like Luna and forgive the real her… Ellie… for what she had done?

Starry had been the last piece of family she had left, and he was gone. But, even if no one else was there for her, she still had Luna who cared for her.

“The Waterfall Road motel,” Georgia said softly, “Room s-six… b-bathroom…”

Luna wrapped her in a tight embrace, and Georgia broke down crying.

Chapter 27: Allies and Enemies

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The room at the Weatherly Hotel was the same one Fluttershy had stayed in the day before encountering her raider gang. Both Slim Joe and Kerri were in the room with her. The former was seated in a folding chair close to the exit, preening his gryphon wings with his talons, while Kerri sat on the bed with her.

Kerri slowly held out her left arm, and Fluttershy grimaced. Kerri had more track marks in the crook of her elbow than craters on Earth’s moon. Then there were the scars—evenly-spaced parallel scars running from the wrist to mid-ways down her forearm. Kerri had told her how those cuts had ended up there. They hid the old, small, circular burns where Kerri’s alcoholic father had snuffed out cigarettes.

The needle slipped into Kerri’s vein without either of them speaking a word. Kerri didn’t gasp or flinch, only shuddered as the med-x was fed into her veins with a long, slow press of the plunger.

Fluttershy went until the syringe was two-thirds empty, then pulled out the needle.

“So you think cutting back like that is supposed to help me get off this shit?” Kerri asked, breaking the silence in the room. She shuddered some more and moaned as the high started to come.

The sound struck a familiar chord with Fluttershy. She had heard similar sounds many times before, and she shifted in her seat on the bed. She was back in familiar, uncomfortable territory. Five years was too soon.

“Only if you stick with backing off bit-by-bit,” Fluttershy replied, half-forcing a soft, caring smile as she capped off the med-x needle before placing it back into a pouch on her combat armor. She wasn’t mad or angry with Kerri. Not even disappointed. Addictions were almost impossible to beat without baby steps along the road to recovery. “If you stopped all at once, your withdrawal would be worse and you’d be using even more than before to make the pain go away.”

Fluttershy hoped that the two days she would spend with Kerri would start her on the right path to recovery. But why did the raider gathering have to be so soon? If she had more time to dedicate to Kerri, then she could make sure that Kerri was responsible and had progressed enough to stay off chems while left unattended. Fluttershy would leave Kerri behind—at Kerri’s own request—when heading to the Knock.

“You’ve done this before,” Slim Joe stated matter-of-factly, eliciting a wince from Fluttershy. Slim Joe leaned his chair back until he touched the wall with his head. He laced his taloned fingers together to act as a pillow, more out of habit than necessity. While his beak had turned back into a mouth, and his face had clear skin, all of the hair on his head remained a mixture of short, fluffy, white down and medium-length gray feathers. “So, we’ve spilled our life stories to you. What’s your chem story, Boss?”

Fluttershy closed her eyes. While Kerri had been an open book, Slim Joe had been cagey, but still willing to share more than enough about himself to satisfy Fluttershy. It was only fair that she shared a bit of her past. But… the story wasn’t fully her story.

“My younger brother, Zephyr,” Fluttershy said, looking away from the once-gryphon as he dropped the chair to all four legs and leaned forwards, chin on his knuckles, his lion tail swishing like a curious cat. “I don’t like to talk about it—” or Zephyr at all if she could help it, “—but he used to be worse than what he is now. I helped him out of a bad point in his life.”

For all the good that had done. Thinking about Zephyr had Fluttershy rolling her eyes as she sighed. “He’s still a lazy pain in my flank who can’t hold down a job for more than a month, but he’s family.”

And as much as she disliked certain things about him, she still missed the rest of him. With any luck, her letter for him would find its way to whatever cheap apartment he was skipping paying rent for.

Slim Joe’s mirthless chuckle interrupted her reminiscing, muttering mostly to himself. “He’s lucky he didn’t have my sister watching over him.”

“Whoa, hold the fuck up,” Kerri blurted, jumping up from her seat while pointing at Slim Joe, stumbling slightly in her high. “You mother fucker! You’ve blue-clitted me for years about your personal life and you just casually drop the fact that you have a sister now? You’re a—” Kerri paused her rant, scrunching her face as she wagged her finger at Joe, who straightened up in his seat. “You’re that fancy word you taught me that sounds like ‘missile’ that means you hate everyone. What changed?”

“I’m a misanthrope,” Slim Joe said with a scowl that turned his deep wrinkles into canyons. Slim Joe was an old man in a lifestyle where many ended up dead far too young, which meant he was dangerous. He’d admitted at her cottage he used to be part of a gang that killed so many people that they had to start burning the bodies they left after their raids to keep the pests away.

“But,” Slim Joe said, his scowl softening as he looked at Fluttershy. “She reminded me that not everyone is an asshole that’s out for themselves.”

Fluttershy needed to choose her words carefully, but when it came to prying into someone’s personal life, it was difficult to ask what needed to be asked without the possibility of coming off as too direct.

“Did your sister do something that made you hate everyone?” Fluttershy asked softly, hoping to cushion the blow with gently placed words. This was a new chapter to Slim Joe’s story, and she was both curious and concerned. If she could get Slim Joe to open up, maybe she could help him heal.

“I turned my back on the gang and wanted out of the raider lifestyle,” Slim Joe said, staring into the middle distance. “So she shot me in the back and left me for dead. I stopped trying to take the moral high ground after that and just drifted from crew to crew ever since.”

Fluttershy was at a loss for words. Being betrayed by a sibling, all because Slim Joe had wanted to make a better life for himself was horrible. It was like having kindness being rewarded with a slap in the face. Humanity was the polar opposite to ponykind.

All one had to do was open a book and read about a selfless, caring, friend to the people being nailed to a cross and left on a hill to die slowly.

“So what’s next since you’re feeling chatty?” Kerri asked sarcastically, sitting back down by Fluttershy before flopping backwards to stare at the ceiling. She giggled, slurring as the med-x took a deeper hold. “Gonna tell us your name ain’t ‘Slim Joe’?”

Slim Joe chuckled.

“It’s Joseph,” he said. “And I’ve always been skinny, so my nickname isn't too far off for me to call it a lie.”

“So—” Fluttershy started, but the room door swung open with a blue telekinetic glow. Rarity was on the other side of the door, her eyes wide and brow covered in sweat.

“Terribly sorry to interrupt whatever you and your ruffians are doing,” Rarity shouted through ragged breaths. Rarity had been running. Fluttershy tensed, ready for whatever news was coming. “Pinkie Pie and Spike are in Point Lookout.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight Sparkle faced the screen on the back wall of the darkened command room, Daniel and Rainbow Dash on either side of her. Secrecy and lies were the bread and butter of the Enclave, according to Rainbow Dash, who had ordered everyone but a single technician out.

Rainbow’s black hair, black suit, and fancy bionic spine weren’t for a flashy spectacle. She was an agent of the Enclave, and had the authority of the president behind her. The president, who just so happened to be Applejack.

The most honest person Twilight knew was the leader of a secretive military dictatorship. A knot of worry coiled its way through Twilight as she shifted from hoof to hoof uneasily in front of the screen. Was Applejack still Applejack, or had she quickly changed with her newfound power?

Twilight pushed the thought aside. Of course Applejack was still Applejack, because she wasn’t a mare that would let power go to her head. At least Twilight didn’t think so.

Inhaling a slow breath, Twilight straightened her back and braced herself for the big reveal.

“Ready,” Twilight said to the technician without looking away from the screen.

The technician pressed a button, and the screen flickered to life, warbling with electronic static before clearing up to reveal Applejack sitting at a desk. She wore a similar outfit to the middle-aged human man who stood next to her desk.

“Whoa, nelly,” Applejack gasped, her jaw hanging slack before she shook her head and tipped her hat. “Sorry, I just wasn't expectin’ Eden to be tellin’ the truth about your horn. It’s nice to see you again, Twi.” She then spotted Daniel beside her. “Is the stallion with you an Equestrian or a human? I know about the portals back home from Galaxy News Radio.”

That saved Twilight so much time explaining things.

“Daniel Neeson is the man who rescued me from a building I spent two weeks trapped inside,” Twilight said, eliciting a shocked gasp from Applejack, though not from Rainbow, who’d already been told. Twilight swallowed and scratched the back of her head, looking away from the screen and blushing. It was time for the part she hadn’t told Rainbow yet.

“I also married him last night.”

“Huh,” Applejack said. It wasn’t a question, more of a general exclamation. A good sign at the very least. It was better than Rainbow Dash, who scrunched up her face in concentration and counted on her fingers.

“Wait a sec. If two weeks is fourteen days,” Rainbow Dash said. “And we’ve been here for eighteen, but you married him last night, that means you married him after knowing him for three days?” She chuckled. “I thought I was fast.”

“Yes,” Twilight admitted, shrinking back from Rainbow’s clear lack of confidence. Daniel’s captivating silver eyes offered a port in the storm of doubt. She straightened up as she shared a meaningful look with him. “He’s saved my life more than once… without him, I wouldn’t be here, and we connected quickly after we found common ground.”

Daniel smiled and nodded, mouthing ‘thanks’ to Twilight before Applejack’s cheer pulled Twilight’s attention back to the screen.

“Well, congratulations!” Applejack said, tipping her hat again. Her warm smile reassured Twilight, chasing away her embarrassment. “Any of the other gals know? I heard Fluttershy was the one who got GNR back up and runnin’… and if I heard right, she’s a soldier now?”

“Welllll,” Twilight said sheepishly. “Not anymore since she’s trying to reform some raiders. She’s going to a large raider gathering in two days to see if any Equestrians ended up there.”

Twilight really, really, really hoped the raiders hadn’t captured anyone.

“Come again?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Twi’s already filled me in on everything,” Rainbow Dash said before quickly glancing at Daniel. “Well, almost everything. I’ll fill you in when I get back so she doesn’t have to repeat herself.” She then inclined her head to stare at the man beside Applejack. “I have a strong feeling that Colonel Autumn would like a chance to speak. Colonel Autumn, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Colonel Autumn. The one who had put Applejack into the office of the presidency. From what Twilight could tell from the screen, he was a tall older man with gray hair. His age was even more apparent than Sergeant Dornan’s, with heavy, deep wrinkles that made his forehead look like a freshly plowed field. His brown eyes, though… there was an intensity to them. A determined fire within of a man on a mission.

“It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Colonel Autumn said, giving a polite nod, to which Twilight responded back in kind. A simple courtesy to break the ice. His accent was similar to Applejack’s, though his country twang was far more subdued. “I am Colonel Augustus Autumn of the United States Enclave. I hope you had a good first impression of us, but in light of recent information extracted from the former president’s records, as well as the Enclave’s general stance towards the nonhuman, I understand if we have left a rather poor impression upon you.”

Cool as ice, slick as oil, and as venomous as a snake. Rainbow Dash had described the Colonel’s personality perfectly. While she said she used to think highly of him, recent thoughts on him had been troubled by a particular opinion he held.

Fifteen-point-six percent of Equestria’s population identified as gay or bisexual according to the last census. She was going to have to be diplomatic when addressing the colonel.

“Likewise,” Twilight said, forcing a smile. Applejack’s shifting eyes let Twilight know at least one person on the other end of the call could see right through her. “It surprised me when I found out that Applejack—or Abigail now—was put in charge of the Enclave.” Twilight slowly narrowed her eyes. The Enclave was an isolationist, xenophobic, militaristic dictatorship. “What’s your angle?”

“Colonel Autumn,” Rainbow Dash said, saluting him. “I think it’s finally time to reveal our super secret evil plan.”

Twilight whipped around to face Rainbow, who dropped the salute and stood at attention, not looking at Twilight. She turned back to face the screen, where Applejack jumped between watching Colonel Autumn and Rainbow Dash, her expression a mix of worry and fear.

Rainbow Dash wouldn’t betray them… unless the bionic spine was controlling her mind!

Twilight opened her mouth to yell to Daniel, but stopped as Colonel Autumn held up a hand while straightening his posture. He then placed his hands in the small of his back before glaring balefully at the camera. The intensity froze Twilight in place. What was going on?

“I am a colonel, not a politician. I give orders and take my own from a higher power. However, let me make this very clear to everyone, especially to the spooks from SOCOM who I know are listening in,” Colonel Autumn said. Twilight wanted to know what he knew about the mysterious group, but didn’t dare voice her question. Colonel Autumn’s voice was low and dripped with barely-contained anger. “I stand with Equestria, not because I am a traitor to my nation, but because I have no nation to betray. The Enclave are the remnants of remnants, wallowing in thirty-six years of self pity after our ignominious defeat on the west coast.” He paused, closing his eyes while taking a deep, calming breath. Despite the breathing, his body trembled, like a dam flexing before it fully burst. He opened his eyes and held a clenched fist in the air. “I have a simple dream… that one day I will see grassy fields where children can play to their heart's content without fearing for their lives. I dream of baseball on sunny cloudless days, and of forests with clean fresh rivers flowing through them. Everything Eden promised us, and everything he lied about to further goals that have led to our destruction once already.”

His nostrils flared and his leather gloves creaked with strain as he clenched both fists.

“The Enclave needs allies, not enemies!” Colonel Autumn yelled, sending Twilight and Daniel backstepping as his calm before the storm ended. He slammed his raised fist onto the desk, making Applejack jump in her seat and nearly tipping it over. “The Equestrians have the resources, industry, and manpower to rebuild our nation from the roots up! Their magic alone is worth a thousand water purifiers! One weather factory could make Project Purity look like a science fair experiment!” He shifted from foot to foot, barely able to stand in place as his incandescent rage burned on. “We can not win their trust with the barrel of a gun, so if I have to push aside my pride and personal opinions on certain matters to acquire their aid to help this nation heal, then by God as my witness, I will throw every belief I hold dear onto the altar and slaughter it! Anything, so this nation can rise like a phoenix, new, healthy, and prosperous!” He stepped towards the camera, growing larger than life as his upper torso and face dominated the screen, enhancing the ferocity of his deep scowl. “Agents of the special operations command, you will cease your meddling in Equestria and fall in line behind President Jacklyn like the rest of the Enclave, or I swear that I will devote every second remaining of my life to rendering you a nonissue.” He inhaled sharply, slapping his right fist over his heart in a salute. “Semper fi.”

Silence reigned after the outburst, only interrupted as the technician who had stayed on the sidelines clapped his hands.

All eyes landed on him.

“What?” The technician asked, ceasing his clapping. “It was an inspiring speech.”

The brevity helped lighten the mood as Colonel Autumn chuckled, backing away from the camera to show Applejack’s slack-jawed expression. Twilight was in agreement. The fire of the Colonel’s words had matched the fire in his eyes.

Once Applejack had a clear sight of her friends, she recovered and spoke.

“Ya know,” Applejack said, tipping her hat. “If ya’d led with that, Colonel, I mighta been inclined to trust ya more, but I can see how my honesty would’a tipped Eden off. So, Twi, now that I’m president and you’re a Princess of Equestria, I guess we gotta do politics now? Peace treaty?”

“The Enclave and Equestria aren’t officially at war,” Twilight responded with basic facts as her brain tried to catch up with what had transpired. “I think we’re looking more at a non-aggression pact. Would you like my documentation in triplicate?”

From being threatened by Enclave personnel, to agreeing to sign papers in the span of less than an hour. All because someone like Applejack was in charge to give a mutie like her the time of day.

Colonel Autumn was dangerously clever.

<>~<>~<>

No chair around the giant ring of desks lay unoccupied, yet the room was quiet enough to hear the buzzing drone of the overhead tubular lights. A statue of a fist clenching a globe decorated the centerpoint of the ring, while the back wall was dominated by monitors interlinked together to form one massive screen. It displayed the seal of the United States of America, but the image wasn’t what had the room silent, it was what had just played.

Colonel Autumn’s speech had left an impression. An impression that General Clyde Beckett contemplated on how to counter as he sat with his fingers laced together. Running SOCOM took patience, and a cool head. Something a rash firebrand like Colonel Autumn would never have. To think President Eden had trusted a Colonel with a temper problem like Autumn’s to be his personal lackey.

General Beckett’s seat ground against the concrete floor as he intentionally stood up slowly to prolong the noise and draw everyone’s full attention to himself.

He spoke loud and clear. “Are we just going to take that lying down? Colonel Autumn has betrayed our nation to these mutant abominations. If he wants a war, then he’s damn well got it.”

Trading for resources would give a foreign power leverage over their nation. That couldn't stand.

Everyone but one person nodded in agreement. The outlier to the consensus had their ugly, malformed, golden furred face shoved deep into an alien compendium of witchcraft. If Beckett had his way, the book and the reader would both burn at the stake. But SOCOM’s pet mutant was too useful to waste. While she couldn’t hit Mach One like Colonel Autumn’s pet, she had learned magic fast and had a sharp mind to match.

And credit to where it was due, she had hatched a fiendishly brilliant plan to kill many birds with a single stone.

‘If the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy as well, take a step back and let the fuckers fight it out before finishing off the winner’, General Beckett thought with a smile, but it quickly faded. She was also the ‘genius’ who’d suggested sending multiple sniper teams—many being non-SOCOM Enclave snipers—to stay long term and help with reconnaissance. That had turned into an utter travesty with multiple instances of blue-turning-opfor and engaging still loyal units. At least the turncoats wouldn’t have much, if any, sensitive information to turn over to the enemy.

At the very least, this plan of hers would soften up both Washington D.C. by clearing out the trash, and Equestria. All without harming a single SOCOM operative.

“Electrum,” he said. “You’re clear for Operation Slaughterhouse.”

“Excellent,” Electrum said with a too-wide smile as she shut the spellbook that she had been reading. She teleported away in a flash of copper-colored sparkles.

Equestria had struggled with the few raider camps that Electrum had influenced portals to appear in. An army of them organized under the banner of a self proclaimed king would be devastating enough to not have to resort to the strategic option.

Taking Equestria's resources would be far easier if they weren't irradiated.

Chapter 28: The Crucible of Ug-Qualtoth

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Spike knew he was supposed to like tunnels and caves since he was a dragon of all things, but something about the passages below the ruined house made him feel like it was… unnatural. Like he was always being watched.

Even with Pinkie Pie holding a lantern that would be more fitting to call a flood-light, it didn’t shine away the deep seated fear in him. His fear wasn’t helped by the fact that most of his scales had disappeared when coming to this world. Besides his hands, feet, wings, ears, and tail, his body was made of soft skin, white in color. Even with the combat armor over most of him, there was enough left exposed to the cool air to feel naked and defenseless.

He stopped for a moment, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on-end as he closely listened to the sounds of the tunnel. It was difficult to hear much past the water dripping from the stalactites. Each drop echoed like a whip-crack, joining the subtle draft of air to form a reverberating drone that bounced off the walls. It would be nearly impossible to hear anything shuffling beyond their lights.

Spike’s scaly, clawed hands clutched the stock and grip of his double-barreled shotgun even tighter as another gust of wind blew over him. It brought with it the smell of rotting meat and sulfurous bog water. It was as if something far, far larger than him was snoring, and its putrid breath and booming voice echoed through the cave.

The flashlight hose-clamped to the barrel of his shotgun illuminated the path ahead. While Pinkie’s lantern helped illuminate the area around them, Spike meticulously worked his light over every nook and cranny the lantern couldn’t reach. There was nothing but stone and the occasional man-made wall.

Still, he had to be cautious. Despite his constant vigil, there was no telling if, somehow, some of the mutant swamp folk had slipped past him or Pinkie Pie and into the caverns.

They passed long burned-out torches and bone totems, ignoring the branching path that led to a room full of coffins and bubbling swamp gas. Their destination lay deeper. Much deeper.

Snaking their way down into the depths of the earth, they walked farther and farther, until the narrow descending cavern abruptly widened as fast as it leveled off into a flat plane. They had reached the octagonal chamber. Like the passages above, the torches present during their last visit had all burned out, and the room was far too large for Pinkie’s light to fully cover. It was still powerful enough to catch the rusting cages full of skeletons hanging over a stagnant, bone-filled pool of water.

Spike’s breath shuddered in his throat as he slowly swept his weapon-mounted light over the room. It passed over the rotting corpses of the swamp folk, many of which he had killed himself. Eventually, he shined his light dead ahead. The thing hadn’t rotted away, even days after clearing the ritual site.

It splayed over the altar towards the back of the room. Spike could only describe it as if some dark power had manifested the concept of a train wreck and lay it out like the spread of a feast.

Flayed meat and raw organs lay arranged in the vague shape of a human… Spike hoped the meat on the altar was animal. Bile crept into his throat as that thought processed. Of course it wasn’t animal meat. The meat-mannequin was too well organized into a human shape to not have come from human sources. The head was missing, replaced with a curled up cloth doll with a knife shoved though it.

His eyes didn’t linger long on the second doll, but like a train wreck, the thing on the table was hard to look away from. The second doll was shoved into the abdomen of the grim arrangement, like the pile of flayed meat was pregnant.

Whatever dark religion was worshiped in the room, Spike wanted no part of it. He forced himself to look away from the travesty on the table. Past the altar was a simple stone crucible resembling a giant chalice.

From his and Pinkie’s last excursion into the tunnels, he knew the crucible was full of bloody skulls. Sitting atop the pile, leaned against the stone lip of the crucible, was a black book. The Krivbeknih.

Spike’s legs shook like saplings in a hurricane. He crossed the threshold into the chamber, the barrel of his shotgun quivering, and followed the stone path ringing the pool. Dozens of skulls lay just under the water, their open, skinless mouths trapped forever screaming. Forever drowning. Forever tormented.

“Marcella’s god be with you,” Spike muttered as he cautiously let go of the forend of his shotgun to pat the belt pouch holding Marcella’s Bible. He had taken it from her body after she had been murdered by Obidiah Blackhall’s mercenaries. Her final act had been to record a message on a holotape for him and Pinkie, giving them all her meager belongings to ensure the Kribeknih was destroyed.

For her murder, Spike had paid Obidiah another visit. He wouldn’t be missed, and Spike hadn’t missed.

Thankfully, the bottlecaps in Marcella’s safe and the loot from Obidiah’s home had been enough to afford mailing Marcella’s holotape—rewritten with their own message—to the Capital Wasteland.

Despite both of them swearing over the grave they had made for Marcella that the book would be destroyed, neither he nor Pinkie Pie had the nerve to grab the book. They both remembered Rarity’s time with a cursed grimoire. So, after mailing the holotape, they had taken turns guarding the ritual site as the other scavenged for food and supplies in between sleeping at the motel.

Spike lowered his shotgun’s barrel and faced Pinkie Pie, who wore a set of combat armor like his. Both of their suits had been scavenged from Marcella’s murderers. He tried to reassure himself with a smile to Pinkie Pie, whose face was green with sickness, before turning to the third, newest member of their party.

The gold coated unicorn mare with copper colored eyes looked sicker than Pinkie Pie.

“So,” Electrum Eagle said as Spike turned to her. She stopped to spit and gag before wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her tan greatcoat. “About what I said earlier.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight sat atop a boulder, frowning deeply as she stared at the Dunwich building atop a hill over a mile away. Even with a mile between her and the building, she could feel the darkness radiating from within.

The sight of the building alone would cut a foreboding enough picture to make her want to avoid going inside. Unnaturally dark gray ivy covered the cracked and broken concrete walls like veins draped over a skeleton. Many of the ivy vines plunged into the building itself, ingressing by way of the dozens of shattered window panes. The last rays of light from the setting sun bathed the entirety of the crumbling tower in hues of orange and red and concrete gray. The color of a gaping, festering wound.

To Twilight, it was like staring at the Castle of the Two Sisters for the first time again. Only this time, somewhere within, rather than the Elements of Harmony, was an ancient obelisk of pure evil that would destroy the black book.

Twilight spun atop the boulder to look down into their campsite. It lay within a sort of caldera or alcove formed between three large boulders, making the clearing within a rough triangle with an open gap formed between two of the boulders. Their two-person canvas tent was pitched opposite the entrance, the front flap facing the opening in the rocks so it could be easily watched.

Daniel sat near the tent atop his rucksack, with Twilight’s butting up against his. He stooped over a magic-powered hotplate while cooking with a mess-kit they had brought along with rations from Equestria. If not for the evil building nearby, it might have been a relaxing camping adventure.

But the evil building was close by. There would be no trip into it tonight; they had already agreed to set up camp, and sleeping at the Rockland relay station would have been a risky move. With Colonel Autumn declaring war against the more hardline members of the Enclave, there was no telling when or where SOCOM would strike. They were also down one member, as Rainbow Dash had already departed back for Raven Rock to protect Applejack. She couldn’t stay to protect them from people like Sergeant Dornan.

A second human getting their hands on a black book could not happen.

Pushing the thought aside, Twilight spread her wings and hopped off the boulder. She landed by Daniel with a wince as her bum leg took more of the landing than she’d intended.

“That place does not bode well,” she said, falling onto her rucksack next to him.

“Yeah,” he said flatly, staring into the pan with sunken eyes as if the pan contained the depths of an ocean. He was drop-dead tired as well. “Think we’ll actually get any sleep? I'm too tired to stay awake, but I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well this close. You feel it too, right?”

Twilight’s shoulders slumped with the speed of dropped bowling balls. He was right, but…

“We have to try. I can’t push myself anymore,” Twilight said, stretching out her right leg while telekinetically removing her knee brace. Once her leg was free, she massaged the swollen joint with both hands, working her fingers to try and chase away the throbbing, radiating pain. Slogging through the mud and walking uphill was a killer combination even without an injury that still needed more time to heal.

Sleeping overnight wasn’t the ideal option, as it would put them even farther behind getting to Smith Casey’s Garage, but reality was never ideal.

Not only did they need the rest to recuperate and face whatever was inside the Dunwich building without being bogged down with exhaustion, but diving into a ruin that contained a dark magic obelisk in the middle of the night was about as appealing as covering herself in blood and running naked into a manticore den.

“That’s okay, I’m worn out as well,” Daniel said softly. He pushed the carrots around with a spork, staring at the goldening orange disks. “Gives us a little time to talk. Your friends weren’t too enthused about us.”

Twilight inhaled a breath before leaning her head on his shoulder. They had both taken their armor off, wearing only the Vault suits they had on underneath. It meant they could share warmth on the chilly night. She checked the time on her Pip-Boy. It was eight-twenty-one p.m., Monday, September 3rd, 2277.

“They’re just surprised,” Twilight said, tabbing over to the radio and browsing the channels. There were many, including a few she didn’t recognize from earlier. She turned the volume knob to almost silent. “Applejack was happy for us once the shock wore off. The rest of the girls will warm up to you, just like her.”

He smiled, kissing the top of her head as Twilight selected a new radio station at random.

“Thanks,” he said as Fluttershy’s voice played out the radio.

“—all Equestrians lost in this world and listening in on this frequency, please find the nearest above-ground settlement. The safest ones that we know of are the giant flat-topped ship called Rivet City, and the settlement with walls and buildings made out of airship parts named Megaton. Seek shelter there and remain as long as you can, and we will get you back home. Message repeats in three seconds… To all Equestrians lost—''

Twilight changed stations to Galaxy News Radio, coming into the middle section of ‘I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire’.

“No problem,” she said.

“So, did you catch Colonel Autumn name-dropping Project Purity?” Daniel asked, changing the subject.

“I did,” Twilight replied, wrapping her wing around him like a cloak. “Was it strange that he did?”

“Very,” Daniel said, pressing himself into her wing as he set the pan of carrots off to the side to cool. “Dad never talked to me about Project Purity. I only learned the name from Rarity when we first met her.” He grunted as his face twisted into a scowl. “It’s like everyone but me knows what my old man is up to.”

His father had left the Vault unexpectedly, and for a reason he was never told about. Just… abandoned. Twilight knew how lonely that felt.

Twilight slowly reached an arm around his waist, pulling herself closer to him with her wing and arm. He turned into her embrace, his body shaking.

“I just want to know why he didn’t trust me.” Daniel’s voice was as brittle as glass. He was fighting back tears.

“We’ll ask him together,” Twilight said. It felt as if a weight was pressing down on her shoulders. She had found or learned the locations of all her friends so quickly. Daniel, meanwhile, was still chasing clues that could lead to nowhere. It wasn’t fair to him that she could so easily find the rest of the girls, and he was left out of a reunion.

“I promise you,” Twilight started, “that when we finish getting rid of that evil book, that regardless of anything else, we’re finding your father.”

Daniel gently pulled away from her, wiped away a few stray tears from his eyes as he slowly inhaled, composing himself.

“Thanks, I needed that,” Daniel said. His voice was still shaky, but he didn’t sound at risk of suddenly bursting into tears. Not that Daniel crying would damage her opinion of him. It was healthy to show emotions. Stallions could cry.

“So, ever have any pets?” Twilight asked in an attempt to navigate away from the painful conversation as she levitated a carrot slice out of the pan. She checked her Pip-Boy radio again, contemplating what station to pick next. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Daniel balancing a scandalized look between her horn and the spork he had used to cook, before he too slowly levitated out a carrot slice with his silver-colored magic.

“Yes and no,” Daniel said, waving his hand back and forth. “Vault 101 was smaller than most other Vaults as far as I know. Dad told me that other Vaults in the Wasteland were bigger, but none were still occupied like Vault 101. Or at least, not occupied by anything friendly. The small size meant we didn’t have any room for pets, but when I was seven or around that age… I found a baby radroach that I named Raddington the Raddest.”

Twilight spit out her slice of carrot with a laugh.

“No way, a radroach?” Twilight asked, imagining a cockroach the size of a house cat just casually lounging on Daniel’s lap. The mental image quickly turned to making her skin crawl.

Ew. She had seen radroach meat for sale. They were that big.

“Yeah,” Daniel said with a chuckle, scratching the back of his head and telekinetically retrieving another carrot slice that he pressed to Twilight’s lips. She took the whole slice in her mouth and chewed. “I finally got a chance to bully Butch back when I chased him around with Raddington since he’s scared to death of radroaches.” Daniel sighed, shaking his head. “But he got the last laugh and a few good punches in when the Overseer had Officer Gomez confiscate my little friend.”

Twilight winced. Kids would be kids, but bullying wasn’t okay.

“Do you hate Butch?” Twilight asked after swallowing the carrot and retrieving a new slice.

“Not really,” Daniel said, but shook his head, as if he couldn’t agree with himself. “I mean, yes, but I can’t stay mad at him. He grew up with issues at home. No father and an alcoholic mother. But he was still a bully.” Regret was heavy in his voice. “Even though he was, I should have helped him when leaving the Vault.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked with a gasp.

“His mother was trapped in a room full of radroaches,” Daniel whispered, staring away from Twilight, his face red with shame as his ears pointed down. “I told him to save her himself, and chased after my father. I could hear her calling for help through the walls, but I was too focused on Dad. I’m not sure if Butch saved her or not, and it’s been on my mind since. After that, I promised myself I wouldn’t ignore someone in need. Like you and your friends.”

Twilight hugged Daniel tightly, but didn’t say anything, processing what Daniel had told her.

He had been put in a tough spot, between catching up with his father, or potentially saving someone’s life. He regretted his choice to leave someone to potentially die, but Butch could have rushed in to save his mother. But a baby radroach was enough to scare Butch.

Nobody was perfect.

Twilight jerked her head towards a flash of light and the pop of magic, her eyes going wide as she reached for her pistol at who she saw in the middle of their camp.

Dressed in a long tan overcoat was a gold-coated unicorn mare with copper colored eyes and silver hair. The only reason Twilight kept her pistol holstered was the two humans with her in combat armor.

There was a woman with frizzy pink hair and blue eyes and a bright, ecstatic smile, while the man had green hair, green eyes with draconic slits, a purple tail and wings, and large green draconic ears.

“Don’t say I never did anything nice for you,” Electrum Eagle said before teleporting away.

Twilight blinked in confusion, so did Spike as he looked at where Electrum once stood.

“What was that about? You two have an argument or something?” Spike asked before he shook his head and held up a heavy-looking briefcase similar in design to Daniel’s. “She told us you sent her to pick us up. She even brought us a case to put the book in.”

Twilight had so many questions. All forgotten as she nearly tackled Spike in a hug.

<>~<>~<>

“—so that’s what we’ve been up to,” Twilight finished her short explanation after the excitement of seeing Pinkie Pie and Spike again had settled. She, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Daniel all rested around a magic-powered lantern just outside the tent. “What about you?”

“That’s a long story,” Spike said, who had a double-barreled shotgun cradled in his lap. In the light, she could make out ‘Sombra’s Bane’ scratched onto the right barrel. He sounded strange as a human. His voice was far deeper and mature. He had passed the age of pony or human puberty. “The shortest story I can give you is that Pont Lookout is fucked up.”

Twilight jerked like she had been shot. Twilight wondered if she sounded as strange to everyone else when she cursed.

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, pointing to where a large portion of her mane on the right side of her head had been shaved away, revealing a line of stitch-scars. “Someone cut out a piece of my brain when a giant plant sprayed me with psychedelic spores. Do you know how many headaches this is going to cause me?”

“What the fuck!?” Twilight exclaimed, jumping up from her seat. That was insane. Who would do something like that? “Someone lobotomized you? How much does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t,” Pinkie said calmly. She patted her hand on a large contraption made from a small wood chipper, a vacuum cleaner, and a fire hose nozzle. “What I meant by headaches is that I’m going to have to get a lot of checkups to keep my ACE qualification, and that’s a pain in the patootie without having actual brain damage.” She tapped the scarred part of her head with two fingers. “I mean, everyone seems to think I’m a psychopath because of my one bad mental health day.”

Twilight winced. Her ‘party of one’ hadn’t been the most shining example of stability, but Pinkie Pie really wasn’t crazy. She kept passing her ACE requalification, after all.

“What’s ACE?” Daniel asked.

“Alcohol, Cannons, and Explosives,” Pinkie Pie said, waving a hand dismissively. “I buy enough liquor for adult parties, cannon powder, and fireworks that ACE is up my tail with a microscope.” She rolled her eyes and flailed an arm. “Ugh, I mean, the amount of paperwork I have to do, sheesh, don’t get me started.” She tapped the contraption by her again before she snapped her attention to Twilight. “By the way, you wouldn’t happen to have a few copies of form 3-11-CC, would you? I need to register my party cannon mark II and some other homemade destructive devices for ACE inspection. Would you like the tax-stamps paid for in pre-war money, bottlecaps, or bits? If it’s that last one we’re going to have to work something out, cause all I got are bills and caps.”

“Is she always like this?” Daniel muttered to Twilight.

Twilight didn’t answer as Pinkie Pie reached into what remained of her mane and pulled out a large stack of pre-war paper money, along with a cloth bag that jingled with caps.

Twilight didn’t know which was more concerning. The fact that Pinkie Pie casually dismissed a head wound, or knew the exact paperwork to file for a destructive weapon.

“How do you know what forms to file, exactly?” Twilight cautiously asked.

Pinkie Pie giggled.

“You see, Twilight, when you grow up on a rock farm, you grow up with a lot of boredom, a lot of scrap metal and tools lying around, and a lot of explosives meant for the rocks that Maud can’t kick through.”

Twilight facepalmed.

“Oh, by the way, Twilight, congratulations on the marriage!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Mazel Tov and here’s your cake.”

“How’d you—?” Twilight asked, lowering her hand just in time for Pinkie Pie to shove a Fancy Lad snack cake against her face, crumbs and cherry filling smearing all over her muzzle.

“Pinkieeeeee!” Twilight exclaimed, laughing and spreading her wings before launching herself at one of her best friends with playfully-malicious intent.

Chapter 29: Dunwich

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The sun had set over a half-hour ago, and the cold night air bit at Twilight as she sat facing a magic-powered lantern while huddling against Daniel for warmth. They both leaned close as Pinkie Pie and Spike told tales of their adventures in Point Lookout.

With the lantern as a stand-in for a campfire, Twilight could try and imagine the horrors being told were just ghost stories. She could try, but of course she wouldn’t succeed. Her friends had been to hell and back.

“And then the whole mansion exploded!” Pinkie Pie shouted in time with her flailing arms. The sudden outburst of noise pulled Twilight out of her funk as she jerked in surprise.

“Yeah!” Spike said with a laugh as he lifted his shirt. Dozens of scars covered his chest. “I was thrown back like twenty hooves or something, and when I opened my eyes, Pinkie Pie was pulling a stimpak out of my chest. We both had enough splinters coming out of us to look like porcupines.”

Twilight winced at the sight of all the scars on Spike’s chest. They mirrored her own almost too well. At least Spike hadn’t needed any digits reattached, but that was a small saving grace. Point Lookout had been so fraught with danger that Pinkie Pie and Spike had had to escape situations that should have killed them many times over.

At least the two could rely on each other to have the other’s back. Based on their stories, they had pulled each other’s tails out of the fire more than once.

“Oh, Twilight, before I forget,” Spike said, once again drawing her attention out of her thoughts while reaching into his backpack. “Hang on, let me find it… AHA!”

Spike yanked out a worn leather-bound journal whose paper had turned yellow with age. “I grabbed this thing in the cave before the portal blew up. I managed to keep a hold of it when Pinkie Pie grabbed me, but um, a couple of pages fell out.”

There was no way it could be the rest of the soldier’s journal. Could it? It had felt like forever ago when she found a crumpled up piece of glowing paper in the satchel of one raider from Springvale. With everything that had been going on, she had honestly put finding the rest of the journal pages at the back of her mind. With any luck, there wouldn’t be any more missing pages to find, and she’d be able to read the whole story of America’s first expedition to Equestria.

But that would be for later. Spike and Pinkie Pie had been talking for well over an hour, and they all needed to head to bed soon.

“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said with a smile. She gently collected the book with her telekinesis, before placing it into her backpack, swapping it out for her jar of medicated horn gel. “I’m going to read it later, but first, I need some medicine.”

“How long are you going to need to take that stuff?” Daniel asked, gesturing to her prescriptions. Twilight smiled. He was such a doctor, and it was absolutely adorable.

“Well,” Twilight said, elbowing Daniel playfully. Pinkie Pie’s bubbly mood had infected her as effectively as the common cold. It was a nice change of pace, and Daniel’s smile let her know he was feeling the laughter in the air as well. “I’m supposed to put it on before doing any strenuous magic that might cause any flare ups, or when I’m going to bed so it can soak into my horn overnight. As for how long, I use it until the jar runs out.”

Pinkie Pie bounced up and down without moving her legs… somehow… it was Pinkie so questioning it was out of the… question. Twilight needed a better turn of phrase when it came to quantifying Pinkie. She waved her hand back and forth.

“I have a question and I hope it isn’t offensive,” Pinkie Pie said with a smile. “But what spells can you still do, Twilight? Your horn’s been regrowing on its own for like, what, two weeks before you got booted to Equestria? Can you do any of the major stuff like teleporting? It’d save us a lot of walking if we just blink back to somewhere you two have been before.”

Twilight chewed her lip in thought. The biggest hurdle to her magic had been the pain from using it with a broken horn. Now that she had her gel, maybe she could still perform feats of magic that had been second nature to her. She had become so good at teleportation, there was a likely chance that in the event she ever lost all her limbs but her head and torso, life still wouldn’t be a hassle.

In a grim, roundabout way, it would just be less mass to teleport around. The energy needed to teleport something was directly proportional to the distance someone intended to send it, as well as the overall mass of the objects being teleported. Fewer limbs equaled less mass.

“Twilight?” Daniel asked, waving his hand in front of her face.

“Gah!” Twilight yelped, ripped out of her thinking. “Sorry, I overfocus on something and shut the world out sometimes.”

“Eeyup,” Spike and Pinkie Pie both said with nods.

“Oh come on, I’m not that bad… am I?” Twilight asked. She had just admitted to shutting out the world while thinking and her friends had agreed, right after she had just sent herself on an unnecessary mental tangent about the efficiency of limbless teleportation. There were two facts revealed about the situation.

Twilight was indeed that bad, and that she really needed sleep.

“I could eat popcorn watching those facial expressions,” Spike quipped.

“Hardy har,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. “Pinkie Pie did bring up a good point. Teleportation would help us get around, and it could save us if I need to teleport us out of danger.” Twilight put her knee brace back on before standing. “Let me see if I can teleport myself to the top of that boulder.”

Twilight pointed to a nearby boulder, twenty hooves away at most. To keep the test as accurate as she could, Twilight levitated over her armor pieces out of the tent.

“You’re just going up to the rock, right?” Daniel asked. His eyes widened from watching the floating armor assemble itself over Twilight. “Okay, that’s impressive.”

“That’s the plan,” Twilight said with a shrug as buckles and straps clicked and tightened into place. So she could handle a lot of objects at once, with enough manipulation to buckle straps at the very least. “But testing to see if I can teleport while almost naked isn’t the same as teleporting with all of my gear. If this test goes smoothly, then the next test is to teleport myself and one of you with me with all of our gear.”

Spike was the first to volunteer as her plus-one for the next test.

With that settled, and all her equipment ready for a controlled test run, it was time to see if she could pull off a spell that was often easier than walking for her.

“Alright, three… two… one—”

<>~<>~<>

Something had gone wrong.

Black smoke stung at Twilight’s eyes like an entire swarm of hornets, sending her into a coughing fit as the noxious smoke clawed its way up her nose. The smell of burning carrion joined the aftertaste of copper and bile to let her know one thing.

There was dark magic nearby, stronger and more intense than anything she had ever felt before. Not even King Sombra’s magic had made Twilight feel like every nerve in her body was being pressed against ice cubes. The only conclusion she could leap to was that she was somehow teleported inside the Dunwich building.

A flap of her wings pushed the smoke away. She wiped her stinging, tear-filled eyes with the back of her hands and her vision cleared. She faced a bare cinder block wall with no doors or windows. Spinning around revealed another windowless wall, and another, until she finally turned to a wall made of metal bars with a similarly constructed door.

She was in a prison cell.

The realization hit her like a speeding wagon. She needed to escape. Rushing towards the bars, Twilight’s horn flared as she prepared to teleport through them to the other side and to freedom.

The cell filled with smoke again as she appeared back in the center.

The mutter of scolding words cut through her second coughing fit.

“That won’t work,” Electrum deadpanned.

“Electrum,” Twilight growled, spinning around to face where the voice had come from as she flared out her wings, venting the smoke from the cage once more. The gold-coated, silver-haired mare with the copper eyes sat in the corner of the cell on a mattress laying on the floor.

Whatever had snatched Twilight had stolen Electrum as well.

“Hold on before you go blaming me,” Electrum sneered as she rose from the mattress and dusted off her tan greatcoat. She then held up two fingers and counted down by one and pointed to the floor. “First, those aren’t my work.”

Twilight looked down. Runes encircled her, and despite her growing panic at what she saw, Twilight had enough wits to address that they were the maddened scratchings of runes bent towards dark magic.

Twilight could break the runes, but it would mean tapping into her own dark magic prowess. With how saturated the air of Dunwich was with dark magic, she could even draw on the power in the air.

No… that was dangerous, since it would leave her open to outside influence and corruption. Twilight quickly stepped out of the runic circle and fixed Electrum with a questioning gaze. The SOCOM agent could be trying to manipulate her into a vulnerable position.

“Secondly,” Electrum extended her second finger back up. “I ended up here after trying to teleport away from your camp. Why would I be in the cage with you if I did this?”

Very valid points, but Electrum was with SOCOM, and it wouldn’t be the first time Electrum had lied straight to Twilight’s face.

“Why should I believe someone who is waging war against my people? This could be some elaborate setup to trick me into trusting you,” Twilight took a step towards the other mare.

“Please,” Electrum scoffed and rolled her eyes. “If I really wanted to trick you, I’d have given you a sob story about my tragic past and a heartfelt apology begging you to let me change my ways… no, we’re going to escape and go back to being enemies when this is over with.”

Straightforward and far too honest. Electrum was planning something. However, Twilight had to admit that if any villain wanted to get close to her, asking forgiveness was… valid. Turning rivals and villains into friends was what she was supposed to do as the Princess of Friendship.

Twilight slumped her shoulders, tension leaving her body. There would be no fighting Electrum. At least as long as Electrum didn’t try any funny business.

“So, if the runes aren't yours, then who carved them?” Twilight asked as she nodded towards the floor without looking directly at the runes. She had a hunch, and it was not pleasant. She wanted any other option to be the truth. “Someone else from SOCOM? Or are you interested in the black books as well?”

If SOCOM had listened in to the call between Applejack and her, or overheard Pinkie Pie’s broadcast…

“Listen to me,” Electrum’s voice became dagger-sharp as she steepled her fingers. She shut her eyes and inhaled deeply, her body tensing like she was struggling to say whatever she wanted to say. After a moment, the words finally came. “I get it, you have absolutely no reason to trust a word coming out of my mouth, but if you take everything else I say as a lie, just believe me on this. I don’t fuck with dark magic, okay? It’s that ex-brotherhood guy, Glenn.”

That confirmed it. Scribe Glenn was in Dunwich. Twilight was less shocked than she thought she would be. With all the dark magic acting as ambience, there was reason to believe he would be involved. He owned his own black book.

Maybe camping a mile away from the tower had been a bad call. At least her friends weren’t too far.

Electrum dropped her hands away from her face, fixing Twilight with a glare as potent at Fluttershy’s stare. Electrum had the same determined fire in her eyes as Colonel Autumn.

“If you need any more proof, I’ll let this one slip,” Electrum growled. Twilight considered that Electrum may have been offended by Twilight’s lack of response as she took time to process the information she had been given, but Twilight wasn’t going to say anything. Electrum was spilling a secret. “I was in Canterlot when King Sombra went on his mind control rampage. I’ll take being waterboarded any day of the week over that, and I’ll fuck over anyone who wants that kind of power.”

So, Electrum had stayed in Equestria for a long time if she was able to buy a book from her over a year ago, and then still be around for Sombra’s attack on Equestria less than three months ago.

She must have had an easy way back and forth between the realms. Twilight wanted to grill Electrum for answers, but that would have to wait. Scribe Glenn was in Dunwich, and while the mare from SOCOM wasn’t on her side, they had the same enemy at the moment.

It was something at the very least. Twilight could work with that. Tempest Shadow had been rough around the edges before they became friends, so maybe there was a chance with Electrum.

Twilight simply nodded, processing everything Electrum had offered her on a platter. The Enclave, or at least SOCOM, had had access to Equestria for well over a year, and access to two-century old records. The question was what were they planning.

Twilight frowned. Her thoughts were stalling her again. She turned around to study the cell bars. She knew turning her back on Electrum would be a risk, but keeping her eyes on Electrum wouldn’t lead to their escape. Questions could come afterwards.

Focusing her attention on the cell bars, Twilight noticed the bars weren’t made of any anti-magic alloy, or reinforced against magic with runes.

Outside of the book purchase, Twilight had taught Electrum self defense spells, and Electrum had been a very diligent student. Electrum could have melted the door or the lock with a magic blast.

“Why haven’t you melted this lock off?” Twilight asked. If Electrum was in a sharing mood, might as well use it.

“Because my bullets didn’t do shit to the guard dog,” Electrum sneered. “Glenn has some sort of metal timberwolf.”

Twilight’s blood turned to ice.

Of course he did… because a child-raping dark magician needed something like a fucking timberwolf made out of steel.

“Ughhhh,” Twilight groaned as she telekinetically brought out her lockpicks from her backpack. It would be a lot quieter than blasting the door open. “I am suddenly overjoyed by the fact that Pinkie Pie used to build pipe bombs as a filly.”

Twilight knew right where she wanted to shove one of Pinkie Pie’s grenades, but she would have to link up with her friend first. Daniel and the others would be coming. With her disappearing, there was only one clear place to search.

Even Daniel could feel the dark magic all the way to camp. Twilight trusted her friends to jump to the conclusion that Dunwich had been involved, but that didn’t mean she had to wait inside the cell for rescue. Quite the opposite, in fact. Her friends could use her help for once. She knew dark magic.

If she wanted to make it in time to help, she needed to hurry before Glenn or his metal timberwolf paid either her or her friends a visit. She grabbed her levitating lockpick set in her hands and opened it. She only needed two tools, a torsion wrench and a slightly hooked pick. She prayed that the door would be nowhere near the nightmare that the door to Rockland was as she fished out the needed tools with her fingers.

She still didn’t trust her magic to handle very fine manipulation. Yanking a strap tight or clicking a buckle closed was one thing, fine-tuning the position of her tools was another.

“Any idea where Glenn took your things?” Twilight asked as she screwed her face up in concentration. There was no keyhole in the cell-facing side of the door, so Twilight had to blindly reach around the bars to find her target.

Electrum was an untrustworthy snake, but until Twilight reunited with Daniel and the others, there was no other choice but to take the risk of Electrum having her weapons back.

“No,” Electrum said with no hint of falsehood in her voice.

“We’ll find them,” Twilight said as the tumbler to the cell door offered up a satisfyingly crunchy click as it rotated into the unlocked position.

It was time to make their escape.

<>~<>~<>

The room beyond the one they had arrived in was filled with more empty cells. However, this room was lit with a sole lightbulb hanging from the water-damaged cork-tile ceiling. Twilight’s light spell added to the illumination, revealing a large office desk surrounded by a ring of a half-dozen more.

A unicorn Twilight didn’t know was splayed open atop the central desk. Twilight, to her credit, only stared rather than vomiting despite the fact she was looking at a lifeless and butchered body.

They were male, though Glenn hadn’t left much to identify. The desks bordering the autopsy table held trays full of tools ranging from ones used in surgery, to home repair, to some that could only belong in the deepest sadistic fantasies of a deranged mind. All were covered in blood.

Glass jars filled with either green or amber fluid dominated one table. Each jar held a different body part taken from the corpse. Heart, lungs, eyes, brain, horn.

Twilight shuddered at the sight of the jar full of fingernails which floated like the flakes of a snowglobe.

Turning away from the sight, her eyes met with Electrum’s.

“So which one of us is killing Glenn first?” Twilight asked. She drew her pistol and made sure there was one in the chamber.

In another part of the building, Twilight heard the chunk-boom of Pinkie Pie’s grenade launching party cannon blowing apart screaming feral ghouls.

“I don’t know,” Electrum said. “Doesn’t matter as long as he’s dead.”

Author's Notes:

Alright, so I need to bring up something personal and address something majorly wrong with the story. Content warning to anyone sensitive about real life non-consent/rape.

You’ve probably noticed I’ve had rape be used as a threat to Fluttershy and Twilight. I don’t mean to use it lightly, or fetishise it. Sexual assault is something I've had some personal experience with, and is huge fear of mine even though I’m a cis-gendered male.

While nothing physical ever happened, when I was 11 or 12, somewhere around that age, I started to be targeted by a step-uncle of mine. I barely knew him, but he started trying to convince me to come over to his house every time we crossed paths. He said things along the lines of ‘I need a strong young man to help me with some chores’. I’ve forgotten the actual phrasing over the years, I remember the emphasis he put on certain words that just sent alarm bells going off in me, as well as the creepy looks. I still get shakes when I remember how he just made me feel like I was a piece of meat being looked at by a vulture.

Nothing physical came of it, and I avoided him like the plague after the first two or three times we crossed paths. My mother and step-father helped keep me away from him, though we couldn’t do anything legally since nothing ever happened besides all of us having a gut feeling about him.

Thankfully, he eventually caught charges when his wife found a stash of child porn photographs. We don't know if he was the one who took the photos or if he bought them, but it still confirmed our suspicions. It actually made me more scared of him because I now knew he wasn't just being accidentally weird, I was being targeted.

I added Glenn into the story as a reaction to Roe v. Wade being overturned in the US, because I knew shit like very-underage pregnancies could happen. People target kids.

Unfortunately I made Glenn way too edgy to actually appropriately address reality, and the scarred up older man was a projection of my own fears. Because of that, he hits a bit too close to home for me and never really fit what I had in mind for this story.

I don’t think it would be right to glorify that kind of monster with a fight scene. If I don’t kill him offscreen, it’s going to be a very short one-sided fight in favor of our protagonists, so apologies for building up a villain I can’t offer any satisfying payoff for. I wanted to vicariously kill some of my past demons, but that meant setting them up for a fitting payoff, which meant letting the memory of that time linger and reopen old trauma.

Chapter 30: The Lair of Ug-Qualtoth

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Twilight gently pushed open the hallway door and made her way into the room, pistol held at the ready in case another ghoul leapt out to attack them.

She blinked. A room filled with empty cells, illuminated by a lone lightbulb hanging from the water-damaged cork-tile ceiling, and a ring of a half-dozen office desks arranged around a central desk.

The unicorn stallion was still splayed open on top of it, too.

They had been in the room before.

“Great, we’re going in circles now for no logical reason,” Electrum grumbled from the doorway. “Fucking dark magic.”

Twilight concurred. With how saturated the air was with dark magic, it had started to become easy to ignore—similar to the body adjusting to a cold bath after the initial shock—but that didn’t mean its tangible effects weren’t happening.

The sound of Pinkie’s grenade machine gun sounded off again, this time from one floor above them. It was so close, yet unreachable—like the sound was taunting them to guess how close rescue was.

Because it was a taunt.

The camp had been a mile from the building, and everyone had stripped down for bed because sleeping in combat armor was a one-way ticket to back pain. Her friends likely weren’t halfway to the building yet.

Twilight turned away from the autopsy to Electrum, who had remained at the door. They had found her pistol and ammo thrown haphazardly into a random closet three rooms ago as they searched for the stairs.

“The building is toying with us,” Twilight said as she walked towards the door. She puffed out her chest as she walked. She had dealt with dark magic before. A labyrinth wasn’t impossible to navigate. “It won’t beat us. Let’s see if doubling back has any effect.”

“Better than walking in another circle,” Electrum said as Twilight passed her.

Twilight halted as the walls, floor, and ceiling undulated as if thousands of snakes writhed just beneath every surface of the hall.

Walls lengthened and shrank, competing for the roof and floor like a game of tug-of-war, and the battle cry was the sound of masonry grinding under stress.

The racket had Twilight cover her ears and hunker down next to Electrum. Cracks formed, and pebble-sized shrapnel flew from them as liquid-silver gushed through the opening seams, all the while the walls continued to bend themselves at odd angles.

Then, all at once, the movement stopped and the hallway grew quiet. Only the sound of Electrum’s rapid-fire cursing reached Twilight’s ears.

“I’ve never seen dark magic do that!” Twilight exclaimed as she stood up so fast that her hooves left the ground, sending concrete dust flying off her like a sandstorm. Only Discord’s magic had come close.

The magic saturating Dunwich had gone beyond simply sending them on looping paths. It was rearranging the very building around them to the point the hallway had been transfigured into a parody of a funhouse mirror maze. It was no longer a straight corridor, with mirror-lined walls turning at sharp, sudden angles to the point Twilight could no longer see the original endpoint of the hall.

“What now?” Electrum asked as she stood up as well, trailing dust. She was clearly shaken from the tone of her voice, her eyes shifting around to quickly glance at the dozens, maybe hundreds of their reflections in the mirrors.

“I don’t know, we—” Twilight started, but cut herself short as one of the new mirrors writhed like the walls had

Twilight spun at once to face it, Electrum joining her.

The mirror lost cohesion, transforming into a pool of silver that was held impossibly vertical despite being a liquid with no container. The surface rippled like a pond that had a stone cast into it, but it rapidly settled back down.

Instead of the distorted reflections of the other mirrors, it clarified into a window which revealed an unpainted concrete room illuminated by a lone lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.

A human woman was tied facing upwards on a large inclined plank, her head resting lower than her feet. Twilight couldn’t make out her facial features past her blond hair as another human woman forced a large cloth over the bound woman’s mouth and nose.

“What the hay?” Twilight cursed.

Her expletive had matched Electrum’s, “Oh, fuck me…”

A third woman came into view with a large metal bucket that sloshed heavily with water. She reached the two other women and stopped by the bound woman’s head. The third woman lifted the bucket up and slowly began to pour water onto the rag.

The bound woman spluttered and coughed and tried to turn her head, but the one holding the cloth to her face had it so tight that it kept her head locked into place.

“What the fuck!?” Twilight yelled. She started to rush for the mirror, as if she could jump through it to save the woman, but Electrum grabbed her arm.

Twilight spun to face the other mare, who shook her head with a small, bemused and slightly sad smile.

“Twilight, that’s me going through torture resistance training.”

That was training?

When Twilight had heard the term waterboarding, she had pictured someone being tied to a surfboard or a raft and pushed out to sea to die of exposure. What was revealed by the mirror was somehow worse. From the gargles and gasps of the mirror-Electrum, she was drowning, or at least her body acted like it was.

“Are humans just made of crazy!?” Twilight exclaimed as she yanked her arm away from Electrum and threw both hands into the air. Twilight already knew the answer, and it was ‘most certainly’, but asking it regardless kept her sane when faced with such absurdities. It was a release valve for her stress, in a way.

“We had to learn how to resist torture in case of capture,” Electrum said with a sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Don’t Equestrian intelligence agencies do the same thing?”

“No!” Twilight gasped. “Torturing prisoners is illegal under every international treaty on Equestria!”

“Thought so,” Electrum said with a heavy sigh that sent her shoulders slumping.

Twilight backstepped. Why did Electrum sound disappointed? Torture was just wrong.

She looked away from the insane mare and saw another mirror down the path had started to warble.

“The building might be leading us somewhere,” Twilight said as she pointed out the next transforming mirror.

Electrum turned and regarded it with a frown.

“Yeah, and if the building can shift on us, we have to play its game by its rules,” Electrum groused. “I fucking hate dark magic.”

With nowhere to go but where the building wanted them to go, Twilight headed down the pathway between the mirrors, with Electrum in tow.

The hallway behind them creaked and groaned as the way they came shifted into a solid wall.

There would be no doubling back.

Twilight hoped the building wouldn’t give them a reason to need to try and go back. But based on her past adventures, it probably would.

She swallowed hard and forced the thought away as they reached the transforming mirror just in time for it to clarify into a scene familiar to Twilight.

Beyond the mirror was a room in her castle. Specifically her magic testing chamber. She could see her pony self as well as a gold colored unicorn mare. They faced each other with a large flat rock on the floor between them.

“Now, Electrum,” Twilight heard herself say on the other side of the mirror, “Patience is key.”

“Yes, ma’am,” mirror-Electrum said as she levitated an enchanted chisel and hammer. She looked aside to an open copy of Astrolathe the Amazing’s Compendium of Astral Arcana, which sat on a wooden lectern the size of a garden gnome.

“You know,” Twilight said as mirror-Electrum made the first score into the stone with the chisel. “You were right under my nose and I didn’t even know you were a human.”

“It’s my job to blend in and get to know people,” Electrum said as she stared into the mirror. Her mirror self had begun making progress with the rune, making heavier strikes to form deeper gouges. “I remember this. My first successful rune. You were a good teacher.”

“You were a good student,” Twilight said with a smile, despite the oppressive energy in the air.

The ghost of a genuine smile threatened to haunt Electrum’s face, but like a specter, it quickly vanished.

“Sorry.” She looked away from Twilight, and the memory Twilight considered a happy one, even if it was formed with someone who had turned out to be a spy.

“For what?” Twilight asked quietly. She turned her head to track Electrum drifting away before the mirror had finished the scene.

“For being born on the wrong side,” Electrum said, staring ahead. She dodged a few mirrors that had sprouted up from the floor like a forest of bathroom fixtures. “I don’t hate Equestria, or Equestrians. In fact, I rather like your country.”

“You can always change sides,” Twilight offered as she rushed as fast as her knee would let her to catch up. “Unless you’re like Glenn, I can forgive you for lying to me about being a human. You’re just a soldier on the opposite side.”

“Things are too complicated for me to change sides,” Electrum said weakly. Twilight doubted Electrum was saying what she really wanted to say, but didn’t press the mare for answers. She didn’t have the time to, either, as Electrum glanced at her. “But if we had been born on the same side, I’m sure we could have been friends.”

Who was to say that being enemies meant they couldn’t be friends? If Twilight knew anything about the human world, it was that things got messy and complicated fast. Especially relationships.

“We still can,” Twilight said. She forced a smile and held out a hand. “Friends?”

“Before I answer that,” Electrum said bitterly. “Answer this question for me. What do you think of this phrase? One death is a tragedy, but a million is a statistic.”

Twilight already knew her answer, but before she could reply, three mirrors shifted at once and Electrum jerked in surprise.

“Jumpscared by a bunch of reflections,” Electrum grumbled as the first mirror clarified into a pegasus-eye view of a ruined town. Twilight knew Rock Bend from photographs in Equestrian newspapers. No building had escaped being riddled with bullets or burned down to the ground, and there were blood stains in the street.

The second and third mirror continued to shift and warble. As if waiting on Twilight’s response.

Perhaps it was.

“Well, my theory on the mirrors going ‘A Christmas Carol’ on us is holding out,” Electrum said with a heavy sigh as she averted her eyes from the mirror. Twilight didn’t want to look at the ruined town any longer, either. “Past and present are out of the way.”

So by Twilight’s guess, that left the future.

Twilight quickly glanced at each of the still-liquid mirrors. They were mutable and ever changing. Such as the future was.

Something was off about the whole setup.

“My opinion is that the statistic is a compilation of a million individual tragedies,” Twilight said firmly as she narrowed her eyes at Electrum.

That was when the second mirror clarified, revealing Electrum in her human-pony form, hunched over a device inside a dark room. She tinkered frantically with a boxy device the size of a backpack—a comparison easy to make because of the hiking backpack frame that the device was mounted to. The panels of the device were covered in dials and rune-embossed plates. Copper wires ran between dozens of vacuum tubes and coiled around multi-colored crystals.

Atop the device was a white dish, like the Rockland satellite relays but in extreme miniature. In the background, Twilight could hear the sounds of drums, cursing, and off-key singing about living the life of a raider.

“What will you be doing at the Knock?” Twilight asked as she slowly turned towards Electrum.

“I share your opinion on the statistic,” Electrum said. “And your countrymen are far more suited to fight off raiders than what General Beckett plans for you.”

“And what’s that?” Twilight asked calmly.

Like it had been waiting, the third mirror clarified into a view of Canterlot in the distance as-seen from somewhere on the ground below. The sun was high in the sky, but low enough to frame the majestic city in gold as the light bounced off the white walls and the cascading waterfall.

A flash with the intensity of a star being born seared Twilight’s eyes before she had time to throw a hand in front of her face. A second, artificial sun had dawned in the middle of Canterlot.

“Genocide,” Electrum said as Twilight dropped her hand from over her eyes. She blinked out the spots, her vision clarifying to reveal an oddly calm Electrum, who had made no motion to shield her eyes. “The DIA noted down the coordinates of what cities they could. Back then, they were a fraction of the size they were two-centuries ago… so if General Beckett has his way, tens of millions will die.”

A quick glance back at the mirror revealed that a mushroom cloud and falling debris were all that remained of Canterlot.

“So you want me to accept that you’re going to send raiders to Equestria?” Twilight asked, her voice raised, but not to the point it was a yell. Something was wrong. Everything was falling into place too easily.

“I’m trying my best to minimize civilian casualties,” Electrum said as she started down the hall.

Twilight quickly followed, but this time was able to keep up with Electrum’s slower pace.

“So why not tell me where SOCOM’s headquarters are so I can help you defeat this General Beckett person?”

"I'm trying to keep casualties low," Electrum said. Her face twisted with sudden displeasure. "I never said I was on your side."

Twilight frowned.

"It would be easy for us to rip the information from her." Twilight heard her own voice from a nearby mirror.

She stopped to come face-to-face with a dark purple alicorn adorned in a cruel suit of spiked black armor. It was like raider gear had mixed with plate mail.

Nightmare Twilight.

“You’re a Princess, and an Alicorn… just reach out and take it.”

Dark black lightning danced across Nightmare Twilight’s full, unbroken horn, and purple-black smoke dripped unnaturally from the corners of her lambent-green-glowing eyes.

Twilight slowly turned to Electrum. She stood there, staring at her, unmoving and unblinking.

Like a puppet without their strings being pulled.

The spell would be an easy one—in theory at the very least—but the power needed could injure her mending horn.

Twilight inhaled slowly and prepared herself for what she was about to do, despite the gut feeling that what she was about to do was a bad idea. However, she might have only one opportunity to get it right.

She grit her teeth and dug deep within herself. Down and down to a small, buried, hidden part of her essence.

The fur of her brow seared as black lightning danced across her horn, arcing backwards to hit her. Each bolt was like a hammerblow to the temple.

A ball of pure darkness hit Electrum in the face, the impact sending her into a backstep with a scream.

A scream that was joined by a second, smaller scream, which sounded like a tea-kettle with a spout the size of a pinhole.

A fat, white worm fell out of Electrum’s ear onto the floor. It curled into a ball, and Electrum raised a booted hoof. She brought it crashing down onto the worm, splattering it like a water balloon filled with yellow ichor.

“Fucking dark magic!” Electrum screamed.

Twilight wheeled on her nightmarish reflection with a scowl.

“You’re not the first dark mage to mess with my head,” Twilight said as she narrowed her eyes at her reflection. “Glenn.”

“Oh, you are such a treat,” Glenn said with his own voice but still in Nightmare Twilight’s form. He chuckled and slowly clapped his hands together. “Dark magic to fight dark magic—without a black book, I should add—and you saw through the little earworm giving Electrum stage directions. Bravo… you would make a perfect apprentice.”

Twilight wanted to drag the reflection out of the mirror and stomp it into shards.

“Fat chance!” Twilight yelled as she tried to flare her horn, only to be rewarded with sparks and the sensation of a nail driving through her skull.

“Burn off your medicine already?” Glenn chortled as he studied Twilight as if she were under a magnifying glass. “I could teach you methods that need no horn. You have the potential to even surpass me in abilities… if you're willing to learn.”

The cocky, arrogant, smug, malicious blight on the planet.

“No,” Twilight growled. She leaned closer to the mirror and her voice rumbled in the back of her throat. “I am going to find you, and when I do, I will destroy you to the point that microbes won’t suffer having to eat what’s left of you.”

“Heh, good one,” Glenn laughed as the reflection leaned back in mock fear, then straightened up. “My turn for a one liner… I think it’s time I unleash Hel upon the Earth.”

Nightmare Twilight’s lips pursed as Glenn let out a single sharp whistle.

“I suggest you start running,” Glenn said, staring at Nightmare Twilight’s fingernails. Twilight could hear something charging towards them from behind the wall that had formed to block their path. “He hasn’t had supper yet.”

A crash resounded from the wall with enough force to crack and buckle it inwards. The blow sent the rest of the hall shuddering like an earthquake. It was joined by the deafening sound of metal grinding on stone as a metallic muzzle the size of Twilight’s head forced open a breach into the cracked wall.

The large muzzle sniffed the air, then drew back and howled like an angle-grinder meeting piano strings. The sound bounced off the walls, sending every hair on her body standing on end.

Her vision spun as Electrum yanked her, and before she could protest, Electrum had thrown her over her shoulders.

“Fuck this, we’re leaving!”

<>~<>~<>

“I’m buying explosives next time I visit a town!” Twilight yelled as she flew beside Electrum, clutching her backpack to her chest. She pumped her wings furiously to keep up with how fast the mare ran through the twisting, labyrinthine corridors.

They needed the speed as Hel was hot on their hooves. The maddened howls of the dire-timberwolf that chased them were a discordant roar of industrial equipment consuming an orchestra. Their only saving grace was the creature’s own weight. An entire scrapyard’s worth of pissed-off metal wasn’t meant to turn on a dime, and each corner that they took sent the metal claws behind them screeching on concrete.

They took another corner, and the steel demon behind them skidded uncontrollably until it slammed into a wall. Twilight turned back to see Hel remove himself from a crater the size of a taxi carriage.

“We must go faster, we must go faster,” Twilight repeated in a mantra.

“I’m going as fast as I’ll get!” Electrum yelled as she took another corner at high speed. She grabbed the wall and used it to spin herself around the corner.

Like the last corridor, there were no doors to be seen. Only mirrors. There was nowhere to hide, and running wouldn’t be an option forever. Glenn could change the hallways if he wanted to. Hel’s issues with navigating the halls were intentional at best to extend the chase, or worse, an oversight by Glenn that he could correct if he wanted to.

And they couldn’t just teleport away from the beast. It would take them back to the trapped room.

Which would be somewhere not in front of Hel…

“Electrum, teleport us!” Twilight yelled.

The flash of light was quickly drowned out by smoke.

Twilight slammed face-first into a cinderblock wall as she failed to slow herself in time. She bounced away and landed in a heap atop her backpack, Electrum tripped over her a split second afterwards in the smoky cell.

Twilight grunted in pain as Electrum wasted no time in rolling off of her and onto her own back on the floor.

“T-that,” Electrum said through ragged pants as she leaned up, “was some quick thinking.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve been chased,” Twilight replied as she pushed herself up to a resting position on her knees. She vented the smoke from the cell with a wing flap, revealing that the door was thankfully still open. “Looks like our way out is still clear.”

“Then let’s not waste any time,” Electrum said, standing up. She reached a hand down to Twilight, which she accepted. Electrum then nodded to the floor. “Do you think you can destroy the runes so we can teleport away?”

Given the circumstances, it might be their only option. She hadn’t felt anything try to attack her while she had used her dark magic, but Glenn could have been holding things back. There were so many unknowns with dark magic, which was why Twilight rarely ever used it.

“Maybe,” Twilight said as she knelt down and opened her bag to retrieve her medicine. She unscrewed the jar lid and frowned.

It was already down by a third.

She had burned off a full application of medicine after just one purification. There were dozens of runes.

“No, too many runes to purify, and there could always be another teleportation trap,” Twilight said while she reapplied her medicine. “Any suggestions from you?”

“Yeah,” Electrum said with a nod to Twilight’s backpack. “If we’re going to be running, I don’t want you slowed down by gear.”

“Good idea,” Twilight said as she finished with her medicine and replaced it back into the pack. She then stood up and held the pack out for Electrum.

Electrum winced after she took the pack and put it on.

“What the hell do you have in this thing?” Electrum gasped. “It feels like this was most of the weight I was carrying when I picked you up.”

“There’s a lot in there,” Twilight said. “Alchemy manuals to teach wasteland doctors how to make penicillin and other medicine, seeds for many plants used in alchemy, seeds for food crops, and a lot of other things I thought could help improve the living conditions of the average wastelander.”

“Of course,” Electrum said with a sigh as she stepped out of the cell.

“Is helping people a bad thing?” Twilight asked as she flew beside Electrum.

“Not at all,” Electrum said with a shake of her head. “You’re just making it hard for me to think I’m on the right side in all of this.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. Electrum had been under Glenn’s influence while they were in the hallway of mirrors.

“How much of our previous conversation was controlled by you?” Twilight asked while they crossed the room towards the exit.

“Most of it,” Electrum said dourley. “I wasn’t aware of that thing in my head. I could move and speak on my own, but it was like there was a voice in my ear pushing me to take our conversation in certain directions.” She then spit on the ground. “The fucker ripped control away from me at the end. When he tried tempting you.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Twilight said bitterly as they reached the door that led to the next room. The lab. “Not offering him a way out or a chance to back down. He’s a monster that’s even worse than King Sombra.”

Twilight pushed open the door that led into the next room.

“So how are we going to get to him past the guard dog?” Electrum asked as they both passed through the door.

Twilight frowned.

How was she going to keep a giant hungry wolf from killing them both? What would Fluttershy try to do? She’d try to win the starving wolf over. But they didn’t have enough food for something that large.

Or did they?

Her eyes landed on the corpse of the unicorn stallion.

“Have you ever heard the expression that there are no bad pets, just bad owners?” Twilight asked as her stomach twisted into a knot. She didn’t want to say her idea yet. It was… wrong, but it might work. Glenn had starved his pet to make it violent.

“I don’t see how that’s—” Electrum began, but Twilight could see out of the corner of her eye that Electrum had caught where Twilight was looking, and came to the same conclusion. “Oh, that’s fucked up but resourceful. But will it work?”

Fluttershy was able to stop a charging, injured manticore by staying calm and not running away from it.

“No clue,” Twilight said with a shake of her head. Timberwolves and manticores were both creatures of the Everfree. She slowly levitated up the butchered body, doing her best to avoid looking directly at it. “Only one way to find out.”

Copying the pursed lips of Nightmare Twilight, the real Twilight let out a sharp whistle.

Hel answered with a far-off but still ear-splitting howl.

“If this doesn’t work, I’m haunting you,” Electrum said as she took up a spot beside Twilight.

“You’re not going to hide?” Twilight asked. She could hear the impacts of Hel slamming into walls as it took corners. They had a few moments.

Electrum shook her head. “No. I owe you for saving me, so if this fails, I’ll distract him and you run.”

“And why do you care if I survive?” Twilight asked. “You said it yourself that we’re enemies.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to be an omnicidal cunt,” Electrum calmly replied. “I was in control when I told you I wanted to minimize casualties in the war against Equestria. The sniper teams I convinced General Beckett and President Eden to send were supposed to target VIPs. Your country has a tendency to roll over when your leadership is gone. It would have made occupation less difficult and violent.”

Straight out of the playbook from two-centuries ago. Twilight chewed her lip in thought. If she was a princess, that meant she was a VIP.

“Are you going to try and kill me when this is over with?”

“Going after VIPs is out of the picture,” Electrum said. “Too many sniper teams changed sides. Those mirrors were showing the truth since Glenn had everything inside of my head to show you. I’m going to tune the dimensional shift beacon to put the raiders somewhere sparsely populated in Equestria. Infighting and squabbling over their situation will probably reduce their number before making contact with your military. Should buy some time for me to come up with something else to dangle in front of General Beckett to keep him from going nuclear.”

“Can you talk him down from waging war?” Twilight asked. Metal scraping echoed down the hall. Hel was close. Maybe a few more turns away.

“I tried before,” Electrum said. Her posture was visibly tense as Hel approached. “But maybe after Colonel Autumn’s betrayal, he sees the bigger picture. I can try.”

As Hel’s muzzle crashed through the door from the hallway, Twilight considered that trying anything was the best option they had.

<>~<>~<>

Daniel ducked under the swung fist of a skeleton before he pushed it away with enough telekinetic force that the skull shattered like old pottery.

“Hit ‘em with the boomstick, Spike!” Pinkie yelled as she slid past Daniel on her knees, firing a lever-action rifle she had pulled from… somewhere.

Twilight had warned that Pinkie Pie had strange powers. He’d thought she was having a seizure when they ran through the front door of the Dunwich building, but the clarification that she had felt a ‘doozy’ was quickly followed by all the skeletons in the hall rising from where they lay.

Spike blew apart one skeleton with one barrel of his shotgun, then two more that had been too close to each other with his second shot.

Raising his carbine, Daniel fired single shots. He picked off skeletons one-by-one like a surgeon making an incision. They weren’t tough to kill, but there were a lot of them. Most had clustered together into a mob which shambled towards them like in the horror movies he had watched back in Vault 101.

They wouldn’t stop him from saving Twilight.

“I’m coming, Twi,” Daniel said under his breath. Out the corner of his eye he saw Pinkie Pie reach into her hair and pull out a grenade.

“Skeeball of doom!” Pinkie yelled as she pulled the pin and threw it down the hall. The grenade bounced off a wall, hit the floor, then rolled into the middle of a cluster of skeletons. The explosion snapped the skeletons like bundles of dry twigs. Pinkie leapt up with a whoop. “High score!”

“She always like that?” Daniel asked Spike as he shot the last skeleton.

“Yeah, pretty much,” the young dragon said as he reloaded his shotgun.

Daniel turned towards Pinkie Pie, who had swapped from her lever-action rifle and back to her grenade launcher without him noticing where she’d stored the other weapon.

“That was a doozy,” Daniel said as he forced out a strained laugh. He kicked a skeleton’s skull away from him, which like the last skeleton he had pushed against the wall, shattered like a vase after sailing in an arc away from him.

“No it wasn’t,” Pinkie Pie said with a chipper giggle as she hopped towards a pair of green ammo cans laying on the floor. She pulled one open.

“That wasn’t the doozy!?” Daniel asked with a loud groan. “How are reanimated skeletons not the doozy?”

“I thought we heard fighting!” Twilight yelled, from down the hall.

Daniel snapped his gaze towards where Twilight had yelled.

“That’s the doozy!” Pinkie exclaimed, her entire body vibrating as Twilight rounded a bend in the hallway and was quickly followed by Electrum and a giant metal wolf.

In Daniel’s opinion, it certainly was a doozy.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Twilight called out, waving for them. “We’re going to stop Glenn.”

<>~<>~<>

The cavernous lair deep below Dunwich was a charnel house. Dozens of ghouls lay dead, scattered apart by grenade blasts. Among the twisted necrosed meatbags was Hel, reduced to a smoking pile of arcane energy and twisted metal by a concentrated barrage of his strongest dark magic.

Glenn sighed. Hel had been a useful companion, loyal until the blasted alicorn had used her quick wits to win him over.

Though in the end, even having Hel on their side hadn't been enough to save them. All of their eyes glowed a lovely dark green and black. They were his, and he was going to have so much fun with them.

Like living dolls, they were able to see and hear everything, yet unable to move. Exactly how he preferred until they were strapped down. Then, well, allowing them the free will to scream and thrash wasn’t a problem.

Approaching his quarry, he paused long enough to kick aside the shattered head of a ghoul. The stone floor was covered in a thin soup of gore. The damned pink-haired one had turned most of his thralls into chunks with her homemade grenade machine gun. The rest had been gunned down by the others.

He reached the five who had dared try and defeat him and began his inspection. Three women and two men.

Glenn paused in front of the leader of the pack, Twilight. She was a prize, that was for sure. An alicorn. While he hadn’t seen one of her kind before, the male unicorn had been so forthcoming under pressure. He caressed her chin, moving her head from side to side to study her face. His witch sight could see the grain of dark magic embedded within her.

A worthy apprentice if he could convert her.

She was proving to be quite stubborn, but the two unicorns flanking her would be a verdant bounty of spell components. More than enough to do the job of shattering the mind of his new student. Then, like clay, he would mold it into any shape he wanted it to be.

Slowly, Glenn turned away from his prize to face the green-haired dragon-human hybrid. A plan had already formed for what he would do with him. A simple test of how long it took for the dragon to bleed out after peeling off his few scales would be an enjoyable distraction from his other work. Dragon’s blood and scales could have interesting properties when it came to spellcraft.

Mind already made up on the dragon, Glenn stepped in the opposite direction towards the pink-haired woman and studied her. If it wasn’t for the pink hair he would have mistaken her for a human. She was heavier than he preferred to move around, maybe two-hundred or so pounds. He was going to drag out her painful death over weeks just for the fun of it, then resurrect her as a thrall.

He turned back towards his prize, only to come face to face with a pistol between his eyes. The alicorn had broken free.

“How!?” Glenn yelled. It was impossible to break free from his power. He was a master of dark magic.

“I’ve been trapped inside my own head enough to memorize the exits.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight Sparkle stood over Glenn’s body, her arm shaking as she kept the pistol trained on him. The shot had splattered his blood onto her face, and something wet and spongy was stuck in her hair.

She had done it. It was over. He was dead.

So why didn’t it feel like she had won?

Twilight couldn’t answer her own question as Electrum let out a primal scream of rage.

“God fucking damn that sonofabitch to the deepest pits of Hell!” She yelled in a single breath as she rushed over to his corpse. She reared a booted hoof back and brought it crashing down between his legs hard enough to push the corpse. “Fuck you!”

She aimed her pistol and the weapon flashed as she pulled the trigger. She kept pulling and pulling, until pulling the trigger no longer sent bullets slamming into the corpse on the ground. Most of Glenn’s chest was reduced to a bloody puddle. She stood over him, staring down at his remains with an expression of fury and terror on her face.

Twilight wanted to reach out and comfort her, but Twilight was too busy trying to breathe slowly and stop her full body shake.

She caught a lucky break as Daniel, Pinkie Pie, and Spike brought her into a hug.

But no one was there for Electrum.

Twilight slipped her arm past her friends to reach out and place a hand on Electrum’s shoulder. Pinkie Pie silently broke away from the hug to wrap an arm protectively around Electrum.

“Once we destroy the books, it’ll be over,” Twilight said.

“No,” Electrum panted as her own body trembled like a leaf. She kept staring down at the corpse on the floor, even as Pinkie helped guide her away from the body. Her voice was as brittle as glass as she finally looked away. “We’ll still remember what he did to us.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight was the last to leave the chamber where they had defeated Glenn. The center-point of the cavern contained the focal point for the foul sensation permeating the area.

It was a dark-green obelisk that radiated dark magic like gamma rays escaping a breached reactor.

Daniel had dumped out his rucksack before stuffing both of the heavy suitcases into the bag. It meant there would be no need to run back and forth between the camp and the Dunwich building to destroy the grimoires.

All three of them levitated by Twilight as she walked deeper into the room, their own darkness a pale blip in comparison to the obelisk. Her hooves stuck to the drying gore on the floor. There was no use trying to step around it. Many of the ghouls had been hit directly in the chest, Pinkie Pie’s grenades sinking into their necrosed bodies before detonating them into gory confetti.

Twilight tore her eyes away from the bloody mess to the obelisk, though it wasn’t much better.

It stood in the center and blended seamlessly with the cavern floor, like it had been carved from the chamber, despite looking like extremely dark jade. It contrasted heavily with the brown and gray of the rest of the cavern.

Emerging from the floor were three tentacles that wrapped around the obelisk. Despite sharing the same material, Twilight’s fur crawled at the thought of them breaking free to twist around her friends and crush their life, their very soul. It was a flash of fear that faded, but still clung to Twilight like the darkness permeating the air.

Discord had been a statue, once, in Canterlot Gardens.

The faceless statue of a woman pressed the thought. Twilight’s guts twisted, imagining herself in its place. Frozen, forever reaching out for help that wouldn’t come, as tentacles pulled at her into their dark embrace of a being that only wanted to torture her.

It was a shrine to some sea-born god of rape. Or at least that’s what Twilight interpreted from it.

If it wouldn’t shatter her horn to do so, Twilight would have blasted the room apart with as much cleansing magic as she could after destroying the books. But her horn wouldn’t be able to handle that kind of power. It would have to be later.

Twilight clenched her teeth and stepped as far back away from the obelisk as she could, the black books following close by in her magic. Once she was at what she considered a safe distance, she brought the books close to herself.

She was going to destroy them one-by-one. She didn’t know what would happen if she threw all three of them at once at the obelisk. She looked at the first book in the stack, the Krivbeknih. Its black cover was decorated by a single slash down the front.

Averting her eyes, Twilight levitated it over to the obelisk and pressed it into the stone.

The flash of fire was still bright enough to sting her eyes, and her Pip-Boy clicked as the already low-level of radiation in the room increased to three rads a second before slowly falling back to normal levels.

The next book, Glenn’s book, had an image embossed onto the black leather. A skull with downward curving horns emerging from each side, with a long, slithering tongue extending out between the skull’s fang-like teeth.

Another burst of fire and radiation. The taste of metal danced on her tongue.

She looked at the cover of the last book. The one Daniel and her had been given. The embossing on the cover was a spider. An hourglass sat on its abdomen. A black widow.

Twilight didn’t hesitate to press the final book into the obelisk. It didn’t deserve anything less, and its destruction was already felt. Twilight heaved a heavy sigh as a weight lifted from her shoulders. The air was a little clearer.

<>~<>~<>

It was still dark as Twilight was the first to step out of the Dunwich building.

She quickly checked the time.

Three-fifteen A.M., Tuesday, September 4th, 2277.

Enough time to still get some sleep before sunrise.

She reached the bottom of the steps before she faced Electrum exiting the building. Electrum burned down her fifth cigarette, hands shaking.

“Do you want to talk?” Twilight asked her. It was clear that she wasn’t okay, and Twilight wanted to help. Even if Electrum was her enemy, she knew what it was like to feel someone pressing their will over her own. Twilight’s fur itched as she remembered Glenn admiring her like she was a trophy.

Even though he was dead and she was safe, her mind still raced down the paths of where it could have gone. What he could have done with her. Tightness gripped her chest like a fist, and every hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

Nothing had happened, but her own treacherous imagination filled in the blanks.

“N-no,” Electrum said quietly. “I just want to get away from the building.”

Twilight could agree with that sentiment.

<>~<>~<>

The trip away from Dunwich had been a mostly quiet one. There would be no teleportation while inside the dark magic’s radius, so Twilight simply walked and Electrum followed beside her. Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Daniel fell behind them, occasionally chatting amongst each other but conversation never lasted that long.

The current bout of silence was broken by Electrum.

“Thank you, Princess,” Electrum said, her quiet voice as empty as a dry lake. Her gaunt eyes bore into the dirt. “You’re a lot better of a person than I am.”

Would things have been different if Electrum had found Twilight in the cell? Twilight didn’t know. Maybe Electrum wouldn’t have hesitated to kill a defenseless enemy in cold blood.

“We made a good team back there,” Twilight replied, something to keep the conversation going. Anything to keep her mind off Glenn, Dunwich, and the feeling of darkness in the air. They were still too close to the building for comfort. “I’d like to think we could be friends. Or we might already be, since I never got a full answer from you.”

“I didn’t answer, did I?” Electrum asked with a small smile. Twilight smiled back. “Oh, what the hell. Frenemies?”

Electrum held out a hand.

Twilight shook the offered hand.

“Thanks—” Twilight started before a yawn cut her off, as if she needed a reminder she had run on empty through Dunwich. The yawn spread to everyone else. “We really need some sleep.”

Electrum nodded.

“Yeah, we do, but I can’t stay with you,” Electrum said as she shook her head. She then leaned close to Twilight and whispered, “I need to try and talk General Beckett down, and, failing that, do the thing we talked about.”

Twilight winced.

She hoped Electrum would succeed. Twilight hated the idea of sending raiders to Equestria. But the alternative was sending a nuke, or ripping information out of someone who had already suffered too much at the hands of a dark mage.

Twilight wasn’t going to turn herself into a nightmare. Feeding a corpse to Hel to save herself had already been a much grimmer choice than she would have liked. The wasteland wasn’t going to turn her into what she had seen in the mirror.

“Well,” Twilight said. “Good luck.”

<>~<>~<>

General Clyde Beckett leaned forwards in his large leather chair, staring at the chessboard on top of his grand and ornate wooden desk. His eyes wandered to the rest of his office, which matched the grandness of his desk. Bookshelves with decorative carvings of pre-war animals lined three of the four walls. Each shelf was packed with literature or memorabilia the General had collected, or had been passed down throughout his family’s multi-century tradition of military service. His grand prize was a pistol from his many-times-great grandfather, dating all the way back to the revolutionary war.

The beauty of all the decorated shelves was offset by the mundane banks of filing cabinets taking up the fourth wall.

“Sir?” General Beckett’s opponent said from across the desk from him. It was a Mr. Gutsy combat robot that was painted matte black. The normal thruster had been replaced with eyebot hover technology, allowing the machine to levitate far more quietly than other models of Mr. Gutsy.

“Oh, I like to let my opponents make the first move,” General Beckett said to the Mr. Gutsy.

“Sir, yes, sir!” The robot cheerfully proclaimed, using its manipulator pincer to salute before it moved a pawn two spaces ahead.

General Beckett enjoyed a good game of chess, and robots always proved to be the most challenging of opponents. They had an artificial patience that he usually couldn’t throw off. A biological opponent could have been frustrated by his gambit of staring at the board while looking like he was thinking about his first move.

It didn’t stop him from trying, though, as many of the SOCOM robots were advanced enough to gain sentience. A few of them could experience emotions like boredom.

However, his given opponent was shaping up to be the unshakable sort.

General Beckett stared at the board again. He was about to make his first move, but there was a knock at the door.

“It’s open,” General Beckett said.

The glow coming from the door handle soured his mood.

It twisted, and the only unicorn he allowed within a hundred yards of him stepped inside.

“Hello, Electrum,” General Beckett said. He looked up from his chess game to examine the new arrival. Electrum looked like shit, and not just the ugly horse-mutant way Beckett normally associated with her. Her eyes were sunken with exhaustion and she looked like she had run three marathons.

Her horn flared as she levitated the seat the Mr. Gutsy had pushed out of the way over to herself. She didn’t sit in it yet.

Beckett frowned.

“Sergeant W-four-R, please leave my office,” General Beckett said with a shake of his head.

“Sir-yes-sir!” The Mr. Gutsy said as it saluted. It then turned and near-silently hovered towards the exit.

“Sir,” Electrum said with her own salute. “Permission to be seated?”

“Granted,” General Beckett said with a frown. “Care for a game of chess?”

Electrum sat and nodded. “I would like that. It’s been a while since we last played.”

“We never have,” Beckett grumbled.

“Do we have to play this whole song and dance,” Electrum asked as she rolled her eyes. “I’m still Valery Beckett under this fur.”

“Are you?” General Beckett sneered. “I know about your little trip to Dunwich. You didn’t think we had cameras pointed at that place from Rockland, did you?”

He smiled as she balked.

“Sir, I can explain,” Electrum cried out.

“No need,” General Beckett said with a shake of his head. “You helped destroy something more powerful than Twilight.”

Beckett knew about Twilight’s little black book. A soldier who had accidentally left their helmet camera on had provided SOCOM with footage of one book severely crippling Twilight and her husband. Destroying something powerful enough to make one of the six living weapons of Equestria nearly vomit was forgivable.

“I did,” Electrum said as she reset the piece W4R had moved. “All three books were destroyed.”

“Three?” General Beckett asked. There was Twilight’s, then the one Pinkie Pie had announced over the radio as possessing, which meant the third had to be from—

“We killed Scribe Glenn.”

Excellent.

SOCOM knew all about that disgusting little leech. The Pentagon—now called The Citadel by the Brotherhood of Steel who occupied it—had once been the headquarters for the Department of Defense, which SOCOM was under the umbrella of.

The Brotherhood of Steel recorded every one of their records onto old mainframes within the Pentagon. Mainframes which SOCOM still had the back-door entrances into.

Everything the Brotherhood of Steel knew, SOCOM knew.

“Very well,” General Beckett said. He didn’t move a piece, and Electrum kept her magic glowing on the piece she had moved back two spaces to reset the board. It was going to be a waiting game to see who would cave to frustration and make the first move. “I assume you didn’t come to see me to play chess or tell me about your self-given mission to destroy the books.”

“No, sir,” Electrum said. “I think attacking Equestria in any capacity would be suicide.”

So it was back to this topic.

“We have nukes, they don’t,” General Beckett growled. “Your reports said they will crumble after an overwhelming show of force. We glass one, maybe two of their cities, and the rest will fall in line. They’re weak cowards.”

Electrum flared her nostrils with a heavy sigh.

“You think they’re weak?” Electrum asked.

“Their military is dogshit!” General Beckett snapped. “They lost the capital once while you were there!” He facepalmed. “Don’t tell me you’ve gone as soft as Colonel Autumn.”

“If you judge a fish by how it climbs a tree, you will only come to the conclusion that it's a bad animal.” Electrum softly said. She moved the same pawn Sergeant W4R had, to the same position, but kept her magic glowing around it. “Equestria's lack of a proper military may seem like weakness, but they are not weak people. I've walked their streets, ate their food, and enjoyed the strength of their moral character. There are good people there who would help America rebuild.”

Electrum reached into one of the pockets of her greatcoat. General Beckett stared at her as she brought out a small brown cloth sack and tossed it beside the chess table.

“And what’s that full of?” General Beckett asked, his fingers causing the ends of his arm rests to creak with how hard he gripped them.

“Collard seeds,” Electrum said. “Help put some greens into a wastelander’s diet.” She shook her head. “One mare with a backpack full of books and seeds will win more hearts and minds than jackboots and gunships ever will.”

Insanity. Electrum had gone as soft as Colonel Autumn. Not even SOCOM was safe from the toxic reasoning of a bunch of weak-minded and weak-willed horses.

“That ‘judge a fish’ comment is good and all, but allow me a moment to speak,” General Beckett said. He let go of his armrest and reached to his side. “You’re a smart woman, Electrum, so I know you know about the Ship of Theseus… one second.”

General Beckett pulled open the flap of his holster slowly, the snap-buttons popping audibly before he slowly drew his pistol. The slow slide of metal on leather was music to his ears. The weapon was an American classic, a .45 caliber semi-auto pistol, passed down from father-to-son since World War I.

“This pistol has been in our—my,” General Beckett quickly corrected, “family for generations. It’s an original model 1911… or is it? Three and a half centuries is a long time for a gun. The grip panels have been replaced, the magazines I have for it aren’t the original, and the barrel, of course, has been replaced many times.” He pulled back the slide. “Even the slide and frame aren't original. But over the years it’s killed krauts, japs, and commies.”

“D-dad,” Electrum stuttered. That damned horn of hers was still glowing. “What are you saying?”

“I can spout philosophical bullshit, too.”

He pulled the trigger, sending a .45 caliber slug into her gut.

She doubled over with a wheeze of pain, but that damned horn of hers kept alight.

She always did have ironclad focus, even in torture training.

“Do you have any last words?” General Beckett asked as he stood up, aiming the pistol at Electrum’s head.

She coughed out a laugh, and pointed above.

“Magic isn’t just good for moving chess pieces.”

General Beckett looked up and his eyes went wide at the sight of the grenade hovering above him, the pin pulled. The lever was only held by the glow of magic.

There was a loud pop as Electrum teleported away, and the grenade fell.

General Beckett dove under his desk for cover, the grenade slamming into the desk above him with a thud.

One second, two, three… five… eight…

General Beckett slowly left the safety of his desk. The grenade was sitting atop it, the bottom of it was facing him, allowing him to see the hole drilled into the bottom.

Hands shaking with fury, General Beckett picked up the glorified paperweight and returned it to its rightful place on the bookshelf next to the revolutionary war pistol.

He made a mental note to find the pin and lever later as he walked back to his desk, picked the telephone up off the receiver and dialed.

“Security,” General Beckett said in cold fury once the ringing ended and he heard someone about to answer.

“S-sir?” A woman on the other end of the line answered. “General, I was just about to call you. Research and Development just reported that Electrum stole a prototype and teleported away.”

“Damnit!” Beckett yelled, his cold fury going hot. “Well, do your fucking job as security and find her, you incompetent gremlin!”

General Beckett slammed the telephone back onto the receiver, before he picked it back up and dialed a new line. He tapped his foot impatiently as the phone rang, the noise from the phone joined by a cacophony from the hall beyond his door as alarms blared.

The base was going into lockdown

“General Beckett, what’s going on?” Colonel Michael Hoffman, his subordinate in Strategic Command, asked. “Why is the base going into lock—”

“We were infiltrated by the god-damn horses,” General Beckett replied. “Send it!”

“Sir, the portals for the missile aren’t—”

"I don't care if you have to send the God-damned warheads through a portal on the back of a truck,” General Beckett snarled, spittle flying through the air like a shotgun blast. “Figure something out and fucking send it!"

Side Chapter 1: Drums of War

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Lieutenant Colonel Miranda Tuckett yawned into her second cup of coffee. The boost was needed after waking up earlier than usual. She was used to rising at six A.M sharp, but the base had gone into lockdown at around five-thirty A.M.

While it was only a thirty minute difference, she was definitely feeling it.

She glanced at the clock on the far wall. It was one minute past eight A.M. The meeting was supposed to start at eight sharp.

“It’s not like General Beckett to call a meeting and be late for it,” Tuckett said. She pursed her lips in displeasure. A mix of frustration with her commanding officer, and the fact that she didn’t like the taste of black coffee. The mug had been Colonel Michael Hoffman’s, but he had offered it to her after she had finished her own mug.

“That’s because there is no meeting,” Colonel Hoffman said from across the circular metal and glass table they were standing around. He shook his head. “I wanted to talk to you alone, and ‘meeting with Beckett’ was the best excuse to get around the lockdown.”

She knew him well enough to pick up on the subtle twitch of his lips.

“So what’s this about, Hoff?” Tuckett asked. “This about Valery flipping sides? I’m telling you, I had no idea she would turn. We were close, but I—”

“I know you're innocent,” Hoffman said, cutting her off as he looked away from the table. “General Beckett wants me to launch a nuclear strike on Equestria.”

Tuckett’s throat went dry. That was impossible. Only the main portal was operational, and it wasn’t even large enough for a civilian car to fit through. With Valery having stolen the prototype rapid-deployment beacon, there was no way to get something as large as a nuclear missile into Equestria.

“So, are you going to tell him no?” Tuckett asked. She started to pace around the table.

“He’s our commanding officer, so I’m following my orders,” Hoffman said, exasperation clear in his tone. “I want you to reconsider taking Serum-9.”

“No,” Tuckett snapped as she flared out her wings. The wind pushed papers off a nearby desk, sending them fluttering like leaves in the wind. She wasn’t going to return to being a ground-slogging human, and that was final. “This whole shitshow is all because of his fanatic racism. Valery and I kept trying to tell him we could influence Equestria from the shadows, but he wants bodies in the streets.”

“I know,” Hoffman sighed. He shook his head and waved a hand dismissively, before he turned back towards the table. “Nukes aren’t toys, but what can we do? We have our orders.”

Tuckett knew how much Hoffman hated nukes, despite him being the one in charge of America’s miniscule remaining strategic arsenal. The old world had burned away in nuclear hellfire once already. Being a missileer carried baggage.

“So what are you going to send?” Tuckett asked. There was no use arguing. Orders were orders, and she knew neither of them would betray America.

“The engineers are taking one of the reentry-vehicles out of a MIRV warhead. It should be ready to send in a day or two,” Hoffman said somberly. “And depending on how much of the fissile material has decayed, the yield should be around a hundred-and-fifty to a hundred-and-seventy kilotons when it detonates.”

A decently sized tactical warhead. It would flatten most of a city.

“So where are we sending it?” Tuckett asked. If they were going nuclear, she didn’t want to slog her troops through irradiated ruins. Urban warfare in the Equestrians’ home turf would be bad on its own.

Not to mention that, with Raven Rock and Adams AFB under Colonel Autumn’s command, SOCOM didn’t have the troops for prolonged multi-front fighting. They needed to be smart with their decisions.

“That’s up to the General,” Hoffman said, shaking his head slowly. “I’m sure Valery has already used the prototype she stole to get to Equestria and warn Canterlot, so I’m going to suggest other targets. Industrial centers don’t move as fast as politicians.”

“You haven’t lived in Equestria,” Tuckett said with a chuckle that didn’t match her mood. She was trying to push away her growing anxiety. “They don’t waste time when it comes to anything.”

Like adapting to change or acknowledging skilled individuals. In the six months that she had lived there, she had passed basic guard training, made the rank of sergeant in the royal guard, and was on the way to becoming a commissioned officer. She’d only returned to Earth when the first portal had gone supernova in the Everfree.

“Apparently not, have you read any of the newer reports from the other side?” Hoffman asked. He didn’t wait for a reply before he continued. “They’ve already started to make guns, starting with ones made from stamped metal. They even have a submachine gun that looks like a Sten with a top-loading magazine.”

Tuckett had indeed read a few of the reports. She was the commander of SOCOM’s only infantry brigade, so it was necessary to know what the opposition was up to. The clever Equestrians had even made their new weapons compatible with magazines from Earth.

“Even if we throw everything at Equestria, they’ll bounce back,” Tuckett said as she walked to a spot at the table across from Hoffman. She reached for the table and pressed a button. Seconds later, the glass top flickered with light before it clarified into a top-down display of a map separated into grid squares.

“How can you be so sure?” Hoffman asked as he placed blue-colored circular tokens with small objects glued to the top on his side of the map board. “Maybe the General is right, and an overwhelming show of force by leveling a city would make them comply.”

“The villains that stepped on them in the past kept casualties to a minimum,” Tuckett replied as she started to set out several red disks on her side of the board. “They’re going to say enough is enough.”

“Yeah,” Hoffman groused. “And we have fewer ground troops than Colonel Autumn, the Equestrians are starting to close the technological gap with us on top of their magic and population advantage, Valery defected, and General Beckett thinks it's a good idea to fight everyone at once.”

“Unfortunately, that seems to be how the cookie is crumbling,” Tuckett said as she rolled her eyes. She then pushed one of her red disks across the holographic map. It was around the size of a coin, and had a silver-painted feather glued to it so that the feather stuck straight up. She stopped the disk two grid squares from where she had started and looked across the table at her opponent and his blue chips.

Hoffman didn’t reply as he slowly reached for a blue painted disk. A model vertibird was glued onto it. He pushed the disk across five grid squares, which put it onto the objective. He then reached for more tokens which rested on an end table beside him. He set out four tokens decorated with small black-painted servo-motors around the vertibird.

Uprooting power armored forces from the objective would be hard with only pegasi fast response infantry. Hoffman was getting good at taking and holding objectives with conventional forces. The scenario they were playing out had hilly terrain which favored flyers, which were overabundant in Equestria.

Still, one objective didn’t win the entire scenario.

Tuckett pushed a blue-painted feather with gold trim towards the secondary objective on the map.

Hoffman countered her deployment of the Wonderbolts on objective two by sending a second vertibird to take objective three. They were dancing around actual engagements.

It wouldn’t be long before the real Equestrians could go on the offensive.

<>~<>~<>

“What am I looking at?” Grand General Tempest Shadow asked as she slowly raised an eyebrow.

Coming down the road towards her was a vehicle that moved without being pulled by a pony. A rare sight outside of parade floats or trains. It was just as large as a parade float, too, resembling a huge wagon with front wheels that were larger than the back. A steam locamotive’s plow protruded from the front of the vehicle, and the backside of the vehicle was dominated by its large magically-powered engine that was crammed in the middle of industrial-sized food processing equipment.

“That, my dear filly,” Flim said beside her, adjusting the hat atop his red and white-striped mane. “Is an opportunity.”

“Why, yes, General,” Flam said from the driver seat of the giant contraption. Tempest could only tell him apart from Flim by the fact that he had a red mustache. “Is, uh… what are we calling it now, oh brother of mine?”

“Test bed vehicle number one,” the first stallion said with a nod as the vehicle came to a stop. “Your first choice in groundbreaking new military vehicles.”

Tempest walked around to take a look at the side of the vehicle.

“It says Super Speedy Cider—”

“That was the old name,” Flim said as he telekinetically ripped off the name plaque and threw it as far away as he could.

A window shattered in the distance. Tempest facehoofed.

“Take those food processors off of it, cover it in as much armor plating as it can carry, then bring it back,” Tempest said with a sigh. “If nothing else, it’ll be a good enough platform for a cannon or something. Or maybe a crane.”

In all honesty, the vehicle was too large to be practical. They needed something around the size of a normal wagon that would fit on human roads, and was light enough that it could cross bridges without damaging them. The test bed vehicle looked like it weighed several tons over the limit for many Equestrian bridges, and those hadn’t been neglected for two centuries.

What I wouldn’t give to have the Storm King’s airship fleet under my command again. Tempest thought as she shook her head. But, unfortunately, the fleet had been scrapped for parts after the Storm King was defeated. Equestrian military contractors. What a joke.

Tempest dropped her hoof and stared at the vehicle.

While the Flim Flam Brothers may have been a complete joke, there would be others to come with more competent designs.

Equestria would be ready to face the Wasteland soon.

Chapter 31: Connections

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Electrum had found the perfect, secluded spot as the golden rays of the sun peeked over the horizon.

Nothing within a three-hundred meter radius as far as she could see. No passengers to accidentally drag along for the coming ride.

As she adjusted the dials and knobs on the mass-teleport prototype, Electrum considered what she was about to do.

Am I really going to betray everything I was raised to believe?

Electrum touched the bloodied patch on her uniform with her hand. It was cool and damp, staining the fabric. She rubbed the blood between her fingers. She would need to ditch the uniform when on the other side.

I’m supposed to be loyal. One of the best and brightest of the Enclave and SOCOM. Is there a way for me to go back?

She grit her teeth and traced the stimpak-closed wound with a fingertip.

I was betrayed first.

She pressed the activation button, and the device thrummed to life as it built up energy.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight Sparkle let out a satisfied hum as she swallowed another delicious bite of peas and carrots. Daniel had cooked breakfast for the entire camp. A combination of magically preserved vegetable rations from Equestria, alongside a few tins of Cram to make a hearty breakfast. The warm food helped to chase away her soreness.

After they had relocated the camp to reside outside of the Dunwich building’s dark magic aura, the group hadn’t wasted any time pitching the tent again. Everyone had been too tired to do anything else. They had even gone as far as sleeping in their armor while sharing bedrolls. Pinkie and Spike had taken one bedroll, while Daniel and her had taken the other.

While Twilight was paying for sleeping in her armor, it was a small price for not being defenseless throughout the night.

“So where are we going next?” Spike asked from across the cooking fire as he massaged a crick in his neck. He was clearly feeling the ache of sleeping in his armor as well.

“I promised Daniel that I would help find his father,” Twilight replied after she pulled her fork from her mouth. “Rarity already gave us a lead on where he went.”

“Yeah,” Daniel said with a heavy sigh from his seat on his backpack next to her. “But that lead is several days old at this point.”

“We’ll find him,” Twilight said as she threw a wing around her husband and pulled herself close to his side.

“If you know where to look, why don’t we teleport there?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Twilight swallowed her next bite before she answered.

“My broken horn severely limits what I can do,” Twilight said as she speared another forkful of carrots from her mess kit. “I know it’s possible for me to burn off an entire dose of medicine with one powerful spell. So, with how teleportation spells work, I’ll only be able to safely teleport all of us from one exterior location to another exterior location. And I have to be familiar with both points.”

“Seriously?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “You used to teleport all the time through buildings and places you didn’t know, Twi.”

“Teleporting through solid objects quadruples the energy needed for the spell,” Twilight said. She shook her head slowly, formulating a simple explanation for her earth pony friend to understand. “Adding the variable of being unfamiliar with a location also means that I have to pour even more energy in. And, if my broken horn somehow affects the teleportation, it means we could end up stuck in a wall… or falling down an elevator shaft. So, unless it’s a life or death emergency, I want to play it safe to conserve my medicine.”

Spike hummed loudly in thought before raising his hand.

“I have a question,” Spike said. “If we find Daniel’s father, that means we’ll be adding more mass—or people in this case, right? Well, that would increase the energy needed to teleport. So why don’t you leave Daniel here while you teleport Pinkie and I to Rivet City, then teleport yourself back? That way you’re only moving two people at once.”

“That’s a great point,” Twilight beamed. She hadn’t even considered that. And it would allow her to drop off the books and seeds that were adding so much weight to her pack.

She wouldn’t call it unnecessary weight, though. Knowledge was important, and alchemy could help so many sick wastelanders.

“Yeah, and we know Rarity listens to GNR,” Daniel added. “She might try and send someone to Point Lookout if she heard Pinkie’s message.”

Another thing Twilight hadn’t considered. She checked the time.

It was just a little after eight A.M. Rarity’s store would be open by now.

“Sweet Celestia, I wish we had thought about this earlier,” Twilight said, grinding her palm against her forehead. “I could have teleported us all somewhere we could have slept without having to worry about safety.”

“Come on, Twi, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Spike said. His sigh was loud enough to drag Twilight’s attention out of her self-pitying facepalm. “All of us were drop-dead tired after Dunwich.”

Spike was right, as usual. He had always been a good assistant. Beyond good. He was the one always pushing for her to spend more time with other ponies and improve herself. He was always there for her.

“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said softly. She shifted in her seat to face her baby dragon assistant. Even as an adult human, she could still see the little baby drake that chewed his own tail. “Speaking of that message, Spike, you called me Mom. I think that’s the first time you did it intentionally.”

There had been a few times before where he called her ‘mom’. But that was mostly when she tried waking him up from a nap and it slipped out while he was still groggy.

“Well,” Spike said as he leaned back and rubbed his green mohawk-like frill with his scale-covered and claw-tipped hands. “I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again. I thought about what I was going to lose, and what you really meant to me. You’re the one that hatched me, then raised me. Sure, your mom helped, but you were the kind of filly who liked to do things herself after being shown how to do it. You changed my diapers and fed me from a bottle until it was time for me to eat my first gemstone.”

Twilight turned her head, trying to hide her blush. Spike had been her baby dragon to take care of, not her mother’s. That was how she rationalized trying to do everything she could on her own. She had even taught Spike how to read using flashcards… which she kept having to remake because someone kept trying to eat them or burn them with his dragon burps.

Raising Spike had been a learning experience for sure. A similar experience to what her older brother was going through with raising Flurry Heart. Before coming to Earth she had occasionally received frantic letters from Shining Armor asking for pointers.

“When I first brought you home, I had to learn how to fireproof everything,” Twilight said with a smile. “It’s funny that fireproofing spells were the first ones I needed to send to Shining Armor.”

Twilight couldn’t imagine the chaos of trying to raise a baby alicorn. Just raising a dragon had been several hoof-fulls.

Twilight shook her head, forcing herself off memory lane and back on track as she stood up. “Alright, Spike, I like your idea, but I’m going to change it up a bit. I’ll just take you to Rivet City, then teleport us back to see if I can do long distances.”

After the night before, Twilight decided that teleporting alone was out of the question. And if she could make round trips, she’d just ferry people in smaller groups to use less energy.

“Can you take me, too, please?” Pinkie Pie asked. She held up her cannon and shook it, and something within rattled audibly like a spray-paint can. “I want to give my party cannon some maintenance and get more grenades.”

Twilight winced. That would mean leaving Daniel alone. If something happened…

“Not right now,” Twilight replied. “If the teleportation fails in any way, or it turns out that I can only take us one way, Spike and I have wings so we can quickly regroup and fly back here.”

Pinkie Pie scratched her chin, before she burst out grinning.

“Okie dokes,” Pinkie Pie said with a giggle. “Just bring me back a few grenades and I’ll see what I can do right now.”

With a plan formed, Twilight prepared her spell.

<>~<>~<>

Colonel Augustus Autumn flipped another patty on the grill. The meat sizzled as he pressed his spatula down onto it. The scent of the grease falling into the flames joined the scent of fresh cut lawn clippings in the cool breezy air.

It was a beautiful, sunny, cloudless day. And it was his job to prepare the food for everyone to eat when watching the baseball game.

Children played in an empty grassy lot across the street, which lay between two perfectly suburban houses.

It was the perfect day.

Too perfect.

Behind him, a door to a house he had never lived in creaked open. He knew who he would hear.

“Remain calm,” Colonel Autumn whispered to himself. The edges of the reality he had formed in his imagination wavered as consciousness threatened to drag him to the waking world. He wanted the dream to last so he could savor every lucid moment of it.

“Have you invited Rachel and Abigail over, hun?”

Hearing her again was like a fist had reached into his chest to squeeze his heart.

“I think I have,” Augustus said. He played along with the dream as he took a slow, shaky breath. He slowly turned around to see the woman he hadn’t seen in twenty-eight years. “It’s been too long.”

Cinthia Autumn was exactly how he remembered her. Thin, but not in a sickly way. She had skin that refused to lose its tan, even after the first few years of seclusion in the dark halls of Raven Rock.

She took a step towards him and her long blue dress billowed in a sudden gust of wind which kicked up grass clippings and leaves. The gust grew and grew, until it was strong enough to knock Colonel Autumn off balance. When he looked back to Cinthia, she was gone, replaced by a figure in a black robe.

Their white skull and scythe blade gleamed in the sun.

The world violently reoriented as Colonel Autumn’s eyes shot open. His body wracked with pain as he curled into a ball and coughed into his elbow. Each explosive exhalation was like a gunshot.

Off balance and disoriented from falling back to reality in a split second, Colonel Autumn pawed bleary eyed at his nightstand for the handkerchief which rested there.

After a few false clasps, his fingers eventually grasped the folded cloth and he brought it over his mouth.

The coughs kept coming and coming. Each one ripped at his burning lungs and throat. He lay curled up in bed as he coughed several more times.

Mercifully, the violent spasms of forcing air out of himself ended after what felt like an hour—but was probably less than a minute—and he rolled onto his back to stare at the ceiling and catch his breath.

He slowly turned his head to the clock on his nightstand. Eight-oh-six, which meant he had overslept by over two hours.

Oversleeping was conduct unbecoming of an officer of the United States Enclave.

Colonel Autumn threw the covers aside in time with his legs swinging over the edge of his bed. He hopped up and raced to beat his personal record at getting dressed. Clothes flew like shrapnel as he stripped out of his nightwear, then pulled on his daily uniform. A black undersuit standard to every Enclave officer, followed by his tan greatcoat.

The earlier coughing fit came to mind, and Colonel Autumn found the handkerchief discarded onto the floor. He picked it up. Specks of color on the white cloth gave him pause.

He knew it would happen eventually—the moment had been a long time coming—but to finally see blood…

“I don’t have much time,” Colonel Autumn said, his next inhale rattling in his chest as he tucked the handkerchief away.

He needed to speak to President Jacklyn.

With Equestrian support a long-term solution, Project Purity was the best hope for America that the Enclave could achieve in the short-term.

<>~<>~<>

“We did it!” Twilight exclaimed as she pumped a fist in the air in triumph. They had arrived on top of the tower just across from Rivet City. The large bridge that would swing out and connect the aircraft carrier to the mainland was already in position.

“Whoa,” Spike said from beside her as he took a step onto the bridge. “We really did. This place is huge!”

“It’s a maze on the inside, that’s for sure,” Twilight chuckled as she stepped onto the bridge and walked beside Spike.

“I can’t wait to see Rarity,” Spike beamed. He then flexed his arms. “I wonder what she’ll think of me now that I’m a big strong adult.”

Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Don’t get your hopes up too quickly. Rarity’s got a—” How do I put it without telling my adopted son that Rarity sleeps with a brothel owner? “—special friend.”

Spike dropped one arm and scratched his head. “Hmm, so it's a friend with benefits kind of situation?”

Twilight choked on air. “How do you know that’s what I meant?”

“I didn’t learn everything I know from just books,” Spike snarked as he rolled his eyes. “I was the one who actually left the house to go buy our groceries. I learned innuendos and phrases from just walking by ponies that casually used them.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said sheepishly. He didn’t need to use his firebreath to burn her. All he had to do was call her out on her history of being the most reclusive shut-in in the history of shut-ins. “So, um, yeah, just wanted to give you a heads up since I’m not sure if Rarity and you would work out. Especially if we go back and you turn right back into a baby dragon.”

“Right,” Spike said as he sighed in defeat. “I wish I could stay an adult.”

“Hey,” Twilight said in a tone she hoped would bring him as much reassurance as he had given her over the years. “You get to use this as a free trial of adulthood. I’m pretty sure only the Cutie Mark Crusaders can say they’ve done that before.”

Wishing that they were adults around a magical plant had led to quite the adventure for them.

“I wonder what the Crusaders are doing,” Spike said, rubbing his chin.

“When I paid them a visit they were keeping track of the stories in the newspaper,” Twilight replied.

She wished she had learned where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were earlier. It would have been a lot happier of a reunion with Applebloom and Scootaloo. Especially with how concerned the fillies were when they saw how injured she was.

She had heard Applebloom say through the door when she had left the room, “If Princess Twi can get all messed up like that, well, what in the hay could be happenin’ to our sisters?”

<>~<>~<>

Applebloom tucked the newest paper into her saddlebags before a clamoring cacophony ripped her attention away from the news stand. The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 was back. It chugged with the sound of a chronically ill train as it sluggishly traveled down the road through town. Two familiar stallions operated it, with Grand General Shadow as a passenger.

“Now what in the hay is she doin’ with those no good, dirty, rotten, thievin’ scoundrels,” Applebloom grumbled as she stomped a hoof on the cobblestone.

“You haven’t heard?” The newspaper stallion asked from behind her. “The General is calling on designers to submit vehicle concepts for military testing. They want full vehicles, but are offering to buy any blueprints that meet their requirements. Heck, you and your friends should give it a try. You three made one heck-of-a parade float that one time.”

Applebloom grit her teeth. He was leaving out the part where they’d then crashed it into a lake.

“I’ll consider it,” Applebloom said as she walked away from the newsstand. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had tried everything they could get away with to earn their Cutie Marks.

We did build a pretty good parade float.

Like a seed, the idea sprouted roots.

Winning best design would be a good way to show up those snake-oil salesponies. And if the Crusaders design it, it’ll be made for protectin’ ponies, not makin’ a profit. I better hurry and get to Scoot’s place so we can start writing things down.

With the idea budding, it grew and grew, sending Applebloom’s hooves skidding as she ran down the sidewalk, propelled on the momentum of a good idea.

It would need tracks like a bulldozer so it could climb over rubble and sink less in mud. Flim and Flam’s oversized monster was just waiting to bog down after a hard raid. The new float would also need armor. Lots of armor in all directions to keep the passengers safe, and guns to fight off the monsters in the other world. The ‘deathclaw’ feral dragon creatures would be the most dangerous.

What else can I—

Pain exploded across Applebloom’s muzzle and derailed her train of thought as she slammed into a pony. Stumbling back, Applebloom quickly looked at who she had hit.

The golden unicorn mare had been knocked backwards onto her haunches. She had very distinct silver hair that glittered in the sunlight like it was actually made of metal.

“Sorry, Electrum,” Applebloom said, recognizing the mare from occasionally seeing her around town. She looked the older mare over and gasped, pointing a hoof at the large scar on her underbelly. The fur around it was discolored from washed-off blood. “Oh my gosh, what happened there?”

“A raider,” Electrum quickly replied as she stood up. “I’d love to talk but I have to go, I promise I’ll see you later if I’m not arrested.”

And just as quickly as they had run into each other, the older mare ran in the direction of Twilight’s castle.

Arrested fer what? What in the hay’s got a fire under her tail?

<>~<>~<>

The light of the ceiling-mounted projector was the only light in the meeting room. A pegasus-eye view of a large Equestrian city lit up the far wall, with the Statue of Friendship on the far edge of the aerial photograph of the large metropolitan city.

To Colonel Michael Hoffman, it was like looking at old photographs of New York City.

"In terms of sheer population density, Manehattan is your best option,” Colonel Hoffman said, his tone as flat as a sheet of paper. Acid ate at the base of his esophagus, and he craved an antacid before he puked. The General wanted a high death toll, and nothing else. There was no foresight put into where he wanted to target past making numbers go up. “Detrot and Phillydelphia have heavier pockets of industrialization, but they’re spread out over a wider area, and the residential zones are smaller. STRATCOM’s best casualty estimates of a tactical strike centered on Manehattan’s largest residential district using Equestrian census records can safely assume close to a million dead, with over one-point-five million injured.”

It would bottleneck Equestrian logistics with evacuation and treatments following the mass-casualty event. Thousands would die days after the blast from radiation exposure and third degree burns. Hospitals in the surrounding cities would fill up. And so would their morgues.

“And if we were able to use one of our megaton warheads?” General Beckett asked. No emotion. No remorse or pity.

Colonel Hoffman gripped the edges of the lectern he stood behind. The General wanted to send the biggest nuke they could.

“That’s unfeasible at this time, sir,” Colonel Hoffman replied as calmly as he could. “The tactical nuke we’re taking out of the MIRV warhead is around the size of a bathtub. A full-sized strategic warhead will not fit through the portal, which as I speak, is being relocated to maintain operational security after Electrum’s betrayal. Another point, sir, is that we’re working with two century old missiles. My engineers aren’t even sure if we can safely dismount the full-sized warheads off their ICBMs.”

While the point was true, Colonel Hoffman would have his technicians find some way to send the full sized warheads if Equestria actually did pose a legitimate major threat to America.

Lieutenant Colonel Miranda Tuckett raised her hand.

“You have a question?” Colonel Hoffman asked.

“May I suggest trading civilian casualties for military ones?” Tuckett offered. She fluttered her wings. “Pegasi troops offer a tactical advantage that many of our own troops will not have when crossing over. Or if they do have the correct genes to turn into a pegasus or gryphon, they will refuse to stay that way. Colonel, could you please show the General the photograph I took of Cloudsdale. Historically, the pegasi are the most martial of the pony races. They would be the most resistant to policing during an occupation. Not to mention their cultural ties to the Wonderbolts, who act as a special forces unit when not holding air shows. Their base is in Cloudsdale, and it is my opinion that a tactical warhead would be better served taking out a military target.”

Colonel Hoffman would have kissed Miranda if the suggestion hadn’t been planned ahead of time between them. It would be a lot easier on his conscience if they were to hit the military instead of civilians. The Wonderbolts and pegasi portions of the royal guards were a legitimate threat to Enclave.

“I agree with her, General Beckett,” Colonel Hoffman said a little too quickly as he pressed a button to transition to a new slide. It was a photograph of Cloudsdale. Specifically the mountaintop landing strip for the Wonderbolts academy. “As you know, the lieutenant colonel has lived among our opposition for long enough to achieve the rank of sergeant in the royal guards. She knows how our enemies think, on both a civilian and non-commissioned officer level. It is a skill we have used in wargames played against each other to simulate military engagements. Pegasi have always been the hardest to counter because they can ignore terrain, and use their ability to pull chariots laden with supplies long distances. Pegasi outnumber our vertibirds and would beat us in a logistics game. Cloudsdale may not be as densely populated as Manehattan, but we could render the entirety of the Wonderbolts combat ineffective with a single strike.”

“That’s a good point,” General Beckett said, reclining back in the office chair. “So, if MIRV stands for Multiple Independently-steerable Reentry Vehicles, that means we shouldn’t limit ourselves. Have your engineers rip the other two tactical nukes out of the warhead and we can hit three targets instead of one. I want a strike on Manehattan, Cloudsdale, and Canterlot. Hit their major civilian, military, and political centers at the same time.”

Colonel Hoffman nearly vomited then and there.

The plan was to pressure Equestria to capitulate with a show of force, not decimate the country. Three nukes would be overkill.

But… orders were orders. He couldn’t disobey them.

“I-I’ll send the word,” Colonel Hoffman stuttered.

The phrase that every missallier and nuclear technician learned raced through his mind. An old quote from the brainchild who let the genie of apocalyptic destruction out of the bottle.

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Chapter 32: Buried Secrets

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Twilight stepped through the bulkhead door and onto one of the balconies which overlooked Rivet City’s cavernous market. All of the sights and smells she remembered from her last visit greeted her as she led Spike into the repurposed aircraft hangar.

Stalls and stands were selling anything under the sun that could be sold in the wasteland. Guns out in the open on display tables, food cooking on grills or in pots, and even an entire stall just for chems. The only change Twilight could make out was the addition of a few more of Rarity’s soda-bottle lights. It gave the space a far more inviting glow.

“Whoa,” Spike said as he rushed to the balcony railing. “This place is awesome. Pinkie and I only had Madame Panada to trade with.”

Twilight caught up with her overeager friend. She craned her neck as she looked over the milling crowds. She frowned when she didn’t see any hot pink hair. Though, the smile returned as Twilight noticed a few Equestrians dressed in wastelander garb.

“Looks like a few ponies heard Fluttershy’s broadcast,” Twilight said, tension fleeing her shoulders as she sighed. She started down the steps off the balcony to enter the market properly. “Come on, Rarity’s store is back on the far wall.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Spike asked behind her. He quickly rushed past her, but her horn flared and she pulled him backwards by his draconic tail.

“Hey, Casanova,” Twilight scolded as she caught up with Spike’s side. “We need to stick together. There’s no telling who we’ll run—”

Twilight cut herself off as the biggest, whitest skull she had ever seen peeked around the corner of a stall. It wasn’t a human skull, it was far too big to be one, with large ram-like horns that curved forwards, and giant meat-ripping teeth.

“D-dragon?” Spike stuttered as he stumbled backwards.

The skull was soon followed by the rest of the giant who wore it. They were fully engulfed in a cloak of dark blackish-brown, leathery scales that resembled alligator or dragon hide.

“Heh,” the newcomer chuckled with the sound of rolling thunder. His voice was as deep as he was tall, which Twilight could only guess was over seven feet. His physique wasn’t that far from a supermutant’s, and Twilight had to force herself to not turn away. The eyeless gaze of the skull bore down on her like a predator to prey. Her slightly emaciated frame reinforced that in her head. “You’re smaller than the one-eyed Princess.”

Jammed through a hole drilled into the massive draconic skull was a large, spiraling gray horn.

Twilight’s fear didn’t vanish but receded slightly as she recalled a name Fluttershy had given her all the way back in her cottage, when she had met Fluttershy’s reformed raiders.

“Deathclaw Joe?” Twilight asked. Her shocked tone was a shallow puddle in comparison to the depths of his voice.

Why are raiders here, and why is no one panicking?

Her eyes darted around as she looked for weapons on him. He carried none. Instead, his horn flared as he levitated an entire open metal crate in electric blue magic out of the stall he had just been inside. It was full of yellowish-brown teardrop-shaped fruit. Their skins were rough and resembled cracked leather.

Spike had described them as a fruit native Point Lookout called punga.

“Thou assumes correct,” Deathclaw Joe said in a mockery of Luna’s accent. “I am Deathclaw Joe. King of the Metro Gangs, undefeated champion who hails from The Pitt, and the slayer and tamer of great beasts.”

A black-haired woman came around the same corner as Deathclaw Joe to join the giant’s side.

She was almost as tall as Deathclaw Joe, but six inches of her height came from her knee-high black leather platform boots. The rest of her outfit was equally outlandish. She wore a leather skirt that only covered one hip, underneath that was a black leather bikini. Covering her large breasts was a bra made of equally black and shiny material. She also had a harness whose only purpose seemed to be to hold her spiked shoulderpads and the scabbard for the sword across her back.

Twilight snapped to the sword. It was closer to a slab of metal with a handle. The pommel was in the shape of a skull made from polished brass. The sword would need two hands to use, however, the woman occupied her arms with baskets instead. One was full of bottles of alcohol, and the other was filled with meat powdered with a ridiculous amount of salt to preserve it.

The black-haired woman didn’t speak as she tossed her shoulder-length hair out of her face with a jerk of her neck. She then slowly looked over Twilight with a sultry grin.

Twilight knew from experience in Equestria when a mare was checking her out.

“H-hello to you as well,” Twilight said with a nervous chuckle as she politely bowed to both Deathclaw Joe and the newcomer. Someone being taller than her had never bothered Twilight. She was used to spending vast amounts of time around Celestia and the larger races of Equestria. Rather, her nervousness came from the fact they were raiders.

The only two people she had killed so far who hadn’t been feral ghouls were raiders. And the one wearing a skull was talking to her.

“It is an honor to meet another princess of your world on this side,” Deathclaw Joe said as he slowly levitated the deathclaw skull off his head.

How does he know that I’m a princess? Twilight managed to think before her brain processed Deathclaw Joe’s face. She nearly shut down as a hundred emotions and other thoughts raced through her at once.

His face belonged on a statue with how chiseled his features were. An almost square chin with sharply angled cheeks. The stormcloud gray fur of his face was broken in several spots by jagged scars, though unlike Glenn, they were clearly from battle rather than self-inflicted, and his nose pointed at a slight angle from being reset improperly.

His electric blue eyes were narrowed with focus as he stared down at Twilight, all the while his clean white hair flowed like silk out of his skull helmet to fall perfectly over his shoulders.

Oh, sweet Celestia, he’s hot…

The giant stallion’s thick leather cloak parted as he held out a muscular arm. His forearm was as big as Twilight’s biceps. Both of them. Yet despite his apparent overwhelming strength, he showed surprising gentleness as his hand clasped her fingertips.

Even with the tender gesture, it was like being brushed by sandpaper-covered leather. He lifted Twilight’s hand and leaned down to kiss the top of it before letting go.

“U-uhhhm, is this some sort of human custom?” Twilight nervously stuttered as she yanked her hand away from the so-far-gentle giant. There were things she wanted him to do far-from-gently. Twilight shook her head. “Right, uhh, I’m here on other business. Can we take a raincheck on our meeting for later?”

Please don’t be offended. I can’t deal with another enemy in my way at the moment. I need to get back to Daniel and apologize for whatever the fuck is going through my head right now.

“Of course,” Deathclaw Joe said as the deathclaw skull helmet slipped back over his head. “I am hosting a great feast tomorrow in celebration of my visit to your world. You and any other Equestrians are invited to attend, Princess.”

The giant stallion returned his arm under his massive deathclaw skin cloak and walked towards another stall, the box of fruit following him effortlessly.

Twilight stared at the back of his cloak before the unintroduced woman’s low cough dragged her attention away from the massive stallion.

“So, is there any way you can turn me into a pony, Princess?” The woman asked. “Maybe into a winged one? Being able to fly would be useful.”

“That’s a bit out of my league, sorry,” Twilight muttered on autopilot as she processed the series of events that had just occurred. “Why are raiders here in the city?”

“Well, darn, guess I’ll just have to wait until a portal opens up,” the woman said with a put-off sigh. She shook her head. “And to answer your question, The Deathclaw King and The New Horde like to keep things civil. We keep the other gangs in line so they don’t piss off places like Rivet City to the point they send The Regulators into the tunnels to clear us out. Us bein’ so diplomatic also means we’re the ones who can go into town and buy the booze and chems for the other raider gangs. Helps keep us on top and everyone happy. It also helps that we’re the baddest motherfuckers in those tunnels. King Joe twisted the head off one of your world’s giant flying cat-radscorpions like a bottle cap.”

After seeing just one of his arms, Twilight could believe it.

“Anyways,” the unintroduced woman said as she turned in the direction Deathclaw Joe had gone, “I hope to see you at the Knock, hot stuff.”

That was a very ‘interesting’ encounter. So the metro raider gangs have a hierarchy, with the New Horde gang at the very top. I wonder if different gangs have different cultures and traditions. Humans, like Equestrians, are social pack creatures who crave like-minded groups, so theoretically—

“Did we accidentally step into a heavy metal album cover or something?” Spike quipped as he nudged Twilight in the side with an elbow, interrupting her thoughts. “Do you think those two would either be Metalicolt or Black Stable fans?”

“Uhhh, I don’t know,” Twilight muttered lamely as her thoughts were still a disoriented mess. “I was never a metalhead.”

“You can’t lie to me,” Spike said. “I grew up through your goth phase.”

Twilight almost swallowed her tongue.

It only lasted two months when I was sixteen…

“Black Stable,” Twilight muttered with a shake of her head. She took hold of his wrist and continued through the market before he could rub it in.

<>~<>~<>

The patchwork armor and scarred, unwashed bodies of the raiders marked them out from the normal residents of Rivet City as Twilight passed by them on the way to Rarity’s shop. That, and the fact several of them had Equestrian features. Most of them were clustered around stalls selling chems and liquor.

There were far more Rivet City security personnel out on patrol to match the influx of raiders.

“I wonder how many people from Equestria have ended up here,” Spike said as they passed by a produce stand selling the raw produce grown in the hydroponics bay. Several non-raider ponies were trying to barter using their bits in place of caps.

One from the group, a chocolate-brown skinned pegasi mare, was missing her right wing.

It reminded her how battered and scarred she and her friends had gotten over the weeks. Trying to recall all the scars she had seen on herself and her friends had only caused things to blend together.

Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy each carried some scar or another. Even Rainbow Dash had a bionic spine. Life in the Wasteland was hostile and short for the unprepared. How many unprepared ponies hadn’t even been lucky enough to just lose a limb? Like the stallion back in Dunwich…

Their arrival at Rarity’s tent saved Twilight from dwelling on that thought for too long.

Rarity’s Renewed Relics was almost exactly how Twilight had last seen it. Although, the small chalkboard on the easel beside the entrance had a new addition.

“All ponies from Equestria are guaranteed a free set of clothes –Rarity Belle”

At least Rarity was safe, and remained just as generous as ever.

Spurred on by the coming reunion, with her friend, Twilight slipped through the curtain that acted as an entrance into the well lit interior of the circular tent. The multiple shelves, desks, and display cases still ringed the outer band of the tent, and the circle of tables in the middle had new products.

There were no customers that Twilight could see at a glance, and it wasn’t Rarity sitting behind the desk near the entrance.

Instead, it was a zebra, if her black and white hair pattern was anything to go by. Too young to be Zecora. It took Twilight a second to realize who it was since she was far and away different from her raider appearance.

“‘Sup,” Kerri Jones said as she waved. The former raider was in a red sequin dress with white elbow-length gloves. Her black-and-white hair had been let down from its mohawk to rest over one side of her face. She had the same light brown, nearly caucasian skin tone as Sergeant Dornan, Twilight realized. She was also clean, unlike the last time where Twilight had seen her as a zebra in Fluttershy’s cottage. The former raider turned her attention to Spike and her eyes went wide. “Oh, who’s the stud that walked in with you?”

“This is Spike,” Twilight blurted as she pushed the thought of Kerri and Spike together as far away from her imagination as possible. “Where’s Rarity and Fluttershy?”

“Twilight and Spike are here!?” Rarity called from behind the privacy dividers in the back of the store. “Oh heavens, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to rush the rest of your cleaning Mr. Dukov.”

“Ey, we go at whatever speed you like, Sweet Cheeks,” a thickly accented male quickly answered. “I need to run home to Cherry and Fantasia anyways. They get lonely when I’m not there to party. Why don’t you come over sometime, eh?”

Twilight wondered if Cherry or Fantasia were Equestrians. The names were fitting.

“As you can hear, Twilight,” Rarity called from behind the divider, completely ignoring Dukov’s offer, “I’m giving a customer a cleaning. I’ll be done in a moment. If you’re looking for Fluttershy, well, heaven knows where she is at the moment. She should be somewhere in Rivet City unless she didn’t tell me goodbye when she left.”

“I can wait a little,” Twilight called out as she checked the time on her Pip-Boy. It was eight-fifteen A.M. “I wanted to tell you that Spike and Pinkie Pie are safe before you send anyone to Point Lookout. It’s a long story how they ended up with us.”

“And I will be all ears when you tell it, Darling,” Rarity replied. “I have some things I need to tell you, too. Some Equestrians have made it here to Rivet City, and I’m not just talking about the raiders who got kicked back to Earth.”

“I passed by some, but didn’t speak to them,” Twilight said. “I wanted to get here as fast as I could without distractions.”

“She seemed pretty distracted by the giant wearing the deathclaw skull,” Spike snorted off to the side of Twilight… just out of slapping range. “Do any of you know what his deal is?”

“Deathclaw Joe?” Kerri asked. “Well, he’s huge, he’s strong, and he looks and fights like he’s Grognak the Barbarian… just don’t tell him the Grognak comic books aren’t the legends of his ancestor.”

“But Grognak is just a comic book, right?” Twilight asked.

“Can I buy some comics while we’re here?” Spike asked.

Kerri ignored Spike and answered Twilight’s question with a wide, cocky grin that was missing a few teeth. “Are you really gonna tell the seven foot tall guy who fist-fights supermutants when he’s bored that he’s delusional?”

Very valid point.

“Alright,” Rarity said loudly. “We’re done here, Mr. Dukov. Please turn the sign to ‘Closed’ on your way out. I do not wish for my reunion with some friends to be interrupted.”

“Whatever you say, Sweet Cheeks,” Dukov said as he came around the dividers. He was a middle-aged bald man, dressed in bright red pajama bottoms, an equally red button-up pajama shirt, and simple black dress shoes.

Twilight stepped out of his way as he passed by without a word. Rarity came out from behind the divider, telekinetically pulled over a nearby fainting couch, then flopped across it with a disgusted grunt.

“Ugh, Dukov somehow has less charm than Zephyr Breeze. I don’t see how Cherry and Fantasia could stand to live with that… that brute.” Rarity threw her head back with a hand against her temple as she levitated over a metal pail. “Excuse me, darling, but I’m going to be violently ill into this bucket after what I saw.”

Twilight turned away from Rarity, hoping that she wasn’t actually ill and was just being a drama queen.

“Are Cherry and Fantasia ponies?” Twilight asked. “And why would they stay with what I can only guess is a lecherous creep?”

“They’re humans,” Kerri said. “And Dukov is one rich bastard who is a good shot. Any time the crew that lives literally right next to him tries to make any moves, they end up run off by a hail of bullets.”

So protection in exchange for discomfort.

“Okay, I think I’m fine,” Rarity said, tossing the still-empty bucket away as she sat upright on the couch. “How are you, darling? And Spikey Wikey, oh my. You’re so tall and—”

“Wide at the shoulders and narrow at the waist,” Kerri interrupted as she leaned partially over the desk. “Dude’s built like a fuckin’ triangle.”

Twilight facepalmed.

Now both of them were fawning over Spike.

“Can we please talk about the other Equestrians in this world?” Twilight cried out. “Maybe over some breakfast?”

She looked at her arms with a frown. They were still skinny and thin. Of course, she wouldn’t regain a healthy body weight after just a few days. Daniel and Pinkie could wait a little while as she spent some time eating a second breakfast.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight sat across from Rarity in the cafeteria of the Weatherly Hotel, her second breakfast in front of her. A nice steaming hot bowl of squirrel stew, just like her first real meal after Daniel had rescued her.

Spike was seated next to her with his own bowl of stew, and across the table from him was Kerri, who wasn’t allowed to stay in the shop on her own.

It was nice being back in the same cafeteria where she’d had her date with Daniel. She wished he could be with her as Rarity finished explaining what had happened to the Equestrians.

She could use his support.

“Do you know how far away Paradise Falls is?” Twilight asked with gritted teeth. Slavery was unfortunately very alive and well in the Capital Wasteland.

The New Horde had ambushed a slaver caravan and freed several captured Equestrians. Unfortunately, the caravan the New Horde had liberated wasn’t the only group. Deathclaw Joe had housed the ones he had freed with his gang until he had heard Fluttershy’s broadcast.

According to Kerri, Deathclaw Joe was from The Pitt. Nobody who escaped The Pitt had a positive view of slavers, or slavery.

“Far to the North,” Rarity said bitterly. The older mare turned and spat in disgust. Twilight understood the other mare’s contempt. Rarity had been briefly enslaved by Diamond Dogs until she escaped.

“Do any of you know anything about Paradise Falls?” Spike asked. “If it's anything like the Turtledove Detention Camp, I want to help free the slaves.”

“The what?” Twilight asked. She hadn’t heard of the camp in Spike’s retelling of his adventures in Point Lookout.

“Part of that old Chinese Spy mission Pinkie and I completed involved us fighting our way into a pre-war prison camp for Chinese detainees of the Defense Intelligence Agency,” Spike said. “We had to open up the drawers in the morgue to find Agent Yang’s body.”

Twilight’s ears flicked at the name. The DIA’d had their grubby fingers in Equestria two centuries prior, according to Celestia. Her counter-intelligence advisor had been a DIA agent who changed sides because of what he knew the American government was planning.

“I know about Paradise falls,” Kerri said with a heavy sigh. “I was an… ‘involuntary resident’ for a few years. It’s not a happy place. They put you in a cage with a dozen or so other people, and all of you are wearing a bomb collar around your neck. If you run past the invisible fence, your head pops like a virgin’s cherry.”

That’s insane. They can’t be pre-war inventions, can they? Of course they are, it’s a remotely detonated collar. The skills and materials needed to make one would only really exist before the war.

“That kind of barbarity is why I’ve sent almost all of my mercenaries with supplies to go assist the Temple of the Union. A runaway, who I shall not name, asked me for my help in protecting themself from a slaver named Sister.”

“Sister?” Twilight asked. When did so many humans start using Equestrian names?

“A funny name doesn’t make him any less of a threat,” Rarity said. “I offered my help to this anonymous runaway, and they let me know about an abolitionist group called the Temple of the Union. Show me your little wrist-map and I can point out where Paradise Falls is, and the Temple of the Union, too.”

Twilight quickly held out her Pip-Boy. She was going to check out the Temple of the Union later. They would be necessary to free the rest of the Equestrians, as they would likely know how to defuse the explosive collars.

“Have you thought about buying the Equestrians from Paradise Falls?” Spike asked. “You have your own shop, right?”

“My pockets are deep but the well has to run dry eventually,” Rarity said softly. “I’m close to running into the red as is, otherwise I would have already been on my way to Point Lookout to get you, Spikey Wikey. And I don’t want to support the slavers, even if it means freeing Equestrians.”

Twilight bit her tongue.

If Rarity wasn’t buying the Equestrians, then who would? But Rarity was also right. Purchasing them would only put caps into the pockets of slavers. Which took her right back to the Temple of the Union being the only good option available at the moment.

But that would be after chasing down the lead on Daniel’s father. Rarity and Fluttershy could handle making contact with the abolitionists. She didn’t have to do everything.

“I need to hurry up and get back to Daniel,” Twilight said, not pressing the issue on the Equestrian slaves. She slid out of the booth and stood up. “You coming, Spike?”

“I think I’d like to stay here with Rarity and Flutteshy,” Spike said quickly. He then added just as fast, “If that’s okay with you, that is.”

Twilight smiled. It was his choice to stay or not. That was why she had asked if he was coming instead of telling him that it was time to go.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight blinked several times as her sight adjusted to the new surroundings. She was back at camp, Daniel and Pinkie Pie busily chatting away with each other by the smoldering remains of the cooking fire.

The latter had her cannon across her lap, a panel open on the side as she busied herself with working over the internals with a screwdriver. Twilight had bought nearly a dozen grenades for her friend.

She quickly checked the time, followed by the map. Nine-oh-six A.M. By her best guess, it would take several hours to walk to Smith Casey’s Garage.

With the heavy books and bags of seeds dropped off to Dr. Madison Li, the lighter backpack wouldn’t pin her wings. And her horn was now able to reliably levitate things. Twilight was sure she could fly everyone to Smith Casey’s garage in less than thirty minutes.

Or fly there by herself, teleport back to camp, grab Pinkie and Daniel, then teleport again to Smith Casey’s Garage.

Ohhhh yeah, our days of slow travel are over.

With all the time she would save by flying and teleporting, she knew it wouldn’t take long before they found Daniel’s father, or picked up his trail again at the very least. Then she would be off to liberate the Equestrians from Paradise Falls, and if she had time after that, pay a visit to Deathclaw Joe with Fluttershy.

I should write out an itinerary for myself to maximize my efficiency.

<>~<>~<>

“You wanted to meet in private, why?” General Beckett sneered as he aggressively jabbed a fingertip onto his desk for emphasis with enough force that Colonel Michael Hoffman swore it was going to break.

He tensed as his eyes drifted to the bloodstain on the carpet in front of the General’s desk. The price of stepping out of line was clear for him to see.

“Colonel,” General Becket said irritably, “my eyes are up here. Answer the question or get out of my office and do your job.”

“Sir,” Colonel Hoffman replied, saluting. “The three tactical nukes have been dismounted ahead of schedule. My engineers are installing the remote controlled fusion pulse charges, which will take several hours. I’m merely here to suggest that we might be overdoing it by using three weapons at once. The plan was capitulation, not annihilation.”

The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were firecrackers compared to these tactical nukes. Fifteen and twenty-five kilotons versus a hundred-and-seventy kilotons.

“Do you know what we’re up against?” General Beckett asked with a tone as sharp as an assassin’s blade. “What we’re really up against?”

Colonel Hoffman pinched the bridge of his nose.

“A formerly non-expansionist group of mutants who posed little existential threat to us until we shook the hornet's nest,” Colonel Hoffman replied. He was too exhausted with the General’s insanity to care that he was calling the General out on his bullshit. Colonel Hoffman knew breaking it gently wouldn’t work on a man who had shot his own daughter. “Their pacifist nature is fading as they militarize under the existential threat that we pose to them.”

Every new report from the SOCOM agents within Equestria had been a grim one. The window for an easy occupation was closing as more and more Equestrians took up arms.

Hoffman turned his attention back to the General, and swore the older man was going to crack molars with the strength of his clenched jaw. The General took several long seconds to breathe through his flaring nostrils.

“Et tu, Brute?” General Beckett asked as he slowly pushed his chair back, the feet grinding heavily on the floor. He stood up, and Hoffman’s heart stopped…

But the General didn’t draw his pistol. He turned around to face the shelves full of American memorabilia.

“You don’t see what they’ve done,” General Beckett said, his voice low, almost whisper-like. “There are times I feel like I’m a bystander watching a train crash as their rot slowly infects those around me. Their corrupt ideals and impure genes. How many SOCOM members have chosen to stay in their non-human forms despite the lab churning out Serum 9 by the crate-full?”

Colonel Hoffman didn’t care enough about genetic purity to keep a track on who kept their wings or whatever else a trip to the other world gave them. Lieutenant Colonel Tuckett’s new pegasi ears were cute and scratchable.

In a professional, platonic way, of course.

“I don’t know, sir,” Colonel Hoffman replied, scratching the back of his head. He was glad the General had his back turned.

“Eighteen, not counting Electrum,” General Beckett said in a tone as if he had just chewed on a lemon. He still stayed facing the shelves, idly reaching for one object or another to look over. “With the murder of our rightful president and Colonel Autumn’s defection, us true Americans are a dying breed. We can’t allow ourselves to be replaced by these… mutants. How long will it be before their ideals infect us?”

General Beckett finally turned around. He held a folder in one hand which he tossed onto the table. The manilla file was stamped TOP SECRET in bold red letters.

“What is this?” Colonel Hoffman asked, cautiously reaching for the folder as if it were a snarling dog threatening to bite.

“Everything the DIA learned about Princess Celestia two centuries ago,” General Beckett said. “We face an enemy with time on her side, and now she has a sibling with her that can enter and influence our dreams. We have the exhausting task of holding the line against an enemy that can peacefully wait us out for an eternity as moral decay claims us.”

Colonel Hoffman opened the folder. The first page was dedicated to a massive black and white photograph.

A crowd stood in front of a large mirror. He recognized Dr. Steineslaus Braun standing beside the hero of Alaska, General Constantine Chase. The general was shaking hands with…

“She visited Virtual Strategic Solutions!?”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight yelled profanity as she flew high into the sky, dragging Pinkie Pie and Daniel upwards with her magic.

The yao guai’s paw just missed Pinkie Pie, who aimed her grenade launching party cannon downwards.

“Take this, ya oversized teddy!” Pinkie yelled as her cannon spat two grenades before the panel on the side flew off the cannon, trailed by springs and gears.

The two fragmentation grenades that had managed to fire landed by the yao guai’s paws, bounced, then detonated into clouds of shrapnel that ripped bloody holes into the mutated bear’s mottled hide. The massive, lumbering beast stumbled, swiped ineffectively at the air one more time, then fell over, dead.

“I swear that wasn’t there before I got you guys!” Twilight cried out as she circled the small, single story building from the air.

She could see the tall, white spire of Tenpenny Tower miles away, and to the east of the garage was a giant quarry that had been renovated to house a massive factory complex.

Twilight could see the corpses of both a hydra and a supermutant behemoth splayed out between train cars.

Humans in patchwork armor busied themselves with hacking off meat from the hydra’s body.

“So that’s Evergreen Mills,” Twilight said, recalling the radio broadcast.

“So, um, can you set us down now, hun?” Daniel asked. “Please.”

“Right, afraid of heights,” Twilight said as she descended towards the front of the garage, which was dominated by two rusting roll-up garage doors. Piled up in front of them was a small hill of rotting tires in the middle of time-worn vehicles.

Above the roll-up doors were a series of bold black letters. ‘Smith Caseys’ they proclaimed. They were hard to make out at a distance against the dark brown cinder blocks that made up the walls of the small, almost unassuming garage.

The most distinct feature of the building that Twilight could see was the Red Rocket gas station next to the garage, and its large, red, rocket-shaped awning over the pumps. The rest of the building was a mix of brown and black.

They landed in front of a solid blue metal door.

“So why would my dad come here?” Daniel asked once his hooves had touched the ground. “I mean, it doesn’t look very important. Do you remember if he told Rarity why he was coming here?”

Twilight shook her head as she reached for the handle of the door. “I can’t recall if she said anything. Only that he showed her that he was coming here before leaving Rivet City.”

“Maybe he’s salvaging parts for Project Purity?” Pinkie Pie asked with an explosive sigh. She knelt down and turned her party cannon on its side, exposing the now missing panel. “I knew I should have used the one-inch screws instead of the half-inch. Guess the egg is on me. My cannon’s busted beyond anything I can do in the field, Twi.”

It had lasted long enough to get the job done.

“Well, we are about to head into a garage,” Twilight said. “Maybe there will be tools and salvage inside you can fix it with.”

Pinkie Pie sprang upright with an audible ‘sproing’ and a wide grin. “Well, what are we waiting for!?”

Twilight turned the handle to the door and pulled it open.

<>~<>~<>

BANG

Twilight winced in pain as her ears rang, temporarily deafened as she killed the second of three cockroaches. Each one was the size of a chihuahua with a temperament to match.

Daniel picked the third up with his magic and threw it out the window.

“Gah!” Twilight yelled, barely able to hear herself. “Why are guns so much louder indoors!?”

“What, you want to mow the lawn!?” Pinkie Pie called into her ear beside her. “I don’t see how that helps us find Daniel’s father.”

Twilight facepalmed. “I said—”

“Why are guns so much louder indoors,” Pinkie Pie interrupted her with a giggling snort. “I heard you the first time, silly. I just wanted to have a laugh.”

Pinkie Pie hopped past Twilight and deeper into the garage, her lever-action rifle in her hands.

“Ughh, Pinkie, you are so random,” Twilight muttered as she followed her friend behind the front counter. She stopped next to Pinkie Pie, the two of them staring down at a stained mattress on the floor, and the skeleton that was on it.

“D-daniel, don’t come arou—” Twilight started to say, but Daniel quickly leapt over the counter, knocking over an old coffee pot and several empty Nuka~Cola bottles which shattered on the floor.

“Oh,” Daniel gasped, clutching his chest. “You nearly gave me a heart attack… that person’s been here a long time.”

He took a deep breath, before he looked Twilight in the eyes. “Please, Twi, if we do find him, like, well, like…” Daniel glanced at the skeleton and back to her. “Please don’t try to break it to me slowly. I can take it.”

“I will,” Twilight said after a momentary pause. She levitated the copy of Tumblers Today out of the open safe at the head of the mattress and shoved it into her backpack before she turned towards the empty door frame. Beyond it was the garage portion of the building.

Stepping through the arch, Twilight slowly craned her neck to scan the room. No other bugs or critters to attack them. As a matter of fact, the garage area was largely empty.

A rusted car and motorcycle were both crammed into one of the two bays. The shelves and toolboxes which lined the walls around the garage had long been picked clean in the two centuries since the apocalypse.

There was a large rectangular metal plate on the left-hand side of the otherwise concrete floor. A seam bisected the plate in half lengthwise. The plates butted up against the same wall as a large junction box with a lever-switch.

Twilight reached out with her magic, clasping the lever.

Old habits die hard, she thought as she pulled the lever down with a click that was loud enough to register in her recovering hearing.

The two plates lifted upwards, revealing a set of stairs going down.

“Whowzers!” Pinkie exclaimed. “A secret passage.”

“My dad could be down there!” Daniel exclaimed. He took several steps forwards, but Twilight reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. He stopped, turned, and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I know you’re eager to find your father, but let me go first, please,” Twilight said. She tapped her knee brace. “I know what rushing ahead can get you.”

Daniel nodded slowly.

“I trust you,” Daniel said, his voice quivering with nervousness and excitement.

The trail to find Daniel’s father wouldn’t grow cold. Not if Twilight could help it.

<>~<>~<>

112

That was the number painted in yellow on the absolutely Ursa-Minor sized gear-shaped metal door in front of them.

“A vault,” Daniel said in a breathless whisper.

Twilight approached a large yellow console off to the side of the door.

“How do we open it?” Twilight asked, staring at the strange yellow panel full of buttons and dials.

Daniel joined her side. He looked over the panel for several moments before he unplugged a cable from his Pip-Boy and inserted the end into a circular hole in the panel. His Pip-Boy screen flashed ‘ready’ as a glass screen covering a large orange and red button opened.

Shakily, he reached towards the button, his hand trembling.

“H-help,” Daniel pleaded.

Twilight laced her fingers with Daniel and guided his hand so they pressed the button. Together.

A klaxon sounded, and rotating orange caution lights lit up on either side of the door.

Twilight folded her ears down, pressing against her helmet.

Her hearing still wasn’t up to par yet, but the large gear-shaped door sliding back was like an orchestra of nails sliding down a chalkboard all at once. She felt the vibration through her teeth as the great gear was wrenched backwards slowly.

It stopped in place, but only for a moment before there was a series of loud clicks, and the great gear rolled sideways, revealing a cramped, low room.

Twilight walked inside, flanked by Daniel and Pinkie Pie, and nearly hit her horn on the overhead machinery which had moved the vault door backwards.

“Oh my god, this is just like home,” Daniel said, his voice wavering between amazement and worry. He added with a touch of desperate hope. “Dad’s got to be in here.”

“Hopefully he doesn't mind that you’re a pony now,” Twilight said as she wrapped a wing around Daniel. They walked down a narrow corridor that was barely wide enough for two people at once. A low set of stairs rested at the end which would allow them up onto the railed platforms which made the corridor.

To the right was an empty security room, but to the left was an armored bulkhead door on thick hinges.

Twilight tugged the handle of the door with her magic, and internal mechanisms hissed as the door unlocked and swung inwards, assisted by hydraulics.

Beyond the door was a short hallway with an arched roof and another door at the opposite end. There was nothing in the hall except three large yellow shipping containers stacked on top of each other and pushed to the right hand side of the hall.

“Okay, not exactly like home,” Daniel said as the three of them entered the hall. “But I didn't get to see much of this part of my vault. I’m surprised vault security hasn’t swarmed us yet. This place is too clean to be in disrepair.”

Twilight had to agree. The armored doors were spotless and clean. There was no trace of dust in the hall, and the air smelled pure, rather than having the staleness of a long-sealed room.

They reached the end of the hall, side by side.

“You ready, Daniel?” Twilight asked.

He took a deep breath.

“Maybe… maybe Pinkie Pie should lead us in. She looks the most human out of us,” Daniel said.

Twilight could feel Daniel’s thundering heart.

“Good idea,” Twilight said. She backed away from the door with Daniel, and pulled the handle with her magic.

Like the first door, the internal mechanisms hissed as it unlocked, then swung away from them and into the vault.

Pinkie Pie stepped through the door, and a feminine synthesized voice greeted her.

“Hello, potential Vault residents. According to my sensors, you and the others accompanying you beyond the door are Equestrians.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide.

What!?

Chapter 33: Tranquility Lane

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Commander Jabsco, leader of the Talon Company mercenaries, kicked his booted feet up onto his desk as he leaned back in his chair.

The man standing on the other side of his desk was a weaselly prick if Jabsco had ever seen one before. Average height, short brown hair, caucasian, and with a face that would blend in with a crowd. The type of person sent to do a job before fading away without a trace that anyone could remember.

“So, Mr. Gray, was it?” Jabsco asked, barely able to contain his contempt for Mr. Fakename Smith. “You wanted to see me personally about an exclusive contract?”

“Yes, Commander Jabsco,” Mr. Gray said. Even his voice was average and forgettable. “My employer’s organization has run into personnel shortages recently. We are willing to make your mercenary company very rich in exchange for exclusive contract rights, in perpetuity.”

“So, what you’re saying is you want to buy a ready-made army?” Jabsco snorted. “Tell you what, Gray, I’ll bite. Make me an offer or get the fuck out. We’ve already lost way too many good men trying to push into the fucking capitol building for your employer.”

Jabsco watched the man slip a hand into the pocket of his average, forgettable wastelander clothing and pull out a note.

He pushed it across the desk, and Jabsco saw all the bold black zeroes.

“You guys must be desperate for manpower if you’re tossing that kind of caps around,” Jabsco chuckled as he dropped his feet off the desk. He leaned over and picked up the contract. “This bonus for ‘The head of President Abigail Jacklyn’ alone is worth a dozen normal contracts. Is your organization able to afford this?”

The man across his desk smiled like a deathclaw stalking a wounded brahmin.

“Mr. Jabsco, I work for the government,” Mr. Gray said. “We shit money at our problems until they’re fixed.”

<>~<>~<>

How do they know about Equestrians? Twilight thought, her mind racing just as fast as her body. She wasted no time in making it through the armored bulkhead door and into the room at the end of the hall.

As she rounded the corner and joined Pinkie Pie’s side, she laid eyes on the thing that had greeted Pinkie Pie with the synthesized female voice. A robot unlike any she had seen before. It had small tracks similar to a bulldozer which held up its gunmetal gray cylindrical body. Its two arms were made of flexible black tubing that ended in metal pincer claws.

But those oddities paled in comparison to the glass dome at the head of the robot. Amber color fluid filled the domed tank, and nestled inside within a cradle of wires and probes was a spongy, gray-pink lump…

Twilight’s stomach recoiled as she backed away in disgust, Daniel joining her side with an equally horrified expression. The brain was too large to be from anything smaller than a human.

“What are you?” Twilight asked as she fought back a retch. She shook her head, realizing she may have just offended someone. The robot may have been a person. It at least had been at one point.

“I am a robobrain,” the robobrain replied. Its synthesized voice betrayed no change in emotion, offended or otherwise. “I am the product of a collaboration between General Atomics International and RobCo Industries… I am detecting an elevated heart rate within two unicorns. Do you require medical stress relievers?”

“W-what?” Twilight asked. Is it trying to offer us chems to relax? “No, thank you, I’m fine. How do you even know what unicorns are?”

“I am not programmed to answer that question,” the robobrain said in its even, synthesized monotone.

“Ugh,” Pinkie Pie stuck out her tongue, then rapped her knuckles against the glass brain-dome. “Brainies are a pain. Spike and I smashed a few of them at this prison called Turtledove. At least this one isn’t shooting at us.”

So this robobrain isn’t unique, which means the pre-war world made more than one. Where did they get the brains? Please be some sort of artificially grown fake brain.

The alternative was… unpleasant to think about.

“I am not a designated combat model,” the robobrain said. Its tubular arm pushed Pinkie Pie’s hand away. “However, I am perfectly capable of making a mess that I will need to clean up later. I would appreciate it if I didn’t have to vacuum up disintegrated remains.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes at the machine. Things already weren’t adding up.

You’re programmed to sass, but not programmed to tell us about how you know what unicorns are.

“Sooo,” Twilight drawled out to catch the machine’s attention. “May we come inside the vault?”

“Affirmative, potential residents,” the Robobrain said. “But first you will need a medical evaluation. Do you consent to a full medical scan?”

A medical scan? Really? Twilight thought. Her shoulders slumped as she traded expectant looks between Daniel and Pinkie. If it was the only way inside, she would consent, but only if her friends allowed it, too.

She was on the fence about letting the brain in the jar do any scans on her. She didn’t trust it.

“We have to,” Daniel said quickly. “My father has to be inside the vault.”

“Might be nice to see if it can detect anything wrong with me,” Pinkie Pie said. She tapped the right side of her head where her mane had been shaved away. Her hair was already growing back, but it would take a while before the scar on her head would be hidden.

Twilight turned back to the machine and tried her best to keep her eyes off the brain.

“Okay,” Twilight said after a moment of hesitation. “Scan us.”

“Affirmative, one moment, please,” the robobrain said before it reversed a few feet backwards. A large camera-like lens attached to the brain-dome unshuttered. A bright grid of blue lines was projected over them, followed by a green horizontal line at the base of the grid by their feet and hooves.

Electronics and machinery within the robobrain beeped, clicked, and whirred as the green line moved upwards while it scanned them. A fan mounted somewhere on the backside of the robobrain spun at a speed that Twilight swore would start a tornado behind it.

She winced after a few seconds when the green line passed over her eyes. Less than ten seconds after the line had passed, the blue light grid winked out as the shutter on the scanner closed.

“Medical evaluation complete,” The robobrain said as it rolled forwards. It turned towards Pinkie. “Unfortunately, you did not pass.”

“I knew something was wrong up there, but why exactly didn’t I pass?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Scans indicate you are missing a small piece of your brain. It is enough to negatively affect the Tranquility Lounger system.”

“I mean,” Pinkie Pie said softly, her voice distant and fragile. “Am I going to die or anything?”

“Pinkie?” Twilight whispered. What isn’t she telling me?

“I… I know a chunk of my brain is missing,” Pinkie Pie pleaded to the machine, ignoring Twilight. “What I want to know is if what I’m missing is going to do anything else to me. My Pinkie-sense only works when it wants to, like a lightbulb about to burn out, and…” She shut her eyes and looked away, muttering through clenched teeth. “I can’t remember what my sisters' names are, or what they look like, just that I have them.”

Twilight stared in shock. Parties were what made Pinkie Pie special. She remembered everyone. Every name, every face, every birthday.

It wasn’t fair.

Pinkie had told her what had happened before Twilight had accidentally teleported into Dunwich. That the giant punga fruit she had been sent to collect seeds from had sprayed her with psychedelic pollen...

Then someone had cut open her head after she had passed out.

“My medical database does not cover your specific type of brain injury,” the robobrain said. “I have attempted to contact a specialist, but all exterior connections have been severed. Please seek out qualified medical personnel.”

Twilight turned to Daniel. She was about to open her mouth to ask, but he held up a hand.

“I talked to her about it while you were away from camp,” Daniel said before he placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “She didn’t want to bring it up to you and make you worry. We hope what she’s going through is temporary, and there won’t be any other down-the-road effects, but I’m honestly not sure. Brain injuries weren’t something I dealt with on a daily basis.” Daniel took a deep breath, slowly squeezing Twilight’s shoulder before he said, “I’m going to be honest with you. I’m still not convinced part of her ‘doozy’ in Dunwich wasn’t a seizure.”

Pinkie needed to get back to Equestria. The sooner the better.

“The first chance I get, Pinkie,” Twilight said through clenched teeth. “I’m going to get you home, then I’m going to head right to Point Lookout and find whoever lobotomized you and I will make… them… pay.”

If violence is the language they speak, then I’m going to get really fucking fluent.

“Thank you, Twi,” Pinkie Pie said, her eyes misty. She rubbed them quickly with an arm. “I’ll wait for you and see if I can fix my cannon with whatever is left in the garage. You never know if you’ll need the cavalry to come charging in.”

“Okay, Pinkie,” Twilight said, “we’ll see you soon. Stay safe.”

Pinkie Pie gave a quick goodbye to Daniel and her before she left the room. Even with her gone, Twilight’s mind still buzzed with worry for her.

What if she has a seizure while we’re inside the vault? Why didn’t I ask why her head injury excluded her from entry? Why is the fucking robot an ableist? I should have demanded that Pinkie Pie be allowed inside. Visitors should get a medical pass… right?

Grinding her teeth together, Twilight spun to face the robobrain and stomped a hoof.

“What’s next on the list of stuff that can disqualify us before we can come inside?” Twilight snapped.

“The medical scan was all that was required before we move on to the next step,” the robobrain said. “An assistant will arrive shortly.”

On cue, the door behind the robobrain opened, and a strange gray painted robot marched in.

It was human in shape, though the head was a nearly featureless curved metal plate. A camera protruded from the center like a cyclopean eye. The prominent bulge in the robot’s upper chest plate gave it a feminine curve to its chest. The aesthetic followed down to the robot’s curvy hips. The feet of the machine were shaped to look like solid high-heels.

It carried a syringe in both of its three digit hands. Each of the syringes were full of a dull blue liquid.

“Before we issue your suits,” the new robot said in a much more natural sounding female voice than the robobrain. “You will need medical injections to become more compatible with the Tranquility Loungers and suits. Do you wish to self-inject, or do you require assistance?”

Twilight slowly pulled one of the syringes from the robot’s hand in a field of purple magic. She levitated it to rest between her and Daniel.

“Do you recognize this stuff?” She asked him as she levitated it closer to him so he could take a look.

“Beats me,” Daniel said with a shrug as he grabbed the other syringe in his steel-gray colored magic—the same as his eye color. He wagged the syringe in front of the more humanoid of the two robots. “Are any of you ladies programmed to tell us what these are?”

“Affirmative,” the humanoid one said. “These syringes are filled with Serum-9, developed by the overseer, Dr. Stanislaus Braun, in partnership with General Constantine Chase’s pharmaceutical company, Chase Pharmaceuticals, around two centuries ago.”

“No fucking way,” Daniel blurted, the outburst making Twilight jerk and almost drop the syringe. “I recognize Chase Pharmaceuticals from the labels of psycho syringes.”

So these serums were made pre-war, but the robot talked like Dr. Braun was the current overseer. Things are adding up, but I don’t like the outcome. Are we about to deal with some sort of old-world mad scientist who is somehow still alive?

Twilight slowly glanced at the robobrain.

Pinkie Pie and Spike fought Professor Calvert.

“And what does this serum do?” Twilight asked as she levitated the syringe in front of her and narrowed her eyes at it. If one half of the creators were responsible for the raiders’s favorite rage-inducing drug, and the other could be a brain in a jar like Professor Calvert, then what did the serum do?

“It will morph your physiology into a form compatible with the Tranquility Lane’s virtual reality hardware,” the humanoid robot replied. “In short, you will turn into humans.”

Twilight and Daniel shared a look of surprise.

That sounded a lot like magic.

The humanoid one was more fluently well spoken than the other robot, which had Twilight ask it her question from earlier. “How do you know what Equestrians are?”

It was a long shot after the robobrain had stonewalled her but—

“Dr. Stanislaus Braun’s genius paved the road between our worlds. He is a very accomplished scientist.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. In all the wide, wide world of possibilities—separated by two centuries no less—she had found information on one of the people who had made the portal to her world. If Dr. Braun was still the overseer of the Vault somehow, then she needed to speak to him.

“Is there a way to reverse the process and turn back into a pony?” Twilight asked, her hands clenching and unclenching as she shifted from hoof to hoof. I had just worked out how to get our group around quickly.

“Affirmative,” the humanoid robot said. “But you will need to get Dr. Braun’s permission to access the pharmacy.”

“And is he still alive as the Overseer?” Daniel asked.

The humanoid robot slowly nodded.

“Affirmative.”

Twilight stared at her syringe. She wasn’t about to jam the needle in herself and become a human. Was she?

But I need answers… let’s hope this doesn’t hurt.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight let out a coughing, shaky breath as she stared up at the ceiling. She blocked the light streaming down at her face with a hand, her vision blurry.

As it cleared, it took her a moment to realize she had no fur. Only caucasian skin, and very short, fine hair on her arms.

She groaned and leaned up. The rest of her body had changed as well. Clear and visible to see as she had already stripped out of her clothes, with the sole exception of her leg brace.

“Oww,” Daniel groaned as he leaned up beside Twilight. He stared at his now furless arms. “That was a wild ride, ugh.”

“I’ll say,” Twilight said. She had almost blacked out from the pain. Now she was feeling cold, and her new skin had developed bumps from being exposed to the cold air of the vault. She pulled herself up with a nearby crate before she hugged herself tightly. The friction of rubbing her arms together helped warm her up. “Can we get our vault suits now?”

“Affirmative,” the robobrain said. It hadn’t changed location since Twilight and Daniel had stripped and given over everything but their Pip-Boys and her leg brace to the humanoid robot, who had already left the room. “Please wait while I acquire them for you. I already logged your dimensions during the medical scan.”

So, you took our measurements, but you can’t tell if Pinkie Pie has any life threatening brain damage? Stupid, glorified toaster. Twilight thought as the robobrain turned around and trundled through the only other door in the room besides the one they had entered from.

“So, I guess we wait,” Twilight said, her voice strained with anger as she leaned over and reached out a hand to Daniel. He took it, and she pulled him to his feet. “This place is already creeping me out and peeving me off. Now what in the hay is virtual reality?”

“I’m not sure, exactly,” Daniel said with a shake of his head. “But I’m pretty sure we’re about to get hooked up to some very complicated machinery if Dr. Braun is over two centuries old and we need to be humans for it.”

Twilight agreed with Daniel’s observation. She wanted to get a look at the virtual reality machines. If Dr. Braun had helped create the portal to her world—or was even the sole inventor of the portal—it meant that he was an accomplished techno-mage. The virtual reality system could be entirely magic based.

“I guess we should look at the context clues,” Twilight said. “It has to be some sort of machinery if it’s kept Dr. Braun alive for this long. Virtual implies some sort of artificialness, and then we have reality, so it’s probably a machine that lets you interact with an artificial world? Maybe it’s similar to when Princess Luna influences a dreamscape. I’ve helped her in the dream world before.”

I wonder if Luna could enter an artificially induced dream. Are artificially generated simulations comparable to a dream? I’ll have to remember to ask Princess Luna later. Maybe even build my own virtual reality device if Dr. Braun’s machinery is magical or not, though it might be all electronic and mechanical. Human technology surpasses magic in some regards.

“Earth to Twi,” Daniel said as he snapped his fingers in front of her. She jerked out of her intense concentration, and Daniel chuckled. “I asked if dream magic is common?”

Right, there is a world outside of my head.

“Not really,” Twilight said. To keep her mind off thinking, she occupied herself with stretching her new, human body while she looked over herself. Her cutie mark was still there, and her hair had remained a normally Equestrian color not natural to humans, so she wasn’t fully converted to working by standard human biology. “It can often be dangerous, and if you aren’t careful, can lead to a ‘die in the dream, die in reality’ type of scenario.”

“Yeesh, didn’t know magic could be so dangerous,” Daniel replied as he backed up and watched her stretch. “You look beautiful no matter what form you’re in.”

Twilight stopped her stretching, a blush creeping across her face.

“T-thanks,” she said. She glanced at the door the robobrain and humanoid robot had left through. It had automatically closed behind the robobrain, meaning there was no one to overhear them.

Twilight took a deep breath and looked down at her feet. A knot formed in her chest as her throat closed and she struggled to choke out, “Daniel. I need to tell you something.”

“What is it, Twilight?” Daniel asked, his voice almost a whisper with how low it was.

“When I visited Rivet City, I ran into someone and—” Twilight grit her teeth, hating how inappropriately she had thought around the massive, hulking stallion. She forced herself to look Daniel in the eyes. “I had some very inappropriate, lustful thoughts when I saw this person.”

She slammed her eyes shut and turned away in shame. How could she look him in the eyes after that betrayal? How she craved someone else, only a few days after they had married, no less. What was it about standing on two legs that made her so inexplicably attracted to men? She had never sought out partners as a pony. Was it the new exotic environment? After all, she barely had friends until she was forced to move to Ponyville.

Her spiraling cacophony of thoughts shattered as a soft, gentle hand was placed on her shoulder. She opened her teary eyes and looked into Daniel’s gray eyes once more.

He was smiling softly, his jaw working as he too struggled to speak. But there was no anger or disappointment in how he held her. Only comfort.

After a long pause, he finally managed to eke out words.

“I still think about Amata, and Moira,” Daniel said with a gentle sigh. With that admission, he caught his stride. “I think that being in a relationship doesn’t mean we have to stop thinking about other people. Only that we have to control ourselves and not act on those thoughts.” He shrugged his shoulders and bit his lip before he continued. “At least, I think that’s the right answer. This whole relationship stuff is as new to me as it is to you. But I’m glad you told me. I’m not mad, or even disappointed… to be honest I’m kind of amused because you’re doing your little flustered hair twirl again that I think is so cute, and I can’t be mad at that face.”

Twilight gasped and dropped the hand away from her hair.

“Daniel, you really aren’t mad?” Twilight asked. It was like a ton of bricks was lifted off her shoulders.

“Maybe a little,” Daniel said as he held up a hand, his pointer finger and thumb almost held together, showing only the tiniest gap. It was still enough to throw the bricks right back on Twilight’s shoulders. “But you were honest with me. We’ve been through a hectic few days together. I won’t let anything like jealousy ruin what we have, unless something actually happens with someone else.”

Before Twilight could reply, the door opened, and the robobrain trundled back into the room. It carried two footlocker-sized metal crates marked on the sides with black lettering.

S-F on one crate, M-M on the other.

The robobrain sat the S-F crate down in front of Twilight with a heavy thump before it rotated and set the M-M crate in front of Daniel with an equally hefty thump.

Twilight started at her crate. She squinted and focused on the latches for a split second before she remembered that she no longer had a horn.

A chill ran down Twilight’s spine.

Even when she had awoken in Minefield, missing half her horn, she could at least make it spark.

But to be completely cut off? Was the sensation of powerlessness how Earth Ponies felt?

She banished the feeling to the deepest, darkest corner of her mind that she could manage. It butted up against so many other things from the wasteland that she had already shoved away. The dark corners of her mind were getting full.

Twilight took a deep, calming breath before she bent over to unlatch the lid and open it.

Inside the metal box was a white jumpsuit with metallic portions in several spots. Each spot was covered in stud-like sockets.

Reaching inside the box, Twilight pulled the jumpsuit out and saw that underneath the suit was a skull cap covered in wires and more studs. She ignored it for the moment and focused on her suit. It felt as if it were made of multiple layers of thick fabric, with an outer rubberized layer.

The fact it was made of layers became all the more apparent when Twilight noticed the bulges of wires running between the sockets underneath the outer layer. She flipped the jumpsuit over, and saw there were even more sockets and studs, as well as the number 112 printed just below the shoulder blades.

The suit even came with built-in boots, the soles of which were also covered in ports and sockets.

“Strange looking vault suit,” Daniel said as he opened his crate.

The robobrain answered him.

“The neural interface suit will allow you to correctly link with the Tranquility Lane system, or any other virtual reality pod.”

So the machine we suspected is a pod of sorts, and from all the connection points, likely all mechanical. Interesting. Twilight thought as she found a wire on the backside of the suit’s collar. A socket on the end of the wire seemed like it would accept the plug running off the backside of the skull cap.

Okay, I see how those pieces fit together, and why Pinkie Pie would be excluded if this cap interacts with your brain. Well, I guess it’s time to suit up.

<>~<>~<>

Daniel slowly followed behind the robobrain, taking in each new sight. They passed by the atrium via a long concrete mezzanine, which gave him a perfect view of the titanic room.

The largest mainframe he had ever seen was centralized there. It was easily three stories high, and as wide as a barn. The entire surface was covered in blinking lights and panels. The exception was an area about mid-ways up the tower, an almost five-by-five square of charred and warped metal and plastic. The lights surrounding the burned section winked in and out like candles in the wind, rather than burning strong like all the other lights.

At the base of the tower were over a dozen metallic eggs resting on their sides. The tranquility loungers, Daniel guessed. All of them were closed, but he could see the large hinge that allowed it to clamshell open towards what he assumed was the front of the pod.

Twilight hugged close to him, whispering, “I’m starting to regret rushing in like we did.”

“Yeah,” Daniel said as he nodded slowly. “I am too. But with Pinkie’s cannon out of commission, we can’t exactly make threats.”

Which wasn’t really an option to begin with. His father’s life could be on the line. He wasn’t going to make threats to the people that might be holding his father prisoner. If they even were, that is.

The vault was giving off the feeling of an evil lair.

And yet, they were walking right into the same possible trap. At least Pinkie Pie was upstairs. And even if she couldn’t fix her party cannon, she could at least throw her grenades.

Pinkie had tried explaining to him how her party cannon pulled the pins of the grenades it launched, but three seconds in he felt like he was the one with the head injury.

Daniel winced. It was inconsiderate to joke like that. Pinkie Pie had a serious, possibly permanent life-altering injury.

The robobrain stopped by a door and turned around.

“Through here,” it said as the hydraulically powered door automatically slid upwards with a hiss.

The room the robobrain had escorted them to contained even more of the tranquility loungers. Six of them in total. All were open but one, allowing Daniel a better look at the pods’ interior as he entered the room.

Inside each pod was a deck-chair-like orientation of foam padding, complete with a head-rest, arm rests, and foot rests.

In Daniel’s opinion, the interior would have looked comfortable, were it not for the bed-of-nails-like arrangement of metallic prongs jutting up through the padding and limb rests. Each prong was oriented to slot into one of the many receptacles of his neural interface suit.

Then he noticed something about the pods within the room that was out of place on the pods in the atrium. The pods in the room had six large glass tanks full of green fluid, the purpose of which he could only guess.

More exotic potions? Nutrient fluid? Something to make the pod look cool?

Daniel didn’t know. What he did know was that the pods in the atrium all had empty tanks.

He stopped by the closed pod, resting a hand on it as he turned to face the robobrain.

“Is my father in this pod?” Daniel asked, heart about to explode from his chest. It had to be him.

“We pair family members and spouses together when we can,” the robobrain said as it trundled into the room.

“Can you let him out!?” Daniel asked, stepping forwards. Twilight was right beside him.

“Dr. Braun has placed James Neeson’s pod on ‘do not disturb’,” the robobrain said. “They are busy at the moment. You are invited in. Dr. Braun hasn’t told your father you’ve arrived. He wants it to be a surprise.”

Daniel’s desperate hope whiplashed straight into confusion. The flat monotone from the robobrain didn’t help his unease.

“Well, that isn’t creepy at all,” Daniel said.

Twilight nodded.

“And why should we trust you?” she growled. “This could be a trick… I’ve already had my fill of creepy old dudes and their evil lairs.”

Same, Twi.. at least there aren’t reanimated skeletons this time. Daniel thought with a shudder.

“It is no trick,” a thickly accented, masculine voice said from the robobrain’s speaker. “Please, come inside and ve can talk. I can not take direct control for too long vithout overheating the robobrain unit. As a token of goodwill, the code to the pharmacy is four, five, one, dash, seven, four, six, three, two, six. Ampersand is the—”

The voice cut off with a scream of static as the robobrain lurched forwards. Black smoke rolled out of its exterior fan.

Barely three seconds passed before the door opened, and a Mr. Handy raced in with a fire extinguisher.

“Shit, damn, and blast,” it cursed with a posh affectation to its artificial voice. “That makes two this week.”

“Excuse me,” Twilight called as the Mr. Handy sprayed the robobrain’s backside. “Which way to the pharmacy?”

She was already ahead of Daniel on wanting to test that code.

<>~<>~<>

It was a quick trip to the pharmacy. Daniel had punched in the codes and the door opened without any danger. Dr. Braun had been good on his word.

So, with some reassurance, Daniel climbed up the stepladder to the pod beside his father’s.

Laying on the recliner within was like laying on a bed of nails. He slid around until he was able to find the appropriate direction to slot the prongs into his suit’s receptacles.

“Ready, hun?” Twilight asked from the pod beside him as she too struggled to settle in.

Daniel nodded, his voice shaky. “R-ready. Time to meet my father.”

Daniel craned his neck in the other direction, finding the replacement robobrain next to his pod. The overheated one was still in the room. He nodded to the replacement, and the metal egg closed around him with a hiss.

The darkness Daniel was sealed in didn’t last long. Dozens of tiny screens flickered to life one by one, and the uncomfortable feeling of the bed-of-prongs faded away into the back of his mind as he stared at the bright screens.

I’m coming, dad.

His brain was overwhelmed with the urge to blink. When he did so, his body shifted into an upright position with a jolt.

Catching himself against a nearby wall, Daniel looked around.

Twilight had appeared in front of him, and was just as disoriented as he was.

They had arrived inside a circular room with large glass windows looking out into another room. While the walls were mostly metal and glass, the exterior was made of stone or dark gray concrete. It was hard to tell which material it was from within the inner room.

He focused back onto the interior. Consoles and terminals lined both the inner and outer ring of the circular room. The walls of the inner ring were also made of metal and glass, housing some sort of water tank full of dark gray-brown water. Daniel could just barely make out the giant silhouette of a statue standing inside the tank.

He was pulled away from the tank as the familiar sound of chalk scraping on a chalkboard reached his ears.

“Bah, if you change zat by too much,” a thickly accented female voice said from somewhere nearby. It was the exact same accent as Dr. Braun’s. “The backflow could damage the central pump system.”

Daniel slowly peeked around the curved wall. His stomach fluttered like a radroach was dancing inside him.

“On the contrary,” his father said as he stood in front of the chalkboard, one hand on his gray goatee, and his other holding the chalk. “If we adjust this secondary outflow pipe by three degrees—”

“DAD!” Daniel yelled as he raced towards his father.

“Son?” James asked as he whipped around.

Daniel nearly crushed his father with a hug.

“W-what are you doing here?” James stuttered. “You should be back in the vault.”

Daniel let go of his father and backed off a step as Twilight joined his side. The woman Daniel had heard speaking earlier joined Jame’s side.

“Excuse me,” the woman said. She was tall, almost as tall as his father, who stood at around six feet. She wore glasses over her hazel-colored eyes, and a lab coat over a normal blue vault jumpsuit. “I can see zat your reunion was not as I hoped.” She looked over to Twilight. “Shall ve give the family time to talk alone?”

“Yes,” Twilight said, backing away from James and Daniel. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and you are?”

“Oh,” The woman said in surprise, approaching Twilight with a large, friendly smile. “When ze scan told me it vas an alicorn vanting entry, I assumed it vas Princess Celestia, or her sister returned. I am Dr. Stanislaus Braun, and it is a pleasure to meet you. Vould you like some tea?”

James leaned close to Daniel.

“So, your friend is from the other world,” James whispered. His eyes didn’t leave Dr. Braun’s back as she left. “Okay, your friend bought us some time.”

“W-what?” Daniel asked. “You aren’t happy to see me?”

“I am,” James said. But Daniel knew his father enough to hear the subtle disapproval. “But why did you leave the vault?”

“The Overseer went batshit insane when you left,” Daniel said, clenching his fists. “Officer Mack and some of the other security guards beat Jonas to death before coming after me. Amata helped me escape. Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?”

“I didn’t want you to follow me. I wanted you to be safe and protected inside the vault. You’re my only son, and I love you too much to lose you out in this savage world.”

Daniel wished his father was angry and raising his voice so he could justify yelling at him. His father was supposed to be smart. The Overseer had had it out for both of them ever since they had arrived in the vault

“By leaving me with the narcissistic control freak who hated both of us?” Daniel asked. “You could have at least given me a choice!”

“I-I wanted what was best for you,” James said, voice wavering.

“I loved helping you in the clinic, I could have helped with… whatever this is!” Daniel yelled as he waved an arm around the room. “Is this Project Purity? Is this what you left me for?”

“Son, please, let’s not fight,” he said as he cupped his face in his hand. His way of hiding when he was exhausted. “We’ve never fought in the past… I left with the best intentions.”

“No, I’m not going to just drop it,” Daniel said as he ground his teeth. He puffed out his chest. “I’ve been in mortal fucking jeopardy for the past three weeks, and when I catch up to you, I barely get any acknowledgement? What the fuck, dad!? The woman I’ve only spent a few days with has been more faithful to me than you! What would mom—”

The stinging handprint across Daniel’s face cut the rest of his tirade off.

He whipped his head back around, rubbing his cheek as he locked wide open eyes with his father, who was just as surprised.

“S-son,” James stuttered.

“I’m going to go find Twilight and Dr. Braun,” Daniel snarled, nostrils flaring like an enraged hound. “I’m going to have some tea, calm down, and then come back and hope I find the father I knew waiting for me back here.”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight glanced back to Daniel and his father, trailing behind before hurrying to follow beside Dr. Braun. They stepped down a ramp leading out of the circular control room. He… she… checked a monitor beforehand, then waved Twilight onward.

“Excuse me,” Twilight said as politely as she could. “But when you told Daniel and I the code to the pharmacy, your voice was male. What pronouns do you prefer when talking to you and about you?”

“I prefer female, if you don’t mind,” Dr. Braun said with a smile. They reached the bottom of the ramp and headed for a door on the far side. “It’s a comfort that Equestrians are still teaching politeness two centuries on.”

“Equestria has always strived for personal freedoms,” Twilight said.

Dr. Braun scooted faster to reach the door just before Twilight and opened it with a gracious bow.

“Allow me, Frau Sparkle,” Dr. Braun said as sunlight streamed inside. “You are a guest here.”

“I appreciate the hospitality,” Twilight replied courteously as she stepped through…

Into a small neighborhood.

There were around a half-dozen single-story houses arranged along either side of the street. To the right, the street curved as it entered a forest which obstructed any view beyond a block. To the left, however, the neighborhood gave way to several two and three-story storefronts.

Signs hung beneath the overhead awnings. Twilight spotted one proudly display a lemon slice on the rim of a small, steaming porcelain mug. The name of the store was written above it.

‘Daisy’s Delicacies and Delights’

It would fit right at home in Canterlot. It even had exterior seating on the sidewalk like many of her favorite cafes.

Twilight turned around. The exterior of the building she had left was a small single story house, but she could still see the massive interior through the open door.

Right, dream world logic. None of this is real. Twilight reminded herself as Dr. Braun followed her out and shut the door.

“The cafe is just a short valk away,” Dr. Braun said as she passed Twilight. “There is much to discuss, but I vill answer some of your questions first.”

Twilight fell in behind Dr. Braun, lagging enough to peek around without the doctor catching a glimpse of her.

She searched for any other residents. With all the pods in the atrium and the ones on the way to the pharmacy occupied, Twilight knew there had to be someone else in the simulated world.

Her efforts were rewarded when she spotted a man peering cautiously through the window of a store across the street.

That was it.

Great, from creepy vault to creepy ghost town. If I start seeing mirrors, I’m finding a way to bust myself out.

“Where is everyone?” Twilight asked, her shoulders as taught as piano wire. Her eyes darted around. What’s going to be the demonic hound chasing me this time?

“Most are inside their houses,” Dr. Braun said. “The last visitor—the one before James, that is—stole something from us. He did not do much damage, but everyone is vary of outsiders now.”

Sounds like Ponyville with Zecora.

“Did they cause the fire in the atrium?” Twilight asked as they took a seat at the cafe. She sat with her back to the cafe windows, which were too tinted to see inside.

“No,” Dr. Braun said as she took the seat across from Twilight. “That vould be the vork of my former partner, General Constantine Chase. But that is a very long discussion for later. Is Princess Celestia okay?”

Huh?

“Y-yes, she’s fine,” Twilight replied. Not going to tell her I’m the regent of Equestria until I figure out what Dr. Braun’s angle is. “What do you know about Equestrians? You were the one who built the portal to our world, right?”

“Some quacks from a ‘think tank’ somewhere in Nevada… helped. Although, they mostly sabotaged my genius,” Dr. Braun spat. “My theorems were far superior to their inane scribblings. Sure, they created a transportalponder, but that achievement is invalidated because they’re flat-earthers.”

What is she going on about? Also, narcissist much?

Dr. Braun caught her expression and chuckled.

“Sorry,” Dr. Braun apologized as she scratched the back of her head. “You vanted to know vhat I know about Equestrians. Vell, I can tell you just about anything. I vas the lead scientist in charge of the whole program.”

Okay, let’s see. Here’s one.

“Have you ever visited Equestria?” Twilight asked.

“I turned into a unicorn,” Dr. Braun replied without skipping a beat. “My test results showed a ninety-percent certainty I vould be a gryphon. But, it vas no surprise that I turned into a unicorn. From vhat data I gathered from the tests ve performed on the soldiers ve sent to Equestria, humans have a forty-three percent chance of becoming a unicorn.”

Twilight remembered the journal page. The soldier from Alaska complained about all the tests. From saliva to stool samples. Dr. Braun and her team had been thorough.

“Did any of them get cutie marks while they were on the other side?” Twilight asked.

Electrum had been tattooed to blend in with Equestrians, but the soldiers from two centuries ago wouldn’t know about cutie marks until one of them got theirs as a pony… if it was possible.

“Yes,” Dr. Braun replied. “But it vas very rare. Humans are, shall ve say, chaotic in nature. Ve push and pull against constraints. But on the other hoof, ve are also very good at grasping the theoretical. It is vy I predict ve make such naturals vith magic. Ve use our villpower and creative minds to push magic to its absolute limits.”

Electrum was a prodigy with runic magic, and Daniel had picked up telekinesis almost instantly. There was no telling if an Equestrian that Deathclaw Joe had rescued taught him, or if he was somehow self-taught.

“Do you think a human could become an alicorn?” Twilight asked.

“Honestly?” Dr. Braun said. “From what I know of alicorns—vhich is very limited—No. Ve are just too chaotic of a species. Getting cutie marks themselves vas rare. It vould take an individual of strong determination, who knows exactly who they are, and vhat they represent in order to come even close to reaching their apotheosis.”

Oh… I still need to tell Daniel that I might outlive him by a millenia.

Twilight sighed and looked down at the table, her shoulders slumped.

The bell on the cafe door chimed as it opened, but Twilight didn’t turn her head.

“H-hello, Braun, the usual?” a man shakily asked. “Is the guest clear in your books?”

Dr. Braun chuckled.

“Yes, on both counts, sir,” she said.

“And what about you, ma’am?” The waiter asked.

Twilight turned her head to ask the waiter for a menu and her heart skipped a beat.

“U-unicorn?” Twilight asked as she laid eyes on the chartreuse unicorn pony with an amber mane. He was levitating a notepad and pencil.

“Pony?” The waiter asked as they locked eyes. “Has Celestia finally fixed the portal?”

<>~<>~<>

The sun was high in the sky, and by Fluttershy’s best guess, it was approaching ten A.M. She leaned on the railing surrounding Rivet City’s flight deck, eyeing Deathclaw Joe as he walked with his entourage across the bridge out of the city.

“So what’s your take on the big guy?” Fluttershy asked, eyes narrowed at the one human she had seen so far that could look down on her.

“Deathclaw Joe?” Slim Joe asked beside her, nudging his head towards him. “The guy is heavy into neo-tribal-feudalism. He acts the savage, but there is… something… I have no idea what, behind that mask. He’s different from other raider bosses, that's for sure. He makes sure his gang stays off chems for one thing. Sure, The New Horde buys, but it’s to resell to the other gangs… I think one of the New Horde explained their no chem policy as, ‘we don’t borrow strength from chems to weaken ourselves later’ or something like that. Why do you ask?”

“Because—”

“There you are!” Rarity called, cutting her off. Fluttershy wheeled around to face her friend. She was joined by Kerri, and a man almost as tall as herself. “Darling, I’ve been looking everywhere for you since Twilight left.”

“Is that Spike?” Fluttershy asked in surprise. Spike had turned into a tall, broad-shouldered man with scale covered arms and claw-tipped fingers. His draconic tail, wings, and head crest were still there, the latter resembled a mohawk, and his ears were still fins.

“The one and only,” Spike said with a chuckle. He joined her by the railing, which surrounded the flight deck, similar to the deck below. “So, what are you doing out here? You completely missed Twilight.”

“I was wanting to spy on Deathclaw Joe,” Fluttershy said as she sighed heavily and turned back to look over the railing. “I’m not going to trust the word of a so-called raider king when he says he gave back everyone he rescued from that slave caravan. I want to know if the Equestrians who chose to stay with the raiders actually did so of their own free will.”

“Well, I’ve spoken with several of the ones who that brute brought here,” Rarity said impetuously as she, too, joined the group by the railing. Kerri followed suit. “They say they didn’t feel coerced to stay.”

“That was the ones who made it here,” Fluttershy said as she tracked Deathclaw Joe’s movement like a hawk watching a rabbit. “The ones that stayed could be a different story.”

“You could just join his gang to spy on him,” Kerri offered.

Everyone turned to face Kerri, who shrugged.

“What?” She blurted. “Fluttershy’s got to be bumping six feet, the same height as his wife out of her fancy boots. Not to mention you got battle scars from tangling with super mutants, and fought Jack one-on-one for your place as our boss.”

“Well, if she joins, I can’t follow,” Slim Joe said. “And neither can you.”

“I know I’m disqualified because everyone on the metro line knows I’m a chem-head,” Kerri said as she rounded on Slim Joe. “What the fuck disqualifies you? You were the only one in our gang who didn't use any chems.”

“One more curse and I’ll get the soap, young lady,” Rarity scoffed. “Allow me to ask… Please, Joseph, will you tell us why you are disqualified?” Rarity harrumphed. “See, Kerri, foul language isn’t necessary.”

“Yes, Mom,” Kerri groaned. “Seriously, Fluttershy, sticking me with her is like, like… gah I can’t come up with anything to say that won’t piss her off.”

Rarity’s horn flared, and Kerri gagged on the bar of soap that appeared in her mouth.

Slim Joe shook his head.

“Listen, I’m old,” Slim Joe said as he backed away from the railing, his lion-tail flicking behind him. “My brittle bones wouldn’t survive the initiation. All I got going for me now is my claws.”

“Let me guess,” Fluttershy said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Initiation means fighting someone in the gang?”

“Yes,” Slim Joe replied. “You get to choose, though, and Deathclaw Joe has to be there to watch the fight and judge if you’re worthy. It’s not to the death like other gangs, and you don’t even have to win. Just put up a good fight. Oh, and no weapons outside of brass knuckles without spikes or blades on them.”

Fluttershy turned towards the group.

“Anyone have any brass knuckles?”

<>~<>~<>

Fluttershy landed beside a rust-eaten car in the parking lot close to the tower into Rivet City. Kerri’s knuckle dusters were clenched in each fist.

“Deathclaw Joe!” Fluttershy yelled at the backside of the raider king, who hadn’t even made it halfway to the entrance to Anacostia Station. Fluttershy held up her fists as the giant and many of the raiders with him whirled around to face her.

“I want to join your gang!”

Deathclaw Joe’s skull helmet shifted up and down as the massive unicorn looked her over. He set his metal crate of punga fruit down before surrounding it with the rest of the supplies he had bought, which included a wooden keg. Where he had bought it, Fluttershy had no clue.

“Alright,” Deathclaw Joe said. His voice boomed across the parking lot, even though he wasn’t yelling. “I have many of The New Horde here. Who do you want to fight?”

His wife stepped forward with a large grin on her face. She drew her sword and planted it point-first into the ground, forcing the blade through the cracked pavement.

Who do I pick to get in the best graces with the gang? Fluttershy thought, eyes narrowed as she looked over her options. Picking the weakest looking one won’t win me any favors… hmm… that could work. Now for a persona to method act my way into a high standing in the gang.

Fluttershy struck a pose, one arm extended as far out as she could manage as she pointed.

Right at Deathclaw Joe.

“Deathclaw Joe, I’m calling you out!” Fluttershy bellowed as if she were about to jump into a wrestling ring. “I’m gonna fight you in front of your gang, and I’m gonna win!”

Silence.

Fluttershy stayed in her pose, arm extended out, brass knuckles glittering in the sunlight.

“Heh,” Deathclaw Joe rumbled. He placed a hand on his stomach before he doubled over and exploded with a cacophony of laughter. A draconic roar of joy.

“Holy shit, do you have a death wish!” Deathclaw Joe wheezed.

Even as he stood up to his full height, his body trembled with barely contained laughter.

He spread his arms wide open.

“Alright, Equestrian,” He said. “I’ll give you a free hit just for amusing me.” He thumped his chest with both of his massive fists. “Hit me with everything you got!”

Fluttershy pumped her wings as she sprinted forwards, then leapt into the air as she put everything into her wings.

She closed the distance like a loosed arrow, arm cocked back like the string of a crossbow until she was right up on him.

CRACK

She beat her wings once to fly back several paces, eyes locked on Deathclaw Joe as he stumbled back from the force of her hit. Bits of bone sprayed in a fan off his helmet as it shattered in half.

He recovered faster than Fluttershy expected. A thin trickle of blood dripped down the left side of his face from his split eyebrow. The blood stained his bone-white hair pink on that side of his head.

He was smiling.

“Ohhhh,” He hummed. “When I went to your country, the only Equestrian I saw who I thought would even be worth fighting was out of her prime… a one-eyed knight-princess with two swords. Her accent was that of royalty.” Deathclaw Joe took a single step forward as he reached for the large iron clasp of his cloak. “Let me say something in a way like she would so I remember how legendary our battle shall be…”

With his thumb, he unlatched the clasp.

“Thy blow was a mighty one…” he shrugged his massive shoulders and the deathclaw skin cloak fell away to fully reveal his rippling, muscle-bound body. He was barely covered, only his privates were hidden by a large loin-cloth that left enough hip exposed to see a crown being torn into shreds by three claw-like slashes of blue lightning.

“Thou shalt not get another.”

Two massive, feathered wings unfurled behind him, and the alicorn flew towards her.

Chapter 34: Moving Pieces

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It was a commonly known fact that the Marejave desert was the hottest desert in Equestria. A fact that Sergeant Winter Frost was constantly reminded of as he flew in formation over the baking sand of the Vulture Valley region. He wiped beads of sweat from his brow with a foreleg. Even with the wind whipping through his mane, the heat was inescapable.

“You good, Frosty?” Private Gaia Flower asked as she pulled up in formation.

“I will be when we can get back to Las Pegasus,” Frost replied with a wince. The sunlight had bounced off Gaia’s golden armor and had nearly blinded him.

Private Swift Strike chuckled from his point in the formation.

“Eager to lose all your bits, Sarge?”

“No,” Frost said. “Just don’t like the fact that we’re headed right for a cave full of humans.”

The info had claimed that the humans should have cleared out after one of their side turned traitor—the only reason his squad knew where to look in the wide open Marejave desert—but nothing was ever that simple with the humans. Their mission was to locate the cave where the secret portal was once located and secure the site. Investigators would then arrive to look for any clues that might point to where this SOCOM terrorist group had relocated the portal.

“Well, if we run into any, at least we have guns,” Gaia said as she tapped her red crested helmet. All of them wore a similar helmet; it marked them as ponies with firearms, and told the troops who didn’t have guns to rally behind and stay out of the line of fire. Not that that would be an issue with this mission, since it was only the three of them. The fastest response team in Las Pegasus.

Frost glanced at his shotgun. It had sounded like a cannon at the firing range, probably packed as much of a punch, too. Gaia, on the other hoof, had a long, boxy laser rifle that cracked like lightning and left the taste of ozone in the air.

Both weapons had been confiscated from humans, meanwhile Swift Strike wielded one of the new Equestrian-built guns.

Frost glanced quickly at the monstrosity dangling from Strike’s side by its strap. The human who had instructed them on firearms had said it was crude by their standards. It wasn’t difficult to see what he meant. Swift’s weapon was little more than an open-bolt collage of stamped sheet metal with a wooden mouth-grip wrapped in linen padding.

“I think I see the rock formation we’re looking for,” Swift said. He pointed a hoof down towards a small pillar of stacked orange-red desert rocks. It wasn’t a natural formation—it was a cairn.

Frost clamped his wings to his side as he pitched down into a dive.

He spread his wings towards the end to slow his freefall and landed gracefully a few meters from the cairn. It sat on top of a hill, and less than a hundred meters down the slope was the mouth of the cave.

Gaia and Swift landed seconds after him.

“Nice dive, Sarge,” Gaia chuckled.

“Thanks,” Frost replied. He raised a foreleg to keep the sun out of his eyes. “Stay on the lookout. There’s no telling if the humans left any guards.”

“Why would they guard an abandoned outpost?” Swift asked. He stepped closer to the cairn. “Looks like they left something behind.”

Frost turned. Swift glared down at something green among the stones. It was a curved piece of metal on four small legs.

“Front towards–OH SWEET CELES—”

<>~<>~<>

Fluttershy stayed on the move. It was the only way to avoid another hit. Blood streamed down her face from her broken nose.

Deathclaw Joe lived up to his name and took a wide open-handed slash through the air like he was trying to claw the rest of her face off. She dodged underneath the massive swing and leapt back.

She knew that if this was a serious fight she’d already be dead. She was being pushed farther and farther away from the semi-circle of cheering and jeering raiders behind Deathclaw Joe. She gave too much ground to keep herself vertical, and there would be only so much to give before she was considered a coward.

Fluttershy dodged back from an extra-wide left-hook, only for Deathclaw Joe to send a sudden right-hook. It slammed into the chestplate of her combat armor like a sledgehammer. The meteoric blow sent her sailing backwards as if she were a child’s toy carelessly tossed in a temper tantrum.

She landed hard on the pavement, pain exploding through her chest and back as she rolled over her flailing wings. She skidded to a halt by the rusting hulk of a bus.

“Oww,” Fluttershy groaned as she rolled onto her back. At least her wings didn’t feel broken as she lay on them. Only sprained. Pain throbed from them with each beat of her heart.

Spike landed beside her, Rarity in his arms. Slim Joe and Kerri landed on her other side.

“Oh my gosh,” Spike gasped. “Your nose!”

Fluttershy grabbed her pant’s legs and pulled herself into a sitting position. She then grabbed her nose and yanked. Adrenaline and fury were not enough to keep her from screaming. Cartilage shouldn’t crunch.

“I’m… fine,” Fluttershy wheezed. She flapped her wings just hard enough to launch herself upright onto shaky legs. She dusted herself off, and her hand brushed over a dent in her chestplate. One that hadn’t been there moments earlier.

Did he pull the punch to my face? Flutterhsy thought as she snapped her gaze to her opponent. He faced his raider gang, one fist raised in triumph. His back was a quilt of criss-crossing scars that ran from his shoulder blades to his loincloth. They were the most prominent of the dozens of scars marking him.

Fluttershy had seen abused circus tigers with shallower whip marks.

Deathclaw Joe’s glowing horn pulled her attention away from his backside. A leather flask floated to his lips in a field of electric blue as he spun back to face her.

The cheering and jeering of the raiders died down as he drank. It was quickly replaced by several of the raiders pounding their fists onto their chests or armor. Several more joined, until nearly all of them were pounding their chests in unison.

Deathclaw Joe gulped down a mouthful of wine before he pushed the wineskin through the air, his booming voice trailing with it.

“Is this where your saga ends, O maiden whose mouth was faster than her wits?” Deathclaw Joe sang to the beat that the raiders hammered out. “Is your fight finished so quickly? Are you calling it quits?”

“Why is he singing?” Fluttershy wheezed. Her knees threatened to buckle.

“He really likes you,” Kerri whispered through a grin of pure glee. “The Knock’s started early for us. Play along and he might knight you.”

Knight me? Fluttershy thought as she plucked the wineskin from the air. She sniffed the open spout. The burning scent of alcohol assaulted her bloodied nose. She coughed and the pain in her chest and face magnified with the spasm.

Okay… maybe just one sip for the pain.

The concoction tasted like swamp-water mixed with sugar and berries. It left a sweet-tart aftertaste. Punga fruit wine or mead.

“Why in the name of Equestria is he an alicorn?” Rarity scoffed incredulously. “I feel like we’re glossing over that, but how do you expect to win against that brute?”

“I’m not,” Fluttershy replied. “Just got to prove him wrong and get in one more hit.”

“Fluttershy, I love you like a sister, but I’m starting to think you’re insane,” Rarity spluttered. “You don’t need to do this. Weren’t you invited to his party anyways?”

Fluttershy didn’t reply. She didn’t want Deahtclaw Joe to overhear. He was an alicorn.

She had a reason. A member of his gang would have more trust put into them than a guest. Making friends with Deathclaw Joe would be the best chance to see if he was hiding anything. And if the New Horde had as much sway over the other raider gangs as was claimed, she could use that to change the gangs from within.

And… maybe some part of her was insane. Deathclaw Joe would be the second time she had gotten involved with a dangerous, taller, older, powerful man.

She shook it off. First, she had to survive winning his favor.

He likes shows of strength and bragging. Time to adjust my role a little. I just wish I could pull off rhymes like Zecora.

Fluttershy chugged another foul gulp from the wineskin before she handed it to Spike. The strong yet fruity alcohol helped ease her pain like she hoped. Straightening her posture to stand as tall as she could, she raised her fists and took one step forwards.

“You boastful braggart, you tall bastard, your head so far up it’s in the clouds,” Fluttershy chanted as she rolled her shoulders and popped her neck. She circled the impromptu fighting ring. “It's a shame really, to be so high, it only gives you farther to fall.”

Deathclaw Joe matched her movement. They were like snarling dogs, growling at each other before it came time to bite.

“Your comeback was weak, your voice is meek, I’ll probably forget you by next week,” Deathclaw Joe chuckled. “You’re already toast, if all you can call me is a boast, lady who was nearly a super mutant’s roast.”

Fluttershy sprinted forwards, only for Deathclaw Joe to sidestep her.

She had no time to react before he was behind her, his massive arm swinging around to clamp her throat in the vice-like crook of his elbow.

“You have spirit,” Deathclaw Joe said aloud as he pinned her to his chest and lifted. She clawed at his arm and kicked her feet as he squeezed. Darkness crept into the corners of her vision as she spluttered and gasped.

He was going to pop her head like a cork.

“Sadly, spirit can’t replace experience…”

He let go and spun her around. She stumbled back as she dragged a ragged gasp of air into her burning lungs and threw up her arms to block a blow that never arrived.

“You may not be much of a fighter, but welcome to the New Horde.”

Fluttershy blinked several times. The fight was over? She tried to understand how she had managed to win his approval. He had destroyed her. He hadn’t even broken a sweat. Meanwhile, she wheezed like an asthmatic pug.

“D-Did I impress you?” Fluttershy stuttered.

Deathclaw Joe leaned close and his electric blue eyes bored into her.

“Not in the way you expect,” Deathclaw Joe whispered. “Your people often speak about their heroes… Fluttershy, Bearer of Kindness.”

Fluttershy’s entire body went rigid. Her heart dropped into her stomach and bladder threatened to empty. He knew from the start.

Deathclaw Joe patted her on the shoulder. “You are the kind of person that would defend the innocent to her dying breath, right?”

Fluttershy nodded, and he chuckled.

“Thought so,” Deathclaw Joe said. “You wanted to know the truth about why some of your people stayed with me. The truth is that they chose to be my subjects, no strings attached.” His horn flared, and he dragged his cloak towards him. He ripped the large iron clasp off of it with his magic. “I want you to take this as a mark of my favor to a specific building near here. Bring a few well trusted friends and strong fighters with you, except for Princess Sparkle. She’s an honored guest.”

Fluttershy cautiously grabbed the iron clasp.

“You’re giving me a job to do?”

“It is the most important task during a Knock,” Deathclaw Joe said as he nodded. “You're going to defend the pregnant women and children of my kingdom.”

“What!?” Fluttershy gasped. Raiders have kids? But… the New Horde aren’t normal raiders. No chems means they’re all healthy adults.

“Did you think we kept the little ones around while the riff-raff came over for a party?” Deathclaw Joe scoffed as he turned away.

I’m going to need to ask Slim Joe and Kerri everything they know about Deathclaw Joe… right after a stimpak and some sleep.

The giant knew how to make someone feel a punch.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight’s jaw worked itself over as she stared at the chartreuse unicorn waiter.

The waiter stared back and asked again, “Did Celestia fix the portal? It’s been two centuries.”

Daniel approached the cafe table and plopped in a seat. He didn’t speak, and he didn’t look happy.

Oh no, did my track record of bad reunions rub off on him? Twilight thought.

“To answer your question, Mister…”

“Tumbler Glass,” the waiter said.

“Thank you,” Twilight said. “And, no. The mirror cracked when the bombs fell. Celestia didn’t know how to repair it. My friends and I found it in a cave, and I tried to fix it with a mending—”

“You didn’t disenchant it before attempting to repair it!?” Dr. Braun screamed as she leapt out of her chair, her voice switching back to male. “That’s like trying to vork on a junction box with the power still on! Do you have any idea vhat you’ve done!”

Of course I know…

“It didn’t exactly come with an instruction manual!” Twilight shot back as she leapt up in turn, slamming her hands on the table. “I messed up, I’m aware of that, and I’m going to have to live with the fact that my mistake has killed dozens of ponies and gotten most of my friends disfigured in some way.”

And if Electrum hasn’t smoothed things out with General Beckett… so many more could die if the madman decides to go nuclear.

“Sorry,” Dr. Braun apologized as she sat back down. She inhaled a deep breath and held it for several seconds. Then released. Twilight knew a breathing technique when she saw one. “That vas rude of me. I apologize.”

Tumbler Glass patted Dr. Braun on the shoulder and smiled. “Anger is a state of mind, and you’re in control of what state you’re in.”

“Danke, Glass,” Dr. Braun said. “Vould you be so kind as to make all three of us some tea, please? Unless you two vanted something else?”

Before Twilight could reply, the door to the cafe opened, and a green earth pony mare with a yellow mane stuck her head out.

“Did I hear something about Celestia?” The pony asked.

There are more ponies here?

“How many Equestrians are in this vault?” Twilight asked. “More to the point, why?”

“It vas supposed to be my personal vault until ve discovered the Equestrians,” Dr. Braun said. “The Defense Intelligence Agency vas very keen on getting Equestrians into medical machines ve could monitor.”

There was the DIA… again.

“Celestia sent a hundred of us to this side to act as cultural ambassadors,” Tumbler Glass said as the green earth pony joined his side. “We were only supposed to spend a week inside this simulation before going back, but the bombs and General Chase’s meddling put a stop to us ever leaving. I guess it wouldn’t matter if Celestia fixed the portal or not.”

Twilight jerked. She hadn’t heard that right, had she? One hundred ponies?

Celestia had admitted to sending humans back to their probable deaths, but she had never mentioned anything about ponies being trapped on Earth. Did she know they were preserved in pods?

“You can’t leave your pods?” Twilight asked, trying to avoid suspicion leaking into her tone.

“No,” Dr. Braun said, venom in her words as she scowled. “General Chase bombed the mainframe, damaging the life support control center. Most of us vere brain-dead by the time I rerouted the system. Thankfully, Chase forgot that the supercomputer the loungers are hooked up to can save brain scans.”

“What did you say we became, Dr. Braun?” Tumbler Glass asked.

“Ghosts in the machine,” Dr. Braun whispered as if she were speaking over a campfire. “Vhich brings me back to the damage to the mainframe. Entropy is eating away at us year by year. Even the sections vith no moving parts are subject to outside forces. Ve need replacement parts, and soon. By my predictions, in ten years or less ve’ll suffer a critical failure. If the machine breaks, it could vipe the memory banks and take all of us vith it.”

Refusing to help with something like that wasn’t an option. She would save them.

“Have you asked my father for help?” Daniel asked. “He’s a scientist.”

“No,” Dr. Braun said, shaking her head. “I do not trust him, and he does not trust me. Vhich is fair. I vas vell known before the var as… nevermind. Two hundred years vith ponies and their stubborn tenacity to make friends and solve emotional problems helped me take a better path. I accept that I vas an evil person, even by pre-war America’s standards.”

Much like many of the villains that she had redeemed.

“Yeah, she used to be super villain levels of evil,” The green mare said. “For the first few years we were in here, Dr. Braun was a creepy little girl named Betty.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow and looked at Braun, who rubbed the back of her head.

Braun better have a good explanation. If it was some kind of fetish…

“I vanted to experience the things I vas never allowed as a boy. Vatering the flowers, gardening, sewing… the ponies helped me grow out of that point in my life, as it vere.”

Fair, but still a little creepy.

“So, why don’t you trust my father?” Daniel asked.

“James told me the story of his journey from Vault 101 to get to me,” Dr. Braun said. “Please take no offense, but I doubt that a normal fifty-five year old man outpaced his prime-aged son over the most inhospitable and enemy-filled terrain imaginable. James may be a man of many talents, and if he vas self taught, then he’s the most successful teacher I have ever met.”

<>~<>~<>

Daniel stepped back into the control room of the simulated Project Purity… alone.

Twilight had stayed with Dr. Braun to meet the rest of her long-lost people. The eighty seven of them that remained. Thirteen had already been permanently lost to the bombing and the following decay of the mainframe.

Daniel walked around the curved room until he found his father. He was still standing in front of the chalkboard, but his eyes were closed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Hey, Dad?” Daniel called.

“Yes, Son?” His father asked softly. “Before we get off on the wrong foot again—”

James rushed forwards and nearly crushed him with a hug.

Daniel stood frozen in place. His father practically vibrated with bottled emotion.

He felt a single wet drop hit his shoulder. The first time Daniel could ever recall his father crying.

“Son… I don’t know how to tell you this… but… but I left for a reason,” his father choked out. “I left to finish what your mother and I started… because I wanted to finish what we started together before I see her again.”

“Dad?” Daniel asked.

“Son,” his father choked out. “I don't have much longer in this world.”

Daniel’s throat closed. He couldn’t breathe. What had happened? How? Why? His father had always been in good health.

“What’s wrong? Can’t you fix it?” Daniel asked. “You fixed up everyone in the Vault.”

“I can’t fix what’s already been done,” his father whispered. “Only make up for it.”

<>~<>~<>

Colonel Augustus Autumn coughed into the handkerchief once again. The officer sitting in the jump-seat of the vertibird across from him tilted her head.

“You okay, Colonel?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” Colonel Autumn lied. He shoved the bloodied handkerchief back into his pocket. “Surface air does not agree with me at times.”

“Colonel,” she insisted, “are you sure a Full-Bird like you isn’t better suited directing back in Raven Rock? Frontline missions should be for junior commissioned officers. We don’t even have a full platoon to take the purifier.”

“I have orders from the President herself. I will personally oversee that this mission goes smoothly.”

<>~<>~<>

“So you act out normal lives to stay sane?” Twilight asked the cashier of the clothing store. The human she had seen peeking through the window was an Equestrian who had chosen to remain human in the simulation.

Everyone but Braun was a pony. Even if they didn’t walk around as one.

The Equestrian gave a faint nod. “Pretty much anything to distract myself from the fact I’m a bunch of ones and zeros trapped in a machine.”

Most of them had a similar story. Go through the motions to forget that they’re dead. Ghosts acting out a life that had ended two centuries ago.

“Thank you,” Twilight said. She turned to Dr. Braun. “I think I’ve spoken with enough ponies now. I’m going to help keep this place running any way I can. You said that you needed parts; is there anywhere you know of that I can find what you need?”

“I do in fact,” Dr. Braun replied. “The supercomputer here is almost an exact copy of the one at Virtual Strategic Solutions, a private contracting company that helped make the Tranquility Loungers.”

“Are you sure it’s still standing?” Twilight asked.

“The important parts veren’t built above ground,” Dr. Braun laughed. “Ah, the times I had there. Oh, absolutely magical. Vhich is ironic considering that is vhere I designed and built the portal to your world. Vould you like to hear the story?”

Twilight eagerly nodded. The longer she spent with Dr. Braun, the less creeped out she became. Twilight was enjoying speaking at length with her.

“General Chase and I vere both obsessed with VR. He vanted to recreate the Alaskan military campaign… and then turned it into a total fantasy devoid of reality, but that is a story for later,” Dr. Braun said. She smiled happily, her eyes distant as she lost herself in the old memory. “I vanted to use VR as a way to simulate scientific experiments, as vell as preserve my own life. Chase and I met in the company canteen by sheer chance. I started to talk to him about other uses of VR besides military training simulations. He suggested using VR for Research and Development for the ongoing var effort. By that time I vas already dabbling in technomagic and had created the G.E.C.K., a terraforming device the size of a metal briefcase. Very expensive to make, only a few vaults vere ever given them. I’ve told James about the one in Vault 81.”

Dr. Braun shook her head. “I’m rambling like an old crone. To make my long story short, I teamed up with those flat-Earthers from the Think Tank and used their transportalponder as a basis for vhat I hoped vas a teleportation gate. Project Slingshot, the military called it. A vay to get our troops deep into China. Vell, it turns out that it took us to Equestria, and less than a year later the bombs fell.”

“So, why did General Chase try to kill you and the Equestrians?”

“I pissed him off,” Dr. Braun replied. “It all started after Celestia’s visit to Earth—”

“Celestia visited Earth!?” Twilight blurted. She clamped her mouth shut and held up a hand. “S-sorry, my turn to be rude, I guess.”

Dr. Braun rolled her eyes and smiled. “As I vas saying, General Chase challenged her to enter the Operation: Anchorage simulation. I don’t know if he vas hoping to embarrass her or vhat, but she performed too vell. He told her to come back the next day and that he’d make it even more challenging.”

“So what happened next?” Twilight asked eagerly.

“The next day happened,” Dr. Braun said with a heavy sigh. “Celestia returned. Took Serum 9 and entered the simulation again. I vanted to monitor her progress, and realized only after she had entered that General Chase had disabled every safety limiter on the pod. If she died in the simulation, the shock vould have killed her.”

Twilight’s throat tightened. She knew it never came to pass, but the implication still sat like a weight in her chest.

Dr. Braun shrugged. “Celestia, to my surprise, beat the simulation. I did not tell her vhat Chase had done, I vas still a bastard back then, but I did confront General Chase about it. Our partnership died. The ambassadorial program happened. Then the bombs dropped.”

Twilight stared at Braun with her jaw half-open from the horror story she had just heard.

Celestia knew how to use guns.

And she was good at it.

<>~<>~<>

Princess Celestia stood behind a table at one end of the buckball field. At the other end were wooden cut-outs. They were meant as simple bullseye targets, framed in different ways. Still, the vague shapes were difficult to see through the golden glow surrounding her Type 1 Equestrian assault rifle.

She would have preferred it to be more like the American R91 than the Chinese Type 93, but Equestria needed weapons. And fast.

The most radical elements of the Enclave had refused to let go. Rather than making peace, they wanted to continue what the DIA had started two centuries ago. Set up Equestria as a puppet and steal everything of value. Leave Equestria with nothing for themselves. And if Equestria refused to cooperate…

If I can’t have it, no one can.

Nukes were simple childish aggression brought to its ultimate conclusion. Cities gone with the press of a button. A sore loser knocking over the chessboard and screaming ‘Who dares wins’.

They had always been an option for the Americans when it came to Equestria. It wasn’t their planet they would be destroying.

Why did I even let those ponies go? The cultural ambassadors had been her shot in the dark. A desperate bid to show that cooperation was the better path. Who am I kidding… they were probably dissected in a lab. I hope they didn’t suffer for my stupidity.

She lowered her rifle and turned away from her weapon towards Twilight’s castle over the ridge. The once raging fire in her breast had long since faded into a guttering flame. She didn’t have what it took to pull the trigger anymore.

The moment Twilight’s back in Equestria, I’m abdicating.

Celestia knew that Twilight would be a more fitting ruler than she ever was. The last one thousand years had been a legacy of decisions that had seemed right at the time.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight groaned as she hopped out of the Tranquility Lounger. Her entire body felt stiff.

Daniel and James grunted as they too left their loungers.

Even outside of the loungers they were misty-eyed and sullen. It was the same as they had been when she found them inside Project Purity, crying and embracing one another.

They needed a moment alone together. She wasn’t going to interrupt it.

“Dr. Braun gave me the password to the pharmacy terminal,” Twilight said as she slowly backed towards the exit of the room. James nodded slowly.

Daniel smiled weakly and gave a thumbs up.

<>~<>~<>

It was a short walk to the pharmacy.

Nothing had changed within the room since her last visit. Neatly organized lab equipment atop the wraparound counter that filled most of the perimeter of the room. There were a few gaps for glass-doored refrigerators filled with beakers containing a rainbow of colored fluids.

Twilight ignored the miscellaneous contents of the room as she walked towards a desk at the center. A terminal sat there, already on and ready for a password.

>Gretel_2076
<Password Accepted

Twilight rested back in the office chair, idly reading over the information within the terminal.

I see why Rarity wanted one of these for her shop. I could store so many books on here, or make lists, or do so many other things.

The possibilities when it came to technology were just as limitless as magic. Humans had made so many great things without magic. She wondered what humans could have achieved if they had discovered magic before Dr. Braun’s time.

She selected the file discussing the Serums. She knew from Dr. Braun that Serum 7 would counteract Serum 9. Twilight wanted to know what else Braun had made.

I wonder if Dr. Braun would be opposed to me copying her work. She did give me the password to the terminal.

Twilight filed the thought away for later. She would need Daniel’s help learning how to work the features of her Pip-Boy outside of the radio. The thought had her check the time. Eleven thirty-one A.M, Tuesday, September 4th, 2077.

They hadn’t spent too long in Tranquility Lane.

I wonder if Deathclaw Joe has left Rivet City yet, Twilight thought as she read over the notes.

Serum 1 was the inert basis for all the other serums. Serum 2 through 5 were simply listed as ‘failures’. Serum 6 was a potent anti-radiation potion deemed too expensive material-wise to mass produce over Rad-Away. She opened the file on Serum 7.

“Developed to induce the R.D.M—Random Dimensional Mutation—in order to better understand a way to potentially reverse or prevent it,” Twilight read aloud to herself. “Initial trials on the Chinese P.O.Ws donated from Turtledove show promise. Test subjects have been liquidated following visible mutations.”

Twilight twitched her body. She reread the entry several times to make sure she understood what was written. Liquidated was not a term used for people that had a happy ending. Given how the pre-war world had made the bomb collars slavers loved to use, there was only one way prisoner liquidation could go.

Dr. Braun had been a monster worse than any villain she had forgiven.

How much good would someone have to do to outweigh the kind of evil that infected the pre-war world?

<>~<>~<>

Daniel walked alongside his father. The air between them was thick enough to cut with a knife.

His father had admitted to a lot of things. Things Daniel didn’t want to repeat, even in memory.

“So,” Daniel said to get his mind off it. “How long do you have?”

“A year, maybe less,” James replied. “I escaped with only a few lungfuls of the gas, but my fate was sealed. I’m probably one of the last survivors of that day.”

Daniel chewed the inside of his cheek. His father, his hero and idol, was a war criminal.

“Did you ever learn the name of the town you saved?” Daniel asked.

James nodded.

“It was a small Christian commune called Drifter’s Rest. They took me in, and that's where I met Cathrine,” James chuckled. “We married in the church there.”

Daniel stopped as suddenly as if someone had punched him in the gut. James noticed his absence and turned back to him with a tilt of his head.

There was no way.

“So, Dad, there’s something important that I need to tell you about Twilight…”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight had stepped away from the terminal by the time Daniel and James walked through the door. The latter stared at her with an intense, questioning gaze while the former tried to body block his much older and taller father.

“Daniel just told me that the two of you got married,” James said softly as he approached, brushing aside Daniel with a gentle push of his arm. Twilight snapped to attention. Even with the low tone, there was a subtle rumble to it, like the tall man was trying to keep his emotions in check. Even though Deathclaw Joe had a full foot over James, the father of her husband was no less threatening.

“Y-your son is an amazing person,” Twilight spluttered, finding herself twirling a strand of her mane. “I meant what I said when we got married.”

James stared down at her, the corners of his mouth working slowly.

“Dad,” James said. “I love her just as much as she loves me. We got married in the same church you did.”

“You’re from Drifter’s Rest?” Twilight asked. She had enjoyed her short stay in the town. Maybe some common ground would help smooth things over with James.

“No,” Daniel said. “My mother was from there. He met her after—”

James cut him off with a hard look.

“That is my story to tell,” James rumbled. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, his large hand covering his face. “I wouldn’t be as upset over the marriage if you two had spent more time with each other. A full week at the very least. Daniel is my only child, and I want to keep him safe.”

She could understand that, but it didn't make the situation any less provoking. She inhaled sharply, trying to maintain an emotional balance after the rollercoaster of experiences she had been through.

Braun, the trapped ponies, revelations about the past and Celestia’s involvement, and then her step-father was angry at her.

No, not angry. Worse. Disappointed. For Twilight, that was the most crushing of emotions to have leveled against her. She did everything to avoid it from others. Especially those she respected, like Celestia. With disappointment, she couldn’t snap back in response, it would just make her seem unreasonable, and if their disappointment was justified, she couldn’t even be disappointed back. She just had to deal with living under their disappointment or make things right.

“James,” Twilight said slowly as she held up her hand. It went right to her mane again. “We’ve all been through a lot recently, and Daniel has helped me get through a lot of it. He’s a rock I can find myself supported against whenever I’m feeling distraught or afraid.”

She looked past James to the man she had fallen madly in love with and smiled.

James sighed. The sound was as loud as a hurricane in the near-silent pharmacy lab.

“He’s an adult, you’re an adult, and both of you love each other very much,” James said. “I won’t stand it the way. If you two make it a year and renew your vows, I will be there… if I make it that long.”

Twilight saw Daniel’s eyes tense when James said that.

Her hand slipped from her hair and her heart dropped like a stone.

“What’s wrong, James?” Twilight asked.

“Dr. Braun became suspicious of me after I answered how I had found him, and he was right to,” James said. Twilight clenched her teeth everytime James referred to Braun as male, but didn’t correct him. “I was a part of the Enclave for many years. Long enough to know Colonel Autumn when he was a young Sergeant.”

Twilight took a nervous step back. Sergeant Dornan had hated mutants. Would James be the same way?

“Why did you leave?” Twilight asked. Did it have anything to do with why he spoke as if he was on borrowed time?

“I was part of the biochemistry department,” James replied, his voice laden with regret. He turned away from her, and his face seemed to age ten years before her eyes. “They wanted to field test a gas that I had developed on a wasteland town. I knew what it would do to them. It was only supposed to be for pest control—mole rats and radroaches. Not people. I pleaded for them to change their minds. The Enclave insisted because the orders came from President Eden, so I sabotaged the containers and fled after the explosion. The town I was supposed to target adopted me. Drifter's Rest lived up to its name.”

The world just kept getting smaller.

James shook his head. “I met Cathrine there, found the good Lord, and pledged to make up for what I had done. But karma has a way of catching up to people. I inhaled some of the gas when I escaped. Recently I’ve started to cough blood.”

Twilight bit her bottom lip.

“I’m so sorry,” Twilight said, desperate for the life raft of a new topic. She leapt to the first thing that came to mind. “The vault had enough counter-serums for the whole population with some to spare. From the notes I read, they can even turn someone who was never across the portal into an Equestrian.”

She had already set out two syringes of lime-green fluid onto the terminal desk.

“Really?” Daniel asked. “If Dad turned into a pony, would that kill the cancer?”

James balked. “Are we sure we can trust Braun? She was a narcissistic megalomaniac.”

Twilight blinked. James referred to Dr. Braun as female. Had he just made a simple mistake earlier?

Nobody was perfect, Twilight had to remind herself.

“She may have been those things,” Daniel said as he scratched his goatee. “But she’s also a perfectionist and good at her job and proud of her achievements. Do you think she would brag about playing God and not try and back it up?”

James stared at the syringes on the table, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“If we’re going to try anything that Braun recommended,” James said with a grim chuckle. “Maybe it would be best to test it on the dying man first.”

<>~<>~<>

Pinkie Pie harrumphed in boredom, idly spinning an empty Nuka~Cola bottle on the floor.

Twilight and Daniel had been downstairs for a long time, and her cannon wasn’t fixed. Not enough spare parts around the garage. She couldn’t help but let her worry stew over her friends. With her Pinkie-sense being super totally unreliable, she couldn’t sense if they were in danger or not.

Her vision snapped away from the spinning bottle when she heard hoofsteps echo up the stairwell.

Twilight emerged first, followed by Daniel. Then a third unicorn emerged with a brown coat who looked like Daniel, but was old enough to have gray hair.

They were all glummed out, with their faces all frowny and depressed. It gave Pinkie Pie a surge of energy to spring upright.

“We should throw a ‘we found your dad’ party when we get back to Rivet City!”

Twilight smiled, but it wasn’t as big as Pinkie Pie had hoped.

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Twilight said.

“Want to start us off with some music?” Pinkie asked. “Anything will do.”

Twilight hesitated. It was for a second, but Pinkie still caught it. She fiddled with her wrist thingy that Pinkie had heard play music and selected a station. The song only lasted a few seconds before someone howled out.

“Helloooo, capital Wasteland, Three Dawg comin’ in for your twelve P.M. fix of that sweet, sweet, news,” Three Dog inhaled loudly. “Just smell it.”

Pinkie Pie giggled. Three Dog was who she had sent the holotape to. She had heard from Tobar that he was a good radio host. She would love to meet him.

“Hearing him again helps lighten the mood,” James said. “I wonder what he’d think of me choosing to be a pony.”

“Now you all know how Enclave Radio went all numbers station a few days ago. Well get this, I was just sent a request via holotape. The Enclave’s NEW president asked me to give you all a message on her behalf, delivered to me by a pegasus cyborg of all things. I haven’t listened to this, so take this with a wheelbarrow full of salt, kiddies.”

There was an audible click. Someone hastily cleared their throat and took in a deep breath.

“People of the Capital Wasteland, you do not know me, but my name is Abigail Jacklyn. I will not claim to be your president, as the power to govern comes from the consent of the governed. If y'all wish to join the New Enclave States, we will be sendin’ diplomats to your towns to negotiate the opening of embassies where you can apply for citizenship. And to the Brotherhood of Steel, who have been fighting in the ruins and rubble of Washington D.C., you have my thanks for holding the line and defending the people. We’re sending air support to the Mall, and I would like to personally meet with Elder Lyons if possible. Now, I’ll let Three Dog back on the air, and Enclave Radio should be back up soon.”

“Okay, folks, that’s a bit of a doozy,” Three Dog said before the music kicked on again.

“Hey, that’s my line!” Pinkie Pie yelled playfully at the radio. “He stole my bit!”

Twilight laughed out loud and smiled.

“Thanks, Pinkie, I needed that,” Twilight said. It was what Pinkie Pie needed, too, seeing her friend break out of her glumness. “Okay, let’s get to Rivet City, maybe take a little break.”

That sounded wonderful. It would be nice to settle down for a bit. Maybe make flashcards with her sisters' names on them to try and make them stick.

<>~<>~<>

Gale Force stepped out of her favorite coffee shop, the hot Marejave desert sun blocked by the clouds of Upper-Las Pegasus.

She whistled a tune as she walked unimpeded down the sidewalk. The ground-side streets were almost empty during the day. Only the occasional pony would pass by, usually a night-shift worker trudging around like a zombie to do chores before work the following night.

She passed in front of an open roll-up garage door. She knew the route, and the door was usually closed. Curiosity drew her to peek inside.

A pegasus stallion sat on an overturned bucket in front of a wagon. She could see one of his wings in a splint.

Force was about to leave, but the pony waved her over.

“Hey, you,” he called. “I hate to be a bother, but I really need to get this wagon to Manehattan before five P.M, but I sprained my wing. Would you take it there for me for a hundred bits?”

Force would have done it for free for a fellow pegasus in need, just like any pegasus she knew would. But a hundred bits was a hundred bits.

Chapter 35: Project Purity

View Online

James had never expected the Enclave to announce themselves to the Capital Wasteland. But to do it on Galaxy News Radio? Something major had shifted within the Enclave.

A song that James had never heard before played after Three Dog’s broadcast ended. He drew in a slow, steady breath to calm his nerves.

Rather than the ragged, cough-inducing vibrations from before, a mild tickle was all that remained. A reminder that time had been bought for him, but he was still a dead man in the end.

“Dad?” Daniel asked as Twilight switched radio stations. The radio belched out a string of monotone numbers.

“The Enclave complimenting the Brotherhood of Steel is something I never expected,” James said, scratching the back of his neck. His entire body shivered as his fingers brushed against the new patch of fur. It would take some getting used to being a pony. “Is Abigail one of your friends?”

While Daniel had explained some things, a lot more was still a mystery to him.

“Yeppers,” Pinkie Pie said as she opened the door for everyone. “She somehow got to be in charge of the Enclave and changed her name to fit in with you humans.”

“And she’s honest to a fault at times,” Twilight said, leading the group out of Smith Casey's Garage. “She even legally changed her name to Abigail instead of just calling herself that.”

The ponies were an interesting people, and now he was one of them. James chided himself for spending days on end sequestered in the simulated Project Purity. There had been dozens of ponies he could have talked to. But he’d had to make sure every last detail of the purifier was perfect.

It had to be, for the good of the common people of the wasteland. Purifying the entire tidal basin near the Jefferson Memorial would provide a near limitless supply of clean drinking water to the Capital Wasteland. No more small-scale purifiers creating one or two gallons at a time, but an entire lake-sized reservoir free from the taint of radiation.

And if it could be upscaled…

“James?” Twilight’s voice broke him from his concentration. She smiled up at him. “So that’s what it looks like to be lost in thought… I said, are you ready to get back to Rivet City? I can teleport us all.”

“You can do that?” James asked. Of course she could. If ponies could turn a pre-war monster like Dr. Braun good, then anything was possible.

Twilight nodded, and her horn glowed with a lavender aura.

Static danced across James’s new fur coat, and he shuddered as every hair on his body tingled. The exterior of Smith Casey’s Garage wavered as if he were looking at it through foggy glass in the moment before he was nearly blinded by a flash of purple.

He gasped at the sight of Rivet City across the bridge.

“Whoa,” James said, turning around in the circle to make sure he saw everything correctly. They had crossed most of the Capital Wasteland in the blink of an eye.

The joy didn’t last. In the distance, a vertibird had landed atop the support scaffolding for the large pipes leading into the Jefferson Memorial. The Enclave had beaten him to Project Purity.

“Twilight, can you teleport us over there?” James asked quickly, pointing to the memorial building. “I want to see what they’re doing.”

“I’m not going to risk teleporting someplace I haven’t personally visited,” Twilight said. Her horn flashed again, and James lost all sensation of weight as a field of purple surrounded him. “Pinkie Pie, go find the others if they aren’t over there already, then come to us.”

“Roger that, cappy-tan!” Pinkie half-giggled, half-shouted before she tore off down the bridge.

“Please tell me we aren’t flying,” Daniel groaned as he too was picked up in a field of purple.

James’s stomach fell into a bottomless pit, but before he had time to lodge a complaint, Twilight spread her wings and took off.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight descended towards the Jefferson Memorial. The front of the building was walled off to support the half-dozen large pipes that ran to the water basin. However, Twilight could already see another way inside. She landed near a half-open door at the base of the Jefferson Memorial marked ‘gift shop’.

A super mutant lay sprawled out in a disheveled heap on the ground nearby, his head violently torn open from an axe wound. Another mutant lay half-fallen into a bush, his head nowhere to be seen.

She gently dropped Daniel and James onto the ground beside her, and James bent down to examine the dead mutant.

“Too clean to be made by ripper chain-knives. No plasma or laser burns, either,” James said as he prodded the stump of the headless mutant with a finger. “The Enclave didn’t make these wounds.”

Before Twilight could inquire what a chain-knife was, her ears perked at the warbling electric crack of an energy weapon firing. It echoed from somewhere deeper in the building.

“Then who are they shooting at?” Twilight asked as she drew her pistol and pushed open the door. More energy weapon shots. Twilight picked up the pace as she entered a downward-sloping tunnel.

Thankfully the massive tunnel’s roof was arched and allowed enough space to spread her wings and fly. She could see the bottom of the ramp, where four Enclave soldiers in olive-green armor crouched at an intersection, shoulders pressed firmly against the wall. One of them leaned around the corner and fired deeper into the building.

A gray-haired man in a trench coat stood next to a woman in an officer’s uniform. Both of them had their backs to the ramp. They assumed the same stance, their hands pressed into the small of their backs while standing with their feet shoulder-width apart.

“Colonel Autumn, what’s going on!?” Twilight shouted as she slowed her flight.

Twilight regretted yelling instantly as the older man and young woman both spun around, drawing pistols. Only Colonel Autumn paused mid-level, and he quickly reached out a hand and pushed the barrel of his companion’s pistol towards the floor.

“Raiders, Princess Twilight,” Colonel Autumn called up the ramp. “A whole slew of them between us and the purifier. We dare not press our attack too fiercely, lest we cause irreparable damage to this here facility. We’ve been in a standoff for close to thirty minutes now, trading shots on occasion.”

His sentence was punctuated by the soldier firing their weapon again.

“What gang?” Twilight asked as she landed in front of the Colonel. She heard Daniel and James’s hooves stomping down the ramp close behind her.

“Gang?” Colonel Autumn scoffed as if offended by the notion. “Raiders are raiders, and must therefore be dealt with accordingly.”

Twilight ground her teeth. According to the Colonel’s blunt, absolutist logic, Fluttershy and her reformed raiders were targets.

What if that’s who they’re shooting at…

Twilight’s pulse raced as she grabbed the Colonel by the shoulders.

“Colonel, tell your people to stop, you might be shooting at my friends!” Twilight cried. What if Fluttershy had already been hit?

“Very well,” Colonel Autumn said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “But only because you are the personal friend of the president. I cannot guarantee your safety with these surface heathens. If you can get them to leave this facility in peace, I will honor the agreement and guarantee theirs. You have fifteen minutes before we resume our attack.”

That would have to do.

Twilight turned around to face Daniel and James, who had managed to catch up. She assumed they overheard most of the conversation.

“I’ll negotiate this by myself,” Twilight said. “If this isn’t Fluttershy, more than one negotiator could look suspicious.”

“Are you sure, Twilight?” Daniel asked. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed. “You said it yourself it might not be her, so what if they’re just raiders?”

“Then I have you and the Enclave soldiers here as backup,” Twilight replied. “And from what I’ve seen, I have a feeling we’re dealing with the one raider gang I know of that’s crazy enough to fight super mutants in melee.”

“Deathclaw Joe’s gang?” Daniel asked with a wince.

“Yes,” Twilight replied. She gave Daniel a hug and a kiss on the cheek for good luck.

It was time to see what Deathclaw Joe’s gang was doing inside Project Purity.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight stepped around a dead super mutant as she entered the room at the end of the hallway, her hands raised in the air. She had already called into the room to let the raiders know she was coming.

She gulped as two heavily-muscled raiders aimed scrap-metal greatbows at her. The arrows were sharpened rebar fletched with duct-tape. The power of the weapons was readily apparent from the nearby super mutant pinned to the wall by a length of fletched rebar driven through his skull.

“Hello,” Twilight said almost in a whisper. “Are you with Deathclaw Joe’s gang?”

“Yeah,” one of them said. “The Deathclaw King led a group of us to clean out the freakshows camping too close to our favorite trading spot. Then those Brotherhood guys showed up.”

“Deathclaw Joe’s here?” Twilight asked, perking up. Talking to him personally rather than a representative would make negotiations easier. Deathclaw Joe respected her title of Princess. At least enough to invite her to be a guest at the Knock. “Oh, and the people behind me aren’t Brotherhood of Steel, they’re the Enclave.”

“Well, fuck me, they do exist,” The other bowman said with a dismissive chuckle. She slowly released the tension in her oversized bow. It was a few inches taller than Fluttershy. “In that case, Princess Twilight, go on ahead into the basement. Our king and the others are trying to find a way out for us that doesn't involve starting a shooting war with people in power armor.”

“You already know my name?” Twilight asked.

The bowman nodded. “Deathclaw Joe makes sure we all know who is on our side or not. You’re on the guest list.”

Twilight didn’t pick up on any tells that he was lying. Deathclaw Joe really was trying to find a way out. Dropping her hands, Twilight set off to find the giant unicorn.

<>~<>~<>

James couldn’t believe it. He was less than five feet from the one man too stubborn and loyal to the Enclave to die.

“So, Colonel Autumn, was it?” James asked cautiously. “What is it that you plan to do with this place once the raiders are gone?”

“That depends,” Colonel Autumn said as he eyed James up and down. A deep scowl crumpled his face like an old soda can. “Are you James Neeson, by any chance?”

“And if I was?” James asked. His fingers twitched, arm cocked and ready to spring to the .32 caliber revolver on his side.

“I have a letter for James Neeson from the president,” Colonel Autumn said, eyes locked on James’s ready arm as he slowly reached into one of the pockets of his greatcoat. “He was the one who built this facility.”

“You two know each other?” Daniel asked as he stepped between James and Colonel Autumn.

James nudged his son aside.

“We do,” James said. He snatched the envelope from Colonel Autumn. “You look well for a dead man.”

“Likewise,” Colonel Autumn grunted as James opened the letter. The penmanship looked like the scribbles of a dyslexic brahmin, like the writer never used their hands and instead relied on a terminal. Given that Abigail used to be a four-legged pony, it made sense she wasn’t used to having fingers.

Dear James Neeson,

I’m going to keep this short because I need to make two copies of this. I know how your prior service to the Enclave ended. I would like to apologize sincerely on the Enclave’s behalf. You have my word that I have ended all chemical and biological weapons development. I know that does not mean much. That is why I’m personally sending you citizenship papers under your assumed name of James Neeson. You acted honorably in the face of dishonorable orders.

Now, there is something we have to get squared away. Project Purity was built on the Jefferson Memorial, a federal monument on federal land.

James grit his teeth. They were going to take Project Purity away.

However, saying that the Enclave owns it because the federal government owned the building two-centuries ago would spit in the face of common decency. That is why I am asking for your permission to quarter Enclave troops on the private premises. If I read the old laws right, it’s your third amendment constitutional right to deny this, though I hope we could work together to bring clean, fresh water to the entirety of the capital wasteland.

An Enclave team will arrive shortly after the arrival of this letter to help clear the super mutants occupying the building. A copy of this letter will be carried by the commander of that team.

With regard, Abigail Jacklyn, President of the New Enclave States.

“This is a copy, where is the original?” James asked.

“Rachel Dash delivered it to your old team member, Dr. Madison Li,” Colonel Autumn stated.

“And, according to this, I could tell you and your people to leave, and you would leave?” James asked as he skimmed over the letter.

“Yes,” Colonel Autumn said with difficulty, like he had eaten something sour. “But if we stay, we can and will assist in the operation of your facility. The president has instructed me that you are to stay in charge as its director and chief scientist.”

Project Purity was going to remain his to operate as he saw fit. If the Enclave helped, vertibirds could safely transport entire pallets of water drums in their cargo holds. Far more than a pack brahmin could while pulling a trailer.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but if the Enclave had changed, and had someone in charge making decisions that cared about people, then maybe he could work with them.

James may have despised Augustus Autumn, but he was a man who loyally followed orders.

<>~<>~<>

The basement twisted and turned as if it were a concrete and steel maze. The only way Twilight could navigate the windowless gray halls were the numerous corpses of super mutants fallen into distinct positions that she could remember whenever she had to double-back from a dead-end route.

She almost felt bad for the super mutants; they clearly stood no chance against Deathclaw Joe’s crew. Many of them had died with rebar arrows and pipe javelins spearing through their internal organs.

She rounded a bend and encountered the corpse of a female raider. Twilight stopped to inspect the body, especially when she noticed the hot-pink pony ears. The raider-turned-pony had been shot multiple times, but rather than being left where she had fallen like the super mutants, the other raiders had positioned her on her back. Her weapon—a tire-iron with a hefty blade welded to it to make a crude yet brutal hatchet—rested atop her chest, with her arms folded across it so she hugged the weapon in death.

Placed over her eyes were bottlecaps, a mimicry of burial coins. Much like the funeral rites of some gryphons, who used glittering silver coins to attract the eye of their soul-collecting magpie god of death.

Metal scraping on concrete wrenched her gaze up from the dead woman. A raider lazily dragging a fireaxe staggered down the hall towards her.

Bloodshot hazel eyes leered through a blood-soaked mop of straw-blond hair. His pearly white teeth glittered in the low light like a grinning skull. Splattered blood coated him from head to toe.

“Well, well, well,” the raider giggled. He hefted his crimson-drenched fireaxe up and over his shoulder with a one-handed swing. “You’re a long way from the palace, Princess.”

Twilight’s throat tightened. She backed away a step, hands raised.

“H-hey,” Twilight said, eyes darting for an escape route. “Just here to talk to your boss.”

The human trudged forwards, bloody boot prints left in his wake. Each footfall squelched with the sound of wet rubber.

“You can talk to me just fine,” he hissed, never blinking. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the axe. “You have a lot to answer for.”

“What? Me?” Twilight blurted. Which route would take her back? Was it two lefts and a right? Or a left and two rights? “W-what did I do?”

“Everything,” The man yelled. He slung his axe into a two handed grip and lunged.

Twilight leapt back and the gory blade sailed close enough to her face that specks of blood from the last victim flecked across her cheek. Her knee brace squealed in protest as she tried to bend her leg farther than it would go.

Twilight flailed, off balance as her injured leg hobbled her.

“You caused the portal to explode!” The man yelled as he rammed his shoulder into Twilight. She hit the ground and rolled. The axe head struck concrete where her skull had just been, sending sparks flying into her face.

“If it wasn’t for you, my wife and filly would still be alive!”

Twilight’s heart stopped as she realized that the raider had once been a normal pony.

“It was an accident!” Twilight cried back in response as she teleported behind the former pony and drew her pistol. “I messed up!”

The stallion wheeled around, the axe flashing through the air in a wild swing of screaming fury. “TELL THAT TO THEM!”

“Please,” Twilight pleaded. She didn’t want to shoot the poor stallion. “We can talk this out!”

“I’m sick and fucking tired of ponies forgiving everyone!” The stallion screamed as he reared back for another swing. “Celestia sent the raider back, and he bragged about what he did! Fucking kill me or die!”

Twilight teleported out of the way of the swing.

“Please don’t make me do this!” Twilight yelled, leveling her pistol.

“You don’t have the guts!” The stallion screamed. “I’m going to spill your—”

A cloud of electric blue surrounded the stallion’s head before it spun to face backwards with a pulpy, wet crunch of tearing ligaments. He dropped like a stone, collapsing into a heap onto the floor.

Deathclaw Joe stood over the corpse, face twisted into a scowl of fury. A fresh scar marred his cheek, and dried blood stained his hair pink on one side of his head.

“I’m sorry I had to do that,” Deathclaw Joe said, folding his wings behind him.

Twilight stood across from him, pistol still shivering in her extended grasp.

“A-a-a pony just tried to kill me,” Twilight stuttered. “I-I-I can’t.”

Deathclaw Joe stepped over the corpse and wrapped her in a wing.

“Take a deep breath,” he said far more gently than she expected could ever come from a stallion so huge. “Focus.”

Twilight inhaled deeply, then let it out slowly, her nerves calming just enough to realize there was a wing wrapping around her like a blanket.

“You’re an alicorn?” Twilight asked.

“Fluttershy ruined the surprise early,” Deathclaw Joe said with a chuckle. “I had planned to reveal my transformation tomorrow. Why are you here?”

“I know the soldiers upstairs,” Twilight said as she leaned into Deathclaw Joe. She hid her face from the corpse on the ground like she was a kid sheltering behind a parent. “They’ll let you leave peacefully.”

“Then I’m glad you came along,” Deathclaw Joe said. “I was worried we wouldn’t find a way out that didn’t involve going through them.”

“How many are down here?” Twilight asked.

“There are the five I left a few rooms ahead when I heard you shouting, and the two bodies in here. What about the two I left upstairs?”

“Alive,” Twilight said. “Somehow bows were able to keep back power armor.”

“You must have missed the mutants pinned to the wall on your way in,” Deathclaw Joe said. His deep voice reverberated in his chest. He pulled his wing away from Twilight once they were away from the bodies. “Go back upstairs. I’ll get the others. We have a fallen warrior to honor tonight.”

“And the stallion?” Twilight asked. “What about him?”

“He attacked my guest,” Deathclaw Joe said. “His corpse will feed the radroaches.”

Brutal, violent, but honorable.

Twilight had so many questions. How did he ascend? Had he transformed before or after leaving Equestria? How many ponies were following him now?

The questions would have to come later. She needed some rest.

<>~<>~<>

James slowly walked down the stairs of Rivet City’s laboratory. Dr. Madison Li was hard at work—as she always was whenever it came to anything. Her attention was split between a bubbling chemistry set, and an open textbook leaning against a stack of other books. Her hands danced from jar to jar arranged on the table in front of the chemistry set, and she occasionally lifted one and poured it into a beaker resting above a bunsen burner.

For some reason, immediately after she added a few carrot slices into the beaker, the bubbling concoction turned blue.

He tried to keep the magically reshaped boots he wore over his hooves from clanging on the stairs. Dr. Li had a temper when it came to interruptions. One he didn’t wish to incur and spoil any chance of getting his old team back together. Project Purity needed all hands on deck to restore it, and then improve it with the modifications he had built in the simulation with the help of Dr. Braun.

The Enclave team was left behind at the purifier to keep the location secure.

As he crept towards his old friend, he glanced at the book she was working from. It was practically brand new. A rare thing to find in the wasteland. He slowly worked his way around the table to get in front of her, let her notice him.

He stood in front of the table for nearly a minute before Dr. Li’s trance-like concentration finally broke.

“James?” She asked, squinting her eyes. “Why in God’s name are you a horse?”

James smiled and spread his arms wide. He was in the company of an old friend.

“Is it an improvement?” James asked playfully.

Dr. Li rolled her eyes.

“Anything would be an improvement when it comes to your face, that's for sure,” Dr. Li said with a smile tugging at her lips. “So, have you heard that the Enclave exists after all? Imagine my surprise when a cyborg pegasus claiming she was from the Secret Service came here specifically looking for us.”

She picked up a thick envelope off the table.

“I’ve already seen them at the purifier,” James said. He quickly added when he noticed her worried expression. “Don’t worry, Madison, they’re on our side… for now.”

“Do you trust them?” Dr. Li asked, lips pursed in displeasure.

“I would be a fool if I did,” James said. “But right now, they have more resources than the Brotherhood of Steel, and their leader is somehow one of the ponies. The Enclave could do a lot of good for the wasteland.”

Or a lot of evil. Their track record tended towards the latter.

“Well, if you say there is a pony leading them, then I’ll hold my judgment,” Dr. Li said as she turned off the bunsen burner. “The ponies can see in the long term. Or at least Twilight can.”

James raised a brow. While he may not have approved of Daniel and Twilight’s rapid marriage, that didn’t mean he did not approve of Twilight. So far, what scotch-fogged memories he had of Rarity’s descriptions of Twilight during their first meeting had held true. Still, he wanted to know more about his daughter-in-law.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean she filled her backpack with seeds and books from her world,” Dr. Li said. “I’m doing alchemy, if you can believe it, all from her books. And that’s not all. She didn’t just bring crop seeds. She also brought grass seeds and explained they were to help establish a new topsoil layer. If we can get the seeds to sprout, healthy grass may come back to the area, and brahmin will have more than scrubland to graze on.”

James’s jaw worked as he tried to form words.

The ponies could terraform the Capital Wasteland far beyond what his single project could manage.

Life was about to improve for everyone in the Capital Wasteland. All it would take was cooperation between the ponies, Brotherhood of Steel, and the Enclave.

<>~<>~<>

Gale Force hovered over central Manehattan, about a mile above the city so she could be easily seen. The stallion who had hired her was very specific about that part of the request.

She was ready to pass the wagon off. Pulling the heavy load from Las Pegasus to Manehattan had nearly tired her out. She’d nearly missed her deadline as well.

She reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a large green brick-like communication radio the pony had given her to call his friends to get the wagon. She held the heavy radio to the side of her head and pressed the large button on the side.

“Hello, this is Gale Force, your friend told me this was how I could tell you the package is ready. I’m flying over the residential district right now so you can see me.”

She let go of the button so she could hear the reply.

“Perfect,” a stallion’s voice said over the radio. “Synced up nicely with the other two.”

Other two?

Off in the distance towards Canterlot, Gale Force caught the briefest glimpse of a blossoming mushroom made of fire.

Before Gale Force could question what villain was invading Canterlot this month, there was a click and a whine from the cart, followed by a loud crack as one of the boxes in the back of the cart lurched.

Smoke curled out from the lid of the box. Panic struck Gale Force, and she dove towards the ground.

Once her hooves hit the pavement, she quickly unhooked herself from the wagon and flew to the cargo bed. The bathtub sized crate had stopped smoking, thankfully.

Gale Force lifted the radio to her ear and pressed the button.

“So, there may be a slight problem with your delivery, I think something in it just caught fire.”

No reply.

Gale Force idly looked around and realized that all the lights in Manehattan were off. A blackout? She groaned—just another day in Equestria.

With the delivery having tried to catch fire, the responsible thing would be to carry it to the fire ponies.

<>~<>~<>

Celestia kept her shaky legs from giving out from the balcony of Twilight’s castle, Princess Luna by her side. The growing mushroom cloud billowed ever upwards as Canterlot fell in pieces like hailstones from the mountain.

It was so fast. So instantaneous. One moment, Canterlot was there, the next… Celestia had seen soldiers in power armor launch bombs with the energy of miniature suns in simulations, but to see the scale amplified to a whole city…

The thought knocked her out of her stupor, and she found her voice.

“H-how many ponies just died!?” Celestia screamed in a primal scream of anguish that ripped at her throat.

“I don’t know,” Luna whispered, hugging a wing around her sister. “Discord has been evacuating ponies since Electrum’s warning. Ponies know how to get out of Canterlot quickly… right? We’ve been invaded enough times.”

Celestia laughed. It was a broken, hollow sound. A cold comfort that at least some of her little ponies had made it out. It didn’t change the fact that not everypony had made it out. Even the ones who’d escaped had no home to return to.

Just like her. Canterlot was her home, too.

A burst of magic flashed over Celestia’s head, and a scroll popped into being with the chime of tiny bells. Celestia caught it in her magic and unfurled the letter, yearning for even a second of reprieve.

I evacuated as many as I could. I’m the lord of chaos, not single-file lines, but I did my best. Stay safe in the living world, I’ll see you in ten years. – Discord

“He replied that fast?” Luna asked.

Celestia nodded, wiping tears from her eyes with a foreleg. Discord was the manifestation of Disharmony. Physical destruction merely inconvenienced him. Stone had been the only way to safely imprison him to keep him from returning. It was an odd feeling of relief, knowing he wasn’t gone for good.

<>~<>~<>

Wing Nut wiped sweat from his wrinkled brow as he concentrated on diagnosing the problem with Condensationator 3-B. He removed a panel on the side of the machine, exposing the greasy clockwork interior of the old cloud maker.

The darned thing had been in deferred maintenance for far too long and had finally given up the ghost during the night shift. Nopony on the night shift was old enough to know how to fix the thing. So it was his job, a day shift maintenance pony, to fix a machine that hadn’t seen preventative maintenance since Luna’s return.

The weather factory’s quotas were on the line, and he needed the extra monthly bonus everypony received for meeting them. Hearth’s Warming Eve would arrive sooner rather than later, and there were too many grand-fillies needing gifts. Maple Leaf just had her second colt. Or was it a filly?

“Don’t start thinking you’re losing it, ya old buck, then your age will really start catching up to you,” Wing Nut chuckled to himself. Seventy-three and he still pulled forty-six hours a week, then chores at the house. Retirement was for the old, and he planned to live forever.

Wing Nut frowned as his flashlight flickered and died, right on time with the lights in the building going out. Thankfully pegasi cloud buildings featured plenty of glassless windows to allow easy egress for creatures with wings, and plenty of natural light.

“Odd,” Wing Nut said, tapping his flashlight against the metal panel. The tried and true trick of percussive maintenance failed. With all light sources out, the one pony he knew who would know what was going on would be an electrician. He set his flashlight back into his toolbox.

“Guess it’s time to find the farthest distance in this factory from a broom,” Wing Nut said with a sigh. “That’s where I’ll find Voltage.”

Somepony screamed loud enough that Wing Nut jerked to attention. He whipped around to check on the commotion. Several ponies were flying by a window.

One mare held a hoof to her mouth.

“Sweet Celestia,” she cried. “Canterlot’s falling off the mountain!”

Wing Nut spread his wings in time for a white-hot flash to light up the inside of the weather factory, nearly blinding him. He quickly shielded his eyes with his foreleg.

Even with his eyes clamped shut, he could still see bright white through them, and even the foreleg covering his face to his very bones, like an x-ray image in real time.

The flash subsided, the dozen or so ponies by the window had fallen to the floor crying in pain as they rubbed their eyes and pawed around at the fluffy cloud floor with their hooves.

Wing Nut flew over to the blinded ponies, but the sight outside made him freeze like he had fallen into the Snowflakeerizer 1000’s water vat.

The Wonderbolt airfield and stadium were gone. A bright orange mushroom of fire rolled towards the sky as an ever expanding shockwave raced outwards through the middle of the city.

Clouds meant to withstand hurricane-force winds evaporated like smoke as the wall of heat and pressure raced outwards from the fiery mushroom, blowing apart every building in its path. Carriages were tossed through the sky like children’s toys.

Pegasi caught on the outer band of the heatwave fell screaming from the sky, their manes, tails, and fur coats flaming like meteors as they fell.

Wing Nut slammed his eyes shut and looked away, waiting for the end to come.

Seconds passed, then a full minute.

He opened his eyes and looked out the window once more.

The blast had lost its energy before reaching the weather factory, not even the sound of the explosion had reached them, but that didn’t save the rest of Cloudsdale. Two-thirds of the city had vanished without a trace like it was never even there. The flat top of Wonderbolt Mountain had a new caldera of cooling brimstone.

Panting, Wing Nut refocused himself on the task at hoof.

“Everypony who can hear me, follow the sound of my voice, we’re evacuating Cloudsdale.”

He didn’t hear everypony’s response as the weather machines kicked back on. Rainmaker 3a chugged and rattled, oil-like fluid leaked from the hoses feeding into the cloud-filling machine. A dark, soot-black cloud glowing faintly with an internal green hue fell out onto the still running assembly line.

Wing Nut couldn’t worry about the damaged machinery. He had ponies to save.

Chapter 36: The Interview

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According to Twilight’s Pip-Boy, it was six nineteen A.M., Wednesday, September 5th, 2277. Her full body ache let her know that she had slept way too long in the wrong position.

At least she had gotten some sleep after the encounter with the enraged pony.

Twilight looked for Daniel, but he was already gone. Likely working on Project Purity with his father. Throwing the cover aside, Twilight swung her legs over the side of the bed and stared at her hooves as she worked her fingers over the knots in her muscles. No position she had rolled into had been good enough for a truly restful sleep.

Which meant she was going to have another long day in the wasteland. She could feel it through the dozens of tiny aches and pains radiating off her—a deep unease that rested at the back of her mind. It stalked her thoughts like a savannah cat tracking a gazelle. Even if the gazelle knew that something was amiss, it could not see the hungry waiting jaws through the tall grass.

Her head was heavy with fatigue. There was nothing to stop her from laying it back on her pillow. She could sleep through the day and try to claim some rest… but the Knock was today. A party and a conversation with another alicorn to learn about him and his kingdom were certainly things to look forward to.

It was the little things that could get someone out of bed.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight shivered as she stalked down the twisting metro tunnel. A flickering sphere of purple light burned above her head like a miniature star, beating back the darkness. But what might lay beyond it drenched her thoughts with doubt and fear. Her experiences still did nothing to abate her sense of encroaching dread.

Calm down. Twilight thought, taking a deep breath and swinging her arm out like Cadance had taught her. Panic will get you nowhere. She turned the radio on to Galaxy News Radio to lighten the mood and checked the time. Seven fifty-eight A.M.

Just in time for Three Dog. She welcomed the company of his voice.

“Heloooooo, Capital Wasteland, it is I, Three Dawg, bow-wow-wow, and today I’m going to do something you kiddies and cats have never heard on GNR before. But first, the news.”

With the radio filling the silence, Twilight pressed onwards.

“Starting us off, some of you may have seen the Enclave flying their vertibirds around the Capital Wasteland. If you value your life, or hell, even if you don’t, do NOT shoot at them. Their bullets are bigger than your attention span. Secondly, I have a super important Public Service Announcement to all those would-be bigots out in the wasteland. Ghouls AND Equestrians are people. Just because someone looks different than you doesn’t mean you get to shoot them, just sayin’. Rounding out this broadcast as the super special treat… ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever, I’m giving you a live interview of two very important figures in the Capital Wasteland. Elder Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel, and President Jacklyn of the New Enclave States.”

Twilight’s ear flicked. She turned the volume up. This would be something worth listening to.

<>~<>~<>

Applejack tipped her hat to the wrinkled, elderly man wearing a dark blue robe who sat across the table from her. His bushy beard was as white as a cloud, and in Applejack’s opinion, it was the new home of all the hair that had migrated away from the top of his liver-spotted scalp.

He respectfully nodded back.

A microphone rested on the metal table in front of him, mirroring her own, and standing guard behind him was a woman in a suit of power armor without the helmet. It revealed her dark ebony skin and aged complexion, though not as wrinkled as Elder Lyons. Slung across her back was a massive hammer with a head the size of a small anvil.

Her position matched Rainbow Dash standing behind Applejack. If Applejack knew her friend, she was trading hostile glares with Star Paladin Cross.

Two leaders meeting face-to-face, one bodyguard each, as was agreed.

Three Dog sat at the end of the metal table with his own microphone as he read off the news script. He counted down on his fingers for the big reveal.

After the news broadcast, his job would be to act as the mediator and interviewer. Applejack expected he would be biased towards Elder Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel, but she couldn’t fault him. She was representing the Enclave, who’d spent years discrediting the Brotherhood of Steel, while they protected Galaxy News Radio.

In truth, the neutral meeting spot of the GNR station wasn’t as neutral as Applejack would have wanted. She had passed by dozens of Knights and Paladins on the way in. But Three Dog was the most reliable and trusted source of news in the Capital Wasteland. It was in everyone’s best interests that the Enclave and Brotherhood cooperated.

“That’s right, folks,” Three Dog said to his audience as the count reached zero. “Both of them are in the studio with me right now. Please introduce yourselves.”

He pointed to Applejack.

“Howdy,” Applejack said, leaning forward with a wide grin. After so long being surrounded by the Enclave, someone else’s open honesty was a refreshing change of pace. “My name is Abigail Jacklyn, and I’d like to take a moment to thank Elder Lyons and Three Dog for agreein’ to meet here today.”

“It sure is strange,” Three Dog said with a laugh. “But strange is the new normal in the wasteland. I’m just embracing it.”

“These are interesting times, historic, one could say,” Elder Lyons said with a hearty wheeze. His voice was warm and comforting, but with a subtle depth that could be turned to shouting orders at a moment’s notice. He reminded Applejack of a grandfather reading a bedtime story. “As for myself, I am Elder Owen Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel. I have agreed to meet here on this day of September the Fifth, with the president of the Enclave, and to be interviewed by Three Dog.”

Elder Lyons may have looked like a kindly grandfather, but underneath was an experienced and shrewd mind. His piercing blue eyes never left Applejack or Rainbow Dash, as if he expected them to make some sort of move. Applejack wanted to break the ice and calm the tension in the air.

“Is it fine if I start us off, Three Dog?” Applejack asked. The black-skinned man nodded as he rested his elbows on the table. “Thank you. Elder Lyons, you’ve met my friend Fluttershy, right?”

“Yes, she recently left the Brotherhood of Steel on good terms,” Elder Lyons said. “It was a shame to see her leave. She was a remarkably devoted soldier—slept only four hours a night or less so she could use all her time to read field manuals or train. She was determined to find you, though that seems unnecessary given your rise in the ranks to the President of the Enclave. How did that happen so quickly?”

Those suspicious and curious blue eyes bore into her. Applejack knew she would need to word her responses carefully. Unfortunately, threading the needle between the honest answer and the politically advantageous answer was easier said than done.

“Well, to be totally honest,” Applejack said as she scratched the back of her head. “I was thrust into the position with the help of Colonel Augustus Autumn. President Eden turned out to be an old pre-war computer that had gone plum-crazy. We put him down and took over.”

Elder Lyons raised an eyebrow while Three Dog whistled.

“So all of us were right,” Three Dog said with a wide grin. “He was some pre-war hocus-pocus gumming up the airwaves.” He then nodded to Applejack. “So, now that we all know that you’re both human, what can you tell us about yourselves? Starting with you, Abigail.”

“Well, to start things off, Abigail Jacklyn isn’t my original name. I’ve had it changed, but originally I was Applejack Apple. I’m twenty-six, and I was born in Equestria, in a barn built on land annexed by the United States government two centuries ago. The ruler of Equestria never officially re-annexed the land back, so technically I was born on American soil, and I’m even a descendent of humans trapped on that side of the portal.”

“Who made contact with who first?” Elder Lyons asked, his tone shifting from suspicious to curious.

“From what I’ve been told, it was humans that done built the contraption to Equestria,” Applejack said with a nod. “I have a team of scientists working to try and build a new, stable portal between our worlds.”

Applejack pursed her lips ever so slightly. Equestria’s efforts to build a portal were on hold at the moment, according to Electrum. She had saved thousands by warning Canterlot… but she hadn’t known about the other targets. Cloudsdale was pushing out radioactive clouds by the time Electrum was allowed to return.

The thought was too grim to allow herself to dwell on it. Applejack had her own nation to stabilize and letting herself fall to pieces wouldn’t help anyone. Celestia and Luna could handle Equestria, which was why Rainbow Dash was her only other friend that knew.

With the way Elder Lyons twitched his head, however, Applejack could swear he took notice of her squirming.

“And how will this portal technology be used?” he asked.

“To open trade between Equestria and the New Enclave States,” Applejack said with a wide smile. “With Equestrian help, we will make good on Eden’s promises to build schools, hospitals, and housin’ that won’t give you tetanus by just lookin’ at it.”

Many wastelanders lived in corrugated sheet-metal shacks that were red with rust, and poorly ventilated. Wasteland houses were barely fit to be garden sheds, let alone a place where someone hung their hat.

“And how do we know you’ll keep these promises?” Elder Lyons asked with some bite. “Autocrats claim that they’ll represent their people until what their people want no longer involves them.”

“‘Cause unlike Eden, I never wanted to be a leader,” Applejack said without hesitation. She took off her hat and held it in her lap. “Truth be told, I was happy on my farm with my family less than three weeks ago. But now I’m here, and I see how miserable life in the wasteland is. I’ve been given so much power at my beck and call that I can make good changes in the wasteland. What else should power be used for if ya ain’t usin’ it to make everyone’s lives better? Which is why I want to give six vertibirds and spare parts to the Brotherhood of Steel to keep them running.”

“Why would you do that? We aren’t allies,” Elder Lyons asked as he stiffened in surprise. Star Paladin Cross raised an eyebrow.

“Because we could be allies,” Applejack offered. “Your people have fought and bled for decades in the Capital Wasteland while the Enclave hid. It ain’t right that y’all are the only ones fightin’ the good fight, so I think it’s time you got a helping hand for your efforts. I’m not askin’ the Brotherhood of Steel to submit and join the Enclave, but I am open to trading technology, weapons, supplies, and even manpower.”

Elder Lyons sucked in air sharply and started coughing.

“Y-you have my interest,” Elder Lyons wheezed as he thumped his chest, trying to clear the spittle he had accidentally inhaled. It took him a few moments before he could settle down. “But if we receive Enclave technology, then what do you get out of it?”

“It's not about what I get,” Applejack said. “What the wasteland gets is two heavily armed groups agreeing to not shoot each other. If we started a war, it wouldn't be just soldiers dyin’. The D.C. ruins and surroundin’ towns are home to thousands of people, and they already got mutants and raiders to worry about. The Brotherhood of Steel has their own traditions and way of doin’ things, the Enclave has theirs, but we can set aside our differences to help the wasteland.”

“I don’t believe it, the Enclave wants to fight the good fight, folks,” Three Dog said through a good natured chuckle. “Now, I’m going to have these two record the rest of the interview on holotapes and play them over the next few news segments. You all probably want to get back to those sweet new tunes from Equestria.”

Three Dog pressed a button on his microphone and a light on the base of all the microphones turned off.

Elder Lyons slowly steepled his fingers.

“So,” he said, staring across the table at Applejack. “Now that the little performance is over, what do you really want from the Brotherhood of Steel?”

Applejack leaned back in her chair.

“I was bein’ honest the whole time,” Applejack said, a frown creasing her face. She’d hoped she’d been convincing. “But there is one big thing that we have to talk about, well, two things, really.”

“And those are?” Elder Lyons asked cautiously.

“The first is the issue with the Brotherhood Outcasts. They harass civilians for technology, often violently if they don’t get their way, and they don’t hesitate to fight the rest of the Brotherhood over your differences. If the two of us are going to work together to help the wasteland, we don’t need a third faction of power armored soldiers stompin’ around.” Applejack shook her head. Recovered logs from President Eden painted a grim picture of the Outcasts. Applejack wasn’t sure how biased it was, but from Elder Lyons’s twisting facial expressions, there were kernels of truth to what Eden had saved.

“What are you suggesting?” Elder Lyons asked.

“I suggest that we talk things out with them, try and bring them back into the Brotherhood of Steel,” Applejack said. “If we all combine our forces, we could expand all the way to the Commonwealth in ten years. Maybe less if we get Equestrian airships. From what I’ve been told, the Brotherhood of Steel has a history of using airships.”

“The midwestern chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel used them,” Elder Lyons said, crinkling his brow. “We encountered a group in Chicago on our journey East many years ago, but they’ve gone rogue.”

He chuckled softly as he stared into the middle distance.

“Which, in hindsight, is about as rogue as my own chapter. The far-western chapters have cut off contact with us due to me wanting to help wastelanders instead of following our codex. The Outcasts, despite their name, live truer to western Brotherhood ideals than we do. It will be nearly impossible to get the Outcasts to agree to reintegrate with us. Especially now that we’re allying with our old enemy, the Enclave.”

Which meant the Outcasts likely would only leave one option. War.

“I hope cooler heads prevail,” Applejack said. “Now for my second point. A group of Enclave radicalists known as SOCOM have destroyed two Equestrian cities with nukes. I can’t return the favor with an orbital bombardment on their base because it would destroy a second portal and cause even more unpredictable portal openings.”

“A what bombardment!?” Three Dog shouted. “The Enclave still has satellites?”

Applejack nodded. When she’d learned of the Bradley-Hercules nuclear armed kill satellite, she couldn’t believe it was real. But leave it to the war-crazy humans of the past to put something like a missile silo into orbit.

“We do,” Applejack said. And if the situation went really far south with the Brotherhood, coordinates to the Pentagon. “But what we need is a weapon that can break through SOCOM’s surface defenses and crack their underground complex for our ground troops. The Brotherhood of Steel has what I need.”

Liberty Prime.

Chapter 37: The Knock

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Twilight took a calming breath as she stepped out of the suffocating darkness of the metro tunnel and into the firelit embrace of Metro Central station. Her courage rose now that she had more light than the meager candle of a spell her injured horn had conjured. And after hours with the radio as her only company in the labyrinthine dark corridors, she was thankful to see actual living people.

Even if those people were scarred, over-muscled thugs who thought the answer to every question was violence. Curiously, Twilight could only see around two-dozen of them—she had expected far more. They were in the middle of last-minute party preparations as they shuffled picnic tables into position or pushed large training dummies to the edges of the cavernous arched room. None of the raiders were Deathclaw Joe.

A rust-colored metal timberwolf caught her attention. The large hound was smaller than Glenn’s direwolf, but still tall enough to nudge the small of the raider’s back with its nose as it padded behind the raider like a loyal hound. After a few more nudges, the raider visibly sighed and dug around into their pocket. The raider came out with a strip of dried meat that they wagged teasingly in the air as far as they could reach up.

The timberwolf easily cleared the distance with a leap to snatch the meat from the raider before it scampered away. Its claws sparked on the tile floor as it bounded into the trunk of a car lined with rugs and animal hide. It was only the trunk—the rest of the vehicle was missing.

“Fascinating creatures, aren’t they?” a woman asked from beside her. Hot breath tickled Twilight’s neck, and she was halfway to the ceiling by the time her heart stopped racing long enough to look down.

The black-haired swordswoman slapped a knee as she doubled over with laughter. She only wore a black bra and half-skirt like last time, with her massive slab of a sword sheathed across her back.

Seeing that it had only been a prank, Twilight landed and forced a smile.

“Good one, um… you?” Twilight cringed as her awkwardness echoed louder than a gunshot. She hadn’t learned the woman’s name yet. According to Fluttershy, the woman was Deathclaw Joe’s wife.

“Lisa,” she said as she smiled wide enough to show pearly white teeth. Her eyes wandered places Twilight wasn’t interested in another mare looking at. “You show up so early just to see me?”

“I didn’t exactly get a formal invitation with a schedule,” Twilight said as she stepped back and shifted uneasily from hoof to hoof. She quickly checked the time—a little after twelve P.M. “Where's Deathclaw Joe? I don’t see him.”

The metro station was large, but not impossible to see from one end to the other. All there was were picnic tables, training dummies, and a stage towards the end of the station. About the only place that hinted that Metro Central was occupied by an entire gang were the small cluster of tents on the concrete bridge that passed high over the tracks.

“Follow me,” Lisa said, turning around and walking towards one of the escalators to the bridge. “He should be in our tent.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said. They passed a raider unrolling pelts like a bedroll in a discreet spot between two piles of rubble. With the amount of chems and alcohol about to be consumed through the Knock, Twilight didn’t want to know what the pelt would witness. “What time should’ve I arrived?”

“Two or three,” Lisa said, chuckling good naturedly. “But you aren’t the only one who arrived early so no big deal, and you can always just leave and come back. The real fun doesn't get started until a few hours in, anyway.”

It made sense that she hadn’t been the first to arrive early. Museum Station had been vacant when she had passed through earlier. She planned to stay and pitch in, maybe help organize things if she could. Just like organizing the Summer Sun Festival back home. If only Pinkie Pie was around to help. There was still time to go get her… but it would take another journey back through the metro. The twists and bends of the tunnel, as well as how deep Twilight was underground, made it too difficult to simply teleport to her friend.

And with Pinkie Pie helping Fluttershy with guard duty, the Knock was probably the only party Pinkie Pie would ever choose to miss. Twilight pushed the thought aside as wishful thinking.

They reached the concrete bridge over the tracks. Near the escalator were several New Horde raiders lounging on folding chairs. Twilight could tell New Horde raiders apart from other gangs by their preference for homemade hide and leather clothing or armor, as well as the emblem they wore. A stylized deathclaw skull engraved or stamped on metal disks the size of jar lids. Some were even actual jar lids.

The seated raiders fiddled with one or more instruments, and casually chatted among each other about what song they were going to play and when. Many of their instruments were homemade. A few drums made from cut-down metal barrels with leather stretched over the openings, bagpipes made from leather and brahmin horns with scenes of battle elegantly scrimshawed into their bone-like surface, and a few homemade stringed instruments that Twilight didn't know the name of. There were also pre-war instruments mixed in, like tambourines, maracas, and a cello.

The cello was decorated with a horseshoe decal and a name scratched into the wood, ruining the elegant finish of the instrument. ‘Deep Tones’s cutie mark giver’.

A shiver shot up Twilight’s spine, and she cautiously looked around for hostility. The raiders had stolen things from Equestria, possibly hurting ponies in the process, and she was a princess. Even with Deathclaw Joe’s reassurance, she wasn’t foolish enough to fully trust the dangerous people surrounding her.

The seated raiders waved at her and Lisa, and instead of turning towards the tents, Lisa stepped onto another nearby set of escalators heading upwards.

“So, um, how many people do you expect are going to attend?” Twilight asked as she glanced at a sign. They were heading towards the white line station. Metro Central was larger than Twilight had anticipated. It was two metro stations stacked atop one another.

“I dunno, two, maybe three hundred people?” Lisa said with a shrug. “I’m too busy trying to get some head than counting them.” She spun around and walked backwards up the escalator. “Speaking of, you free tonight by any chance? I can show you why fingers are better than hooves.”

Twilight could have brought a kettle to boil with the heat of her blush. She recovered from her stuttering fit with a rapid shake of her head. “I-I don’t mean to sound rude, but I’ll pass. I’m straight and married, and even if I was neither of those things, you're married to a man who’s good at snapping necks. I’d rather not help you cheat on him.”

“Hah!” Lisa snorted with laughter. “It only counts as cheating if I’m breaking the rules. Joey lets me sleep around.”

Oh… Twilight bit her tongue. While polygamy wasn’t a lifestyle she would consider for herself, she wasn’t going to judge Lisa if her husband was fine with an open marriage. Everyone was different, and having multiple partners was something Twilight hadn’t thought about as something other people would choose. In her opinion, it was more of a stallion’s fantasy.

“That one’s on me for assuming,” Twilight said. “Still, respectfully, I’m not interested.”

“Fair enough,” Lisa sighed.

They reached the second station without another word, and the awkward conversation was quickly forgotten as Twilight stepped into an entire settlement built underground, hidden from the world above.

The scent of freshly baking bread filled the arched room. The source of the smell was a large clay oven the size of a doghouse built atop a stack of cinder blocks in the middle of the station. Surrounding the oven like the facets of a partial octagon were six three-sided tents made of pelts and hides. Every tent contained a stove or a cooking fire, and in front of each tent was a long table covered in food. Punga fruit, potatoes, carrots, apples, mutfruit, mudcrab claws, salted meats of all kinds, and dozens of bottles of alcohol. The smell of all the food cooking blended with the scent of bread to form a near-divine aroma that reminded Twilight of the few royal banquets that she had attended back in Canterlot.

The Knock would be a feast worthy of someone calling himself a king.

Twilight took in the area. The man-made arched cavern wasn’t just where the food was cooked. It was also where the New Horde made their homes. Several enclosed two- and three-person tents created individual rooms within the metro station, while a nearby string of half-derailed metro cars had their interiors turned into communal bedrooms. From what Twilight could see, dozens of pelts and pillows covered the long bench seats running the length of each side of the subway cars.

It took Twilight several moments to spot the soda bottle lights—exactly like the ones in Rivet City—before their glow was drowned out by the hole in the roof. An additional benefit besides allowing natural light inside was that it acted as a way to air out the smoke from the cooking fires.

The hole in the ceiling had come from a blue four-door Corvega that had fallen through at some point. It sat at an angle atop a chunk of concrete, and built over it was a wooden platform dominated by a grand throne. A yao guai pelt cushioned the throne, a gilded deathclaw skull was mounted over the headrest, and flanking either side were white cloth banners embroidered with a single large deathclaw skull.

“Oh, Sweet Celestia,” Twilight said, taking in the sights and smells. “This is amazing!”

The ting of a hammer striking an anvil reached Twilight’s ears. The New Horde even had a tent for blacksmithing. A small fusion generator hooked up to an electric forge provided the heat, and the anvil was a small length of steel I-beam atop a stump.

Next to the blacksmithing tent was a table where a New Horde raider crafted jewelry. They hunched over a vice clamp as they used an absolutely miniscule hammer—the length and thickness of the handle was around the size of Twilight’s pinkie finger, and the head was the size of a postage stamp—to gently tap the end of an equally petite chisel to carve into a pendant.

The New Horde weren’t normal raiders. They were a kingdom.

“It’s taken the better part of fifteen years to get like this,” Lisa said, crossing her arms and puffing out her chest. “And every step of the way our king was here for it.” She pointed to another escalator leading up to a concrete platform. Unlike the other metro stations Twilight had gone through, the raised concrete platform was off to the side of the White Line station rather than spanning over the tracks. On top of the platform was a tent easily the size of a small, single story house. “Joey should be in there. If he’s not, come find me and we’ll keep looking. I have to get back downstairs and keep the idiots from slacking off.”

“Farewell,” Twilight said, waving her off.

Once Lisa was gone, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and set off towards Deathclaw Joe’s tent.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight pushed aside the tent flap with her magic before she slipped inside.

Deathclaw Joe sat on a rug cross-legged with his back to her in the middle of the room. Deep scars ran like overlapping canyons down his back, from his shoulder-blades to his loincloth. So many slashes crossed between his wings that when he had transformed into a pony, the space there remained furless scarred skin.

Twilight couldn't begin to imagine—or even wanted to if she could—what Deathclaw Joe had to go through to get those scars.

With his back to her, Twilight took the chance to glance around his home.

The bed at one end of the tent was more like a large nest of pelts twice as big as her bed. A stack of comic books an entire foot high rested beside the bed. Twilight caught the colorful cover of the topmost comic.

The comic’s cover had a woman dressed in dark green armor with a spiked crown as the center focal piece. She brandished a metal sculpture of a torch like a weapon and thrust it forwards. Red, white, and blue light leapt out of the torch’s tip, trailing away and forming into clenched fists that all struck the faceplate of a robot with giant scissors for hands.

The Unstoppables — Liberty Beacon versus Dr. Brainwash and his army of De-Capitalists

Stupid, dumb fun. Spike would probably love it. Twilight smiled at the idea and continued to look about the room.

Boards laid over cinder blocks made a rough, if not sturdy, table. The manticore’s stinger lay atop it on display. She quickly looked away, feeling sorry for the animal, and instead focused on the bookshelves all around the single room of the tent. Most were near the bed, but close enough that Twilight could read a few titles on the spines.

Webster’s Dictionary 2075 Edition, Beowulf, The Poetic Edda, Iliad, Odyssey…

“Hello, Twilight,” Deathclaw Joe’s voice jerked Twilight’s attention back to his backside. He hadn’t turned around.

“How’d you know it was me?” Twilight asked.

“It’s hard to explain,” Deathclaw Joe said as he set a rough clay bowl onto the floor beside him. Twilight didn’t get a good look at what was inside it before he stood up and dusted off his loincloth before turning to her. “You don’t feel it?”

Now that Deathclaw Joe had mentioned it, she could feel a subtle pull towards him, like a magnet. It was much like when they had first met, only far more subdued since she knew what to expect and could suppress it.

“Yeah,” Twilight said. She looked up into Deathclaw Joe’s captivating electric blue eyes. The magnetic pull only grew. She clenched her teeth and forced herself to look away. “Hey, before we say or do anything else, I’m married, and it's not an open one.”

Twilight caught Deathclaw Joe’s subtle wince before he nodded.

“I take it Lisa gave you some trouble on the way here?” Deathclaw Joe asked. Twilight quickly nodded, and he chuckled. “I’ll apologize on her behalf. She’s as subtle as a brick, but I admire that about her. She isn’t afraid of anything.”

“And you are?” Twilight asked. Twilight couldn’t imagine there was anything in the world that could frighten a stallion as large as Deathclaw Joe. He could look a super mutant in the eye and laugh.

“I’m afraid of many things,” Deathclaw Joe said as he sat back onto the floor and levitated the bowl into his lap.

Since he faced Twilight, she could look down into the bowl. Her stomach churned at the moldy bread sitting among a clump of thumb-sized eggs that Twilight could only guess were radroach eggs.

“Are you eating that!?” Twilight asked in shock before she could stop herself.

“Fuck no,” Deathclaw Joe roared out with a laugh. He stopped and his gray fur almost seemed to go ghostly white while all the joy and mirth in his eyes faded.

“But when I was in the Pitt,” he said in almost a whisper, staring down into the bowl. He growled, “I promised myself never again.”

“So you like to remind yourself where you came from?” Twilight asked. Digging open old wounds didn’t sound too healthy.

“It's more to remind myself where I could end up if I go soft and let my guard down. Half of my vassals from the other stations want to open my veins to take my crown,” Deathclaw Joe said. He set the bowl aside and stood up again. “But, enough about my past, you’re my guest.” He clapped Twilight on the shoulder. “The feast tonight is going to be the biggest and best of them all. I hope the meals are worthy of your refined palette, Princess Sparkle.”

Twilight chuckled.

“The food outside smells absolutely amazing,” Twilight said. “I think I even saw spices and seasonings being added. This whole metro station is amazing. You have a blacksmith and everything.”

Deathclaw Joe tilted his head to one side. “We also have a few grow lamps and planter beds to grow some crops and a small library.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide.

“Can I see the library, please?” she pleaded to the giant, who chuckled mirthfully.

“Only if you teach me how to teleport,” Deathclaw Joe said. “None of the other unicorns know how to.”

“Deal,” Twilight said without hesitation.

She couldn’t wait to see the library. Rivet City didn’t even have one.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight wasn’t sure exactly what she had expected… but the tent acting as the New Horde’s library met whatever vague idea she had and exceeded it tenfold.

Dozens of books were arranged on a bank of shelves that were more fitting of a supermarket than a library. Towards the back of the tent were large troughs where pulped plant matter and paper from irreparably damaged books were recycled into new sheets of paper by a team of two New Horde raiders. One of them was a unicorn.

Near the team was an elderly woman hunched over a desk. She hand-copied from one book into another using a quill and a jar full of ink made from water and charcoal. The book being written into was more like a binder or portfolio than a full book. The covers were two sheets of stiff leather sandwiching a ream of paper, bound together by leather cords running through six holes punched into the leather and paper.

“Like what you see?” Deathclaw Joe asked from behind her.

Twilight spun around and nodded, a large grin on her face.

“Your kingdom seems to be making more progress than the large towns I’ve been to,” Twilight said. “Your people have put a lot of effort into this settlement. I’m genuinely impressed by the fact you’re saving books rather than using them for kindling.”

Deahtclaw Joe twitched.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “I hate it when people do that. People place such little value on knowledge in this new Dark Age. Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s just another shackle that can bind you down.” He swept his arm wide to motion towards the whole of the room. “A sharp mind can be deadlier than a sharp blade. Like knowing how to pick yourself out of a locked cage when breaking your way out is impossible. Or knowing how to farm when hunting is scarce.”

That was a sentiment Twilight could get behind, and relate to. She had picked her way out of the cell in the Dunwich Building.

“How many books do you have in here?” Twilight asked.

“Forty or more,” Deathclaw Joe said. “Most of the books are non-fiction, but I won’t ignore the value in imaginative stories.”

“A good read is always a nice way to relax,” Twilight said. Her chest swelled with pride at the number of volumes that the New Horde had saved.

Before Deahtclaw Joe could reply, the tent flap opened and a raider peeked into the room.

“My king, the food for the others is ready. Should I send a runner?” The raider asked.

“No, no,” Deathclaw Joe said, waving his hand slowly. “I’ll take it personally. Princess Sparkle is going to teach me how to teleport. Set the baskets out and I’ll collect them.”

The raider thumped his chest in a salute before leaving the tent. Twilight looked to Deathclaw Joe.

“So you’re going to provide food to those not here tonight?” Twilight asked. Though she already knew from the clues given. She just wanted a conversation topic to follow.

“Yes,” Deathclaw Joe said. He chuckled heartily. “Why should the ones guarding the children of the tribe be punished with empty bellies?”

Twilight smiled. Deathclaw Joe may have punched Fluttershy in the face, but from what she could see, he wasn’t a bad guy… and Fluttershy had literally asked for it by challenging him to a fight.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight fell onto her back, her mane smoking slightly and her royal guard armor painted black with soot.

“Owwww…” Twilight groaned from her spot on the ground.

Electric blue light wrapped around a nearby car door and it flew open, nearly ripping off its hinges as Deathclaw Joe climbed out. He was covered in as much soot as Twilight, and his horn smoked.

“How’d I do, Princess?” he asked with a wide, sarcastic smile as he flopped onto the ground beside her.

Twilight gave him a thumbs-up, and he laughed, pulling himself up with the car door to stand.

Deathclaw Joe needed practice, but at least he had been able to teleport them to where they wanted to go. Twilight saw Fluttershy flying down from a rooftop with a smile on her face.

“Hey, Twilight,” she said softly as she landed. “What’s that you’re carrying?”

Twilight levitated up the basket she’d been holding.

“Picnic food for you and the others inside,” Twilight said, pulling herself up with Fluttershy’s help. Deathclaw Joe removed a bushel of baskets from the car he had ended up inside and took the lead walking towards the building. “How have you been?”

“The potion that Dr. Li brewed for me eased most of the swelling, so I’m doing a lot better,” Fluttershy said. Her nose wasn’t as puffy as it had been the day before. “What about you, Twilight, how’s the Knock?”

“Hasn’t started yet,” Twilight replied as they stepped into the building. Past the door was a sandbag wall, manned by Pinkie Pie and a heavily muscled New Horde raider with a home-made monstrosity of a weapon. It was a belt-fed machine gun loaded with shotgun shells.

“Hiya, Twi!” Pinkie Pie said gleefully. She tapped the top of her newly repaired grenade machine gun, which was braced on the sand-bag wall and pointing towards the door. “What did you and Deathclaw Joe bring us? Smells yummy enough to put in my tummy.”

She rubbed her belly and licked her lips as Deathclaw Joe opened the basket and levitated her a brahmin steak sandwich, an apple, and a bottle of water. He passed similar foodstuff to the shotgun guard, and then Fluttershy.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said graciously. She glanced to Twilight. “If you need me, I’ll be on the roof keeping watch for anyone approaching the building.”

She smoothed down Twilight’s mane with her hand before leaving, allowing Twilight to catch up with Deathclaw Joe. He walked towards a door past a reception desk which had been fortified with more sandbags, two more guards—one of whom was Spike—and a turret.

“This place is fortified,” Twilight said, checking to see if she had missed another reinforcement in the room. “Are you expecting an attack?”

“No,” Deathclaw Joe said softly. “But it's better to be prepared than regret your inaction after the worst comes to pass. How far would you go to protect the people you love?”

Twilight clenched her jaw. It was a good question. The only time she had killed was in self defense. The two raiders, the feral ghouls, and the radroaches. She hadn’t gone out of her way to kill if there wasn’t another, better option… excluding executing Glenn, but Twilight never felt sorry for the gunk that she wiped off her hooves, and Glenn was beneath that in her mind.

Twilight didn’t know what she would do or how far she would go. But she could see what Deahtclaw Joe had chosen. Rather than eliminating the risk to his people by blindly killing the threat, he fostered a safe, well defended hiding spot for his people to retreat to.

“As far as I would need to,” Twilight replied, not happy with the slight quiver in her voice. “I wish the rest of the wasteland was as refined and nice as the New Horde. Your people don’t count as raiders in my opinion.”

“Oh, we’re raiders,” Deathclaw Joe said as he took the time to wave to the guards and pass them food. “I just picture us as more traditional raiders. Long ago, in Earth’s ancient past, raiders would sail up and down the coasts and rivers, pillaging and raiding. But fighting and raiding wasn’t all they did. They explored new lands, farmed, and traded.”

He pushed through the door behind the reception desk, revealing a room packed with people. Most of the adults were women, three of them Twilight saw right offhand were swollen with late-stage pregnancies. Another mother sat on a rocking chair, nursing her infant in full view of everyone else in the room.

The children, who made up most of the room’s population, danced, giggled, pulled each-other’s hair, or generally played around, ignoring the giant who had entered the room. A cluster of older children sat in a block near a far corner of the room. They were arranged three wide and three deep, patiently watching a woman write the alphabet onto a wall with chalk. One of the children was a pegasus, and another a unicorn.

Twilight’s throat went dry as she realized the portals didn’t discriminate against age when they snatched someone away… and someone had sent them back.

“Poppa!” a little girl shrilled, nearly throwing herself head over heels as she changed direction and charged Deathclaw Joe. She flung herself around his leg, entangling it in a death-grip.

“Gah!” Deathclaw Joe muttered as he stumbled from the weight of an overeager child clamping to him. “Hello, Silver.”

“You have a daughter?” Twilight asked, glad for the distraction.

He nodded as a woman walked up to Deathclaw Joe. He stooped down so she could kiss him on the cheek.

“Hello, honey,” the woman said. She turned to Princess Twilight and bowed only as far as her swollen belly would let her, “Hello, Princess Twilight. My name is Samantha, I’m Joe’s second wife.”

“Hello Samantha,” Twilight said, taking a step closer to the woman and smiling. “It's nice to meet you. When are you due?”

“Around a month,” Deathclaw Joe replied with a warm, fatherly smile as he pried Silver off his leg. He hauled the giggling girl up before setting her down so her legs straddled his thick neck. “Sorry to speak for you, Sammy, but where are Odin and Hades? I don’t see them.”

“Training with one of the Equestrians upstairs,” Samantha replied.

“Oh?” Deathclaw Joe asked with a chuckle. He bent over and planted a kiss on the top of Samantha’s head before he telekinetically pulled Silver off of himself. He set the giggling girl down beside her mother, but Silver didn’t stay long before rejoining the game of tag with the other children in the room. “I’m going to find them before they do too much damage to the poor pony.”

“I don’t know who would damage who,” Samantha said. “She was in armor like Princess Sparkle’s, but gold.”

So, a royal guard had been ripped away to Earth. Twilight wondered how she was doing.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight heard the swords clashing together before they walked into the room.

A pegasus mare in royal guard armor laughed as she fended off two attackers at once.

“Is that all you got!?” she yelled. The mare held the first child at arm's length with one hand firmly clamped over his face. The boy seemed to be only a year or so older than Silver, and his short arms could only manage to reach the guard with the tip of the sword, clanging uselessly against her armor.

Meanwhile, the second child, visibly youthful despite being as tall as the guard, clattered his sword into the guard’s.

They stopped as Deathclaw Joe coughed into his fist.

As the royal guard laid her eyes on Twilight, she snapped to attention and saluted, dropping her sword. It was a double-edged straight sword with a roaring creature as the decorative crossguard. Twilight couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be a lion, a dragon, or a blend of the two.

“P-princess Twilight, I, um… I wasn’t deserting Equestria, I was merely doing reconnaissance,” she lied rather unconvincingly. Twilight rolled her eyes.

Deathclaw Joe laughed and levitated sandwiches, fruit, and water out of the basket Twilight carried.

“How are you, Air Drop?” He asked, handing her and his children the last of the food. Everyone else downstairs had already been fed. “No broken bones, contusions, or lacerations, I hope?”

“I’m doing well, my king,” Air Drop said, bowing slightly. She glanced at Twilight, bolted upright and winced. “I mean, um… Deathclaw Joe.”

Twilight facepalmed.

“Oooooh, you’re in trouble,” the smaller of the two children cooed.

“Odin,” Deathclaw Joe muttered, and his son shrunk under his glare.

“S-sorry, Papa,” Odin said.

“Heh, who's in trouble now,” the taller of the two squeaked with a voice that was a few octaves short of shattering glass. Now that Hades was still, Twilight could see his facial hair was coming in. And from the way his voice cracked, the boy was going through puberty. He was nearly six feet tall and probably only twelve or thirteen years old. He had his father’s height.

Hades flushed bright red and grabbed his throat.

“Damnit,” he muttered, still squeaking.

“Hades, it’s impolite to swear in front of guests,” Deatclaw Joe chided with a firm tone. “If you think you’re so grown up, go downstairs and help guard the door. Odin, go practice your writing with the other young ones downstairs.”

“Yes, papa,” Odin said, dropping his sword beside the others. He raced his brother out the door.

“What about me, sir?” Air Drop asked.

“I don’t know,” Deathclaw Joe said. He smiled wickedly. “Princess Twilight, what’s the punishment for traitors in Equestria? She clearly has conflicting loyalties.”

Twilight picked up on his jovial tone, but from how Air Drop shifted and twitched, she hadn’t. Twilight smiled. It was time to have a little fun of her own.

“It depends,” Twilight said, resting back on her good leg. “I think for pegasi, we pluck their feathers, one-by-one.”

Air Drop blanched white as a sheet.

“Oh, and then?” Deathclaw Joe asked with mock curiosity, leaning towards the guard, who leaned back while trying to stay at attention.

“We tar them and put the feathers back on.”

Air Drop’s knees buckled, and she collapsed.

“Oh, fuck—” Twilight cursed, rushing over to the collapsed guard. “I think we overdid it.”

“Maybe a bit,” Deathclaw Joe said, rubbing his temples. “But now that she’s down for the count, is her loyalty to me going to cause problems between us? I have a few more royal guards back at Metro Central.”

Twilight shook her head.

“If they want to join you, that's fine with me,” Twilight said. “Just as long as none of them try and take my head off with a fireaxe.”

She cringed at the fresh memory. Her heart rate spiked at just the reminder of the fear she had felt. It wasn’t a pleasant memory. Or one she’d soon forget.

Deathclaw Joe’s large hand squeezed her shoulder.

“So, you taught me how to teleport,” Deathclaw Joe said. “Want to—”

Deathclaw Joe was cut off as Fluttershy rushed into the room, tears streaming down her face as Electrum and Spike followed behind her.

Twilight’s heart stopped when she saw the look of anguish in Spike’s eyes. Electrum was more composed, but scowled like she had eaten something sour.

If Electrum was back…

“Y-you stopped General Beckett, right?” Twilight stuttered. She teetered on her hooves as her head rushed. There was only one reason Electrum would be back in such a sour mood. Twilight couldn't accept it. “Those are tears of joy, right?”

Electrum shook her head.

“I wish they were,” Electrum said. “Applejack wanted to wait until everyone was together to give you the news herself, but you all deserve to know. I couldn’t wait.” She shook her head. “Beckett tricked ponies into carrying tactical nukes into Canterlot and Cloudsdale. Manehattan survived because the bomb was sabotaged.”

Twilight’s legs threatened to give out like the guard’s. A pit opened in her stomach and her body trembled. It felt like she was floating and falling at the same time. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Deathclaw Joe’s growl snapped her out of the cold grasp of terror and heartbreak. He turned towards her, and his white mane flowed as if caught in an ethereal wind, just like Celestia or Luna’s mane.

“Want to learn how to disembowel someone with magic?” Deathclaw Joe asked her, his suddenly calm tone belying ice-cold rage.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight carefully observed Deathclaw Joe’s movements. The news of losing two cities was fresh on her mind. But she wouldn’t allow herself to collapse with dread. She was going to learn how to fight.

She had tried to fight against the world like an Equestrian. It was time to learn how to fight like a human with her magic. No pulling punches like when she used spells to knock out the changelings. She needed spells that could kill rather than disable.

She watched Deathclaw Joe inhale a deep breath before he placed his hooves shoulder-width apart. His horn crackled with electric blue magic, and a sword made of the same-colored light formed in the air in front of him.

“Picture your weapon in your mind,” he said. “Concentrate on the idea of it and not the exact dimensions. Go with the flow, don’t force it, and let your magic fill in the details that you don’t worry about.”

Twilight mirrored his stance. Inhaling, she clearly pictured a weapon in her mind. Pouring magic into her horn, she formed the weapon in front of her. A giant bow, like the ones the new horde used with enough skill and power to pin super mutants to walls.

The spell was simple to form, almost requiring no effort for her.

“Impressive,” Deathclaw Joe called out. “We’ll make a Liberty Beacon out of you.”

Twilight’s spell fizzed out as she spluttered, “W-wait, did you get a spell idea from a comic book!?”

“It worked, didn’t it?” Deathclaw Joe asked, forming a shield over one of his arms.

Twilight grimaced. He was right, but that didn’t make it any less crazy.

Deathclaw Joe raised the shield. “Now let's test your power.”

“Are you crazy!?” Twilight balked. “What if I punch through?”

“You won’t,” Deahtclaw Joe bragged. His horn flared as he poured more magic into the shield, charging the spell as if it were a capacitor. Rather than an all encompassing bubble, all the effort was being directed into blocking a single direction.

It was genius. Humans, who had never had magic of their own, could pour all of their raw creativity into new ways of thinking about magic. Twilight smiled. New avenues of study and ideas could be explored that Equestrians would have never considered after years of learning how to do magic traditionally.

Twilight formed the bow in front of herself again, the spike on the bottom planting firmly into the rooftop as she drew back the spectral string. A shaft of lavender light tipped with a diamond of starlight-white formed in the bow.

Twilight carefully aimed at the electric blue shield of light. She could barely see through it to Deathclaw Joe on the other side.

She let the arrow loose.

CLANG

“Ow!” Deathclaw Joe yelped as the shaft of light pierced his shield.

“Oh my gosh!” Twilight yelled, spreading her wings and flying over to Joe. The arrow flickered out of existence with her bow at the same time Deathclaw Joe dispelled his shield. “Please tell me you’re okay!”

He laughed, prodding the wound.

“Bah, the radscorpion-lion had a worse sting. My shield took most of the blow, and it barely went a half-inch in. Just a flesh wound,” Deathclaw Joe reassured her as he wiped his bloody finger on his loincloth. “But, I learned my lesson, no more being your target practice, Princess of Magic. Good shot by the way.”

Twilight beamed at the compliment.

“Thanks,” she said, then scratched her chin. “You said you were stung by a manticore, the radscorpion-lion as you put it. How’d you survive the venom?”

Deathclaw Joe shrugged.

“It killed one of my people outright with a sting, maybe it’s because I’m an alicorn?” Deathclaw Joe asked.

Twilight hummed in thought. Perhaps that was the case. Alicorns were tough. Luna had survived being impaled with two swords at once and shot in the face with a laser. With Celestia, Luna, and Cadance's magic in her, Twilight had survived Tirek throwing her through multiple mountains. She herself had survived a close encounter with a landmine.

“I think you’re right,” Twilight said. “When did you become an alicorn, by the way? Before you left Equestria, or after?”

“Almost immediately after,” Deathclaw Joe said. “I had an epiphany on my return, like everything made sense all at once, and before I knew it I had my cutie mark and wings.”

Twilight looked down towards his thigh. There was enough skin exposed to spot his cutie mark. A crown being slashed apart by claws made of lightning.

“What do you think your mark means?” Twilight asked.

Deathclaw Joe looked down at it.

“To me, it means hope,” Deahtclaw Joe said. “That’s what kept me going in the steel yards and blast furnaces of the Pitt. Hope that I could escape and make something better for myself. Maybe come back and get my revenge when I was as strong as the man in the comic books I would read when the slave masters weren’t looking.” Deathclaw Joe sighed and whispered in a language Twilight didn’t know. “Sic semper tyrannis.”

One look at his kingdom, and Twilight had to admit that he had done well for himself.

“So, um, Deathclaw Joe,” Twilight said. She wanted to distract him from what was clearly a sore subject. “I noticed someone in your kingdom put bottle caps over the eyes of the dead woman. Is there some sort of religious meaning behind that?”

Deathclaw Joe brightened right up with a laugh.

“Nah, people just started copying me when I did it, and I never stopped them. I feel strange when a corpse stares at me, so putting the caps over their eyes was a way to make dead bodies less scary,” Deathclaw Joe said with a small shrug and chuckle. “I told you I was afraid of many things.”

So, even Deathclaw Joe had to giggle at the ghosties.

<>~<>~<>

The incident with the arrow didn’t slow down Twilight’s training with Deathclaw Joe on the rooftop. Hours flew by, and before Twilight knew it, it was past time to return for the Knock.

Thankfully, Deathclaw Joe had picked up teleportation just as fast as she had learned how to conjure weapons made of magic.

They arrived onto the bridge above the picnic tables. The New Horde band busied themselves pounding out beats on their drums, backed up by the cry of horns, the clink of tambourines, and the rattle of maracas.

Singing rang from below them. Twilight leaned over the bridge, and on the stage towards the back of the station, men and women in costumes danced or acted out scenes of combat with creatures of the wasteland.

Every picnic table was jam-packed with raiders drinking and gorging themselves on plates heaped with food. And from how high up Twilight was, she could see couples were already making use of the bedrolls hidden mostly out of view.

Thankfully, the scent of food and alcohol rising up from below was enough to overpower the scent of the hundreds of unwashed bodies. The Knock was in full swing.

“Isn’t it a faux pas to be late to your own party?” Twilight asked Deathclaw Joe, who was beside her.

“What's a faux pas?” Deathclaw Joe asked. “If you mean rude, yes, I did lose track of time. But I’m the king, so my vassals operate off my schedule, not theirs.”

Twilight frowned. That was inconsiderate, but she was in no place to tell Deathclaw Joe that he was in the wrong as he stepped away from her and walked towards the longest and widest of the three tents on the bridge. Twilight followed.

Inside was a long, wide banquet table covered in cloth and lidded platters. Around a dozen raiders sat on each of the long sides. The head of the table was wide enough for three thrones, with the central having the gilded deathclaw skull mounted above it, and the leftmost throne had Lisa sitting on it, her sword leaning on the armrest.

“Ah,” Lisa said, clapping her hands together. “I was wondering when you’d arrive, my king. Our guests are rather famished after their long walk here.”

She raised a wine-glass near empty with the shallow dregs of a slightly pink drink. A yellow unicorn stallion in a tuxedo standing off to the side of the table levitated a pitcher over the glass and refilled it. He wasn’t the only pony in the room.

There were two more royal guards giving Twilight worried glances, as well as a few of the seated raiders having pony features. She assumed the raiders in the tent were the leaders of the hundreds of raiders down below.

Deathclaw Joe placed his hand between Twilight’s wings and gently guided her towards the head of the table. As they passed by seated raiders, she heard many of them mutter as they spotted the wings on their backs.

“Twilight and I were busy,” Deathclaw Joe said. “I see everyone’s arrived by four P.M. for a change.”

“Why would we be late?” a raider woman with more piercings and tattoos than hair asked. About the only hair on her head were the tufts of fur sticking off her bat pony ears. “All of us expected you to call us together to raid Equestria with the help of the golden unicorn.”

There was a chorus of agreement from the three other raiders in the room with Equestrian features. Twilight clenched her jaw. Electrum had been the one to send raiders to Equestria, and it wasn’t just the insane surface raiders, either.

All of the metal tracks made the perfect etching surface for artificial leylines. Additionally, the conductive properties of metal helped draw the wild magic portals into the subterranean depths.

The latter part was Twilight’s theory. She didn’t have another explanation that would contradict her hypothesis as to why a vast majority of the portals had opened up underground.

She pushed aside the thought as she sat on the throne next to Deathclaw Joe, opposite of Lisa. It was likely Samantha’s throne.

“Raid Equestria?” Deathclaw Joe laughed. “I see a few of you have been tempted by the rolling green hills and the idea of a soft people to lay waste to. Would you be all so bold as to repeat that idea if you knew the woman beside me was a leader of that realm? Or the guards in this tent being guards from that world?”

The tent went quiet. A few of the raiders glanced at the ex-royal guards who carried their spears as well as long daggers in sheaths as sidearms. The daggers weren’t standard issue gear, but the scabbards were too fine to be raider manufactured.

The raiders were unarmed as far as Twilight could tell.

“Thought so,” Deathclaw Joe said. “Now that I’m here, I have a few things to discuss before we drink ourselves stupid.” He glanced towards three separate raiders in quick succession. “Lupa, Dominic, and Casandra, go join your gangs downstairs. You are not welcome in my tent.”

“But my king, I try to live by your example!” a raider yelled as she leapt up. She wore sports padding reinforced with leather and metal. Twilight guessed it was Casandra since she was the only female he had named out of the group. “My gang takes no chems, barely drinks to excess, and treats those coming through our territory with respect.”

The other two seemed just as appalled, while the rest of the raiders were bemused at the others’ punishment, or confused.

“Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery,” Deathclaw Joe rumbled. “But it can also mean you want to imitate me enough to the point that you think you can replace me. You are not welcome at this banquet table tonight. You three gather your people and leave. We’ll discuss how to rectify your insolence later.”

“But—” another raider started.

“I AM KING!” Deathclaw Joe roared, his eyes flashing bright as he used the royal Canterlot voice, mane blowing in ethereal wind once more. “Leave in peace or leave in pieces!”

He raised his hand, and Lisa rose from her seat, hand clasped around the hilt of her sword.

The three raiders scrambled to leave, and the rest of the table roared with laughter as Lisa followed them out.

Twilight shrank down into her chair from the outburst.

“Now that the riff-raff is gone,” Deathclaw Joe said. “I propose we get this Knock started right.”

His horn flared, and a wooden keg floated into the air from behind his throne, wrapped in his electric blue magic. Following behind the keg were enough tankards for everyone around the table.

“My famous punga-fruit mead,” Deathclaw Joe said with pride in his voice and a wide smile on his face. All traces of anger had melted away from him like snow in but a moment. “Freshly brewed, with ingredients added from Equestria to make it as new and unique as possible for my honored guests tonight.”

One raider was visibly salivating at the sight of the keg. Twilight wanted to know where on Earth he had managed to find a wooden keg as a tankard was placed in front of her.

Thick, slightly golden mead gushed out of the keg’s spigot and into the tankard. It smelled of cinnamon and apples, with a hint of berries. Once it was full, she lifted the tankard to her lips, but Deahtclaw Joe stopped her.

“It’s a toast, we all drink together,” he said while passing out the tankards as he filled them.

When the final tankard was in a raider’s hand, he held up his hand to grab everyone’s attention.

“One last thing before we drink,” Deathclaw Joe said. “Some musical accompaniment.”

“Don’t we have the music outside?” Twilight asked.

“We do, but that’s New Horde music,” Deathclaw Joe said as the unicorn who had given Lisa her refill flared his horn. All sound from the outside became a muffled din as the unicorn levitated a cello over to himself from the corner of the tent. “Deep Tones, play us that piece of Equestrian classical music I loved so much. Share with the crowd here what Equestria can bring us.”

“With pleasure, my king,” Tones said with a bright, pearly white smile. He flitted the bow across the strings, and Deathclaw Joe lifted his tankard to his lips and drank deeply. The rest of the raiders followed suit.

The alcohol tasted like an apple pie, heavy on the apples and cinnamon, with a strong alcoholic burn to it like whiskey despite being more of a wine if it was truly mead.

Twilight’s ears flicked. She knew the song, but couldn’t quite remember where she’d heard it.

“Damn, this is your best batch yet,” a raider called out. “What’s in this?”

“The secret ingredient is love,” Deathclaw Joe laughed.

One of the raiders choked and grabbed at their throat, and Twilight remembered the song. Rain Over Broken Hearts. It was a funeral song.

“Love… and manticore venom,” Deathclaw Joe said coldly as more raiders spluttered and coughed. He nodded to the guards.

They tossed their spears aside and drew their daggers. The pair raced to get behind raiders and slit their choking, gasping throats as the musician continued to play, unwavering as jets of blood sprayed over the table and other dying guests.

Deathclaw Joe merely smiled and drained the rest of his tankard.

“Being an alicorn certainly has its perks,” Deathclaw Joe said. He set his empty tankard down and turned to face Twilight. “So, how much land in Equestria is worth the heads of every rapacious bastard the New Horde can kill?”

As the silence spell of Deep Tones wore off, all Twilight could hear was screaming downstairs drowned out by the clash of swords and gunshots.

Chapter 38: Roundabout Way

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It was as if Twilight had been dropped into a horror movie.

She sat paralyzed, staring at the corpses around the table. Her heart raced in her ears, nearly drowning out the mournful wail of the cello’s stressed strings and the cries of the dying guests. Arterial spray flowed like crimson rivers over the tablecloth, before dripping down onto the floor in red waterfalls. The sound of combat on the floor below died off as quickly as the dinner guests.

It had started and ended in seconds. Two royal guards efficiently, and without any sign of hesitation, killed almost two dozen people.

No, not killed. Murdered. Ice shot through Twilight's veins as it dawned on her that she was sitting next to the stallion who had given the order.

Was she a target, too? She could have been poisoned if for whatever reason her being an alicorn wasn’t enough to fight off the manticore venom. Deathclaw Joe was larger and more physically fit than her, his body far more capable of fighting off poison naturally.

She swallowed heavily, her throat as dry as a desert. Yet, it didn’t close up from the manticore’s venom. But that didn’t mean she was out of danger. The royal guards likely wouldn't hesitate to dispatch her as ruthlessly as the other guests.

The pair busied themselves wiping their blood-stained blades clean on the tablecloth.

“W-why?” Twilight stammered as she slowly met Deathclaw Joe’s neutral gaze. He was relaxed in his throne, not making any threatening moves despite ordering the execution of so many people. “They trusted you, and you betrayed them before asking me for Equestrian land?”

Indignation spurred Twilight into action, and she wouldn’t let her fear trap her again since she was able to move this time. Channeling magic through her horn, she shut her eyes so she wouldn’t be blinded by her own flash as she teleported.

Appearing across the table from Deathclaw Joe, Twilight conjured her spectral greatbow and aimed right for his heart. The two guards whirled on her, confirming her suspicion of where their loyalties lay, but Deathclaw Joe silently raised a fist. The pair stopped in their tracks.

Deathclaw Joe was silent, everyone else frozen in place, rasping for breath, before he sighed heavily. His broad shoulders drooped as he slouched on his throne.

"They did trust me,” Deathclaw Joe said, his voice low. “But they also disobeyed my orders. I've kept them in check for years, keeping them from disturbing settlements as much as I could. But the moment—the very second—that they go to a land with nothing but opportunity to change themselves for the better, they revert to their baser instincts and rape and reave the countryside apart."

He pointed to the bat-eared raider woman, face down in a pool of her own blood. "Even the women got in on the rape. She and her gang butchered Rock Bend before a lucky portal let them escape. I can't allow people like her to exist in the same world as my wives and children."

Outright murder wasn’t Twilight’s way of dealing with villains. But… she had seen the newspaper clippings during her visit. Rock Bend had been wiped off the map. Most of the town had been herded into a building before it was lit on fire. This wasn’t Equestria. If she could save her friends from harm by tricking all her enemies into assembling in one place and disarming themselves…

Twilight’s scowl was deep enough that she could feel it disfiguring her face.

“I don’t know if you’re a good person capable of evil, or an evil person capable of good,” Twilight said as she eased the tension in her bow.

“I wonder the same thing,” Deathclaw Joe said, slowly standing from his seat, before he motioned to an empty chair. “Jack would have been there if Fluttershy hadn’t come along. Knowing him, he threatened to rape her, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” Twilight said bitterly. She had seen the signs outside of Anacostia station. Before Fluttershy, Jack’s gang had extorted caps, drugs, and sex from anyone wanting to cross through their territory. “Why bring it up?”

“Because I am sorry,” Deathclaw Joe said, voice low, as if ashamed. He stepped around the table, careful not to tread on the puddles of blood on the floor. “Whatever Fluttershy was doing could have worked. I never thought I’d see the day that Kerri would wear anything resembling actual clothes… but to see her in a real dress. I couldn’t believe it. For years I’ve been recruiting from the other gangs, skimming away the people that wanted to change. Everytime I drew one or two away that wanted a better life, their old bosses would recruit more people who were far more crazy and chemed up than the last batch.” His shoulders slumped again. “A single brick isn’t enough to hold back a flood, and before I knew it, all the other gangs surrounding my kingdom were full of people who would senselessly rape and burn a town for the fun of it.”

Twilight didn't sense any untruth in his tone. If he was being completely honest, Fluttershy was facing an uphill battle with the worst of the raiders. Most of the ones that she could have helped, Deathclaw Joe had already recruited.

“What about the three people you sent away?” Twilight questioned, taking a step back from Deathclaw Joe. He had openly called them out for being too much like him. Unless…

“It was all for show,” Deathclaw Joe said. “Those three were in on the plan. The only three of my vassals I could trust to not slit my throat for their own gain.”

All of the raiders he had killed were far, far worse than him. He wanted to protect his people, give them something better. But the way he was going about it… Twilight wasn’t sure she wanted Deathclaw Joe in Equestria. She wasn’t even the Princess of all of Equestria yet; she didn’t have the authority to grant land anyway.

“We’ll have to talk to Princess Celestia or Princess Luna about granting you land,” Twilight said. “You, and only you, will have to come with me to Equestria to speak with them.”

While the teleportation device that Electrum had stolen was already recharged and could teleport all of Deathclaw Joe’s people at once, Equestria was dealing with enough problems. Twilight wouldn’t add to it by allowing a small army with a leader who planned his murders in advance free and unchecked entry.

“If it gets my people closer to having neighbors that don’t want us dead,” Deathclaw Joe said, offering a hand. “Then I accept.”

Twilight shook his hand. While she still wasn’t sure she wanted Deathclaw Joe in Equestria, she knew for certain that she didn’t want him to be an enemy of Equestria.

<>~<>~<>

Celestia stopped as she caught her reflection in the darkened window of one of Ponyville’s grocery stores. Her rainbow mane had lost its etherealness, and the now corporeal strands lay in a disheveled heap atop her head.

“Not very dignified looking,” she murmured to herself. She hadn’t slept all night, and it showed in the bags under her eyes. “But it could be worse.”

Much like the damage to Equestria—better than expected, but worse than she had hoped. So many ponies had lost their lives, been displaced, or would feel the effects years later.

The hundreds of houses and storefronts without any electricity only served as a constant reminder that Equestria had been hurt. But even in the darkness, there was hope.

Fillies and colts played in the street, watched over by their mothers from shadowy door frames. Candles provided light in place of bulbs, and Celestia could feel the charge of resolution in the air. Equestria would bounce back and recover.

Even as she walked the streets to take a break from the military meetings, skilled electricians worked around the clock to restore the electrical grid. Unfortunately, Ponyville and surrounding towns would not have electricity for a month or two at the very least. The falling ruins of Canterlot had dammed the river, cutting off water to the hydroelectric dam downstream.

Thankfully there were enough wells around Ponyville to keep the town supplied without the river. There were many small wins to counter the large blows. A silver lining to the dark clouds.

The damage to the weather factory meant that there was no wind to blow the irradiated dirt and fallout sucked up by the mushroom clouds. It contained the invisible poison to the immediate area around the blast, sparing hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland from losing their crops and avoiding a potential famine.

But that would only remain the case if the irradiated and malfunctioning cloud-making machines in Cloudsdale were shut down. Pegasi were flying their wings off to keep the irradiated clouds contained to the city. It wasn't long after the dust from the blasts had settled that wild and untamed wind currents had arrived in the weather factory's absence.

And with the best ponies at controlling the weather all living in one place…

She gazed towards Cloudsdale, and her gut clenched. Even in broad daylight, she could see the sickly green thunder clouds crackling with foul yellow lightning. The reports from the hazmat teams were calling it a radstorm, a term picked up from a few of the humans allowed to stay in Equestria.

Thankfully the military was in the middle of dealing with it. If they were successful, it would be Equestria’s only radstorm.

“Celestia!” Twilight’s voice ripped Celestia’s attention away from the ruined city. She turned around and spotted Twilight approaching her down the sidewalk, accompanied by several others. Almost immediately, Celestia's gaze was pulled like a magnet away from her student and the others with her and towards a behemoth of a stallion.

His gray coat was covered in large ugly scars that only added to his rugged handsomeness. A veteran warrior if Celestia had ever seen one. His mane was as white as her coat, and his eyes were an intense electric blue. She eagerly awaited the moment to introduce herself to him. Eying his body as much as she could as he approached, it eventually slipped past the unroyal thoughts jamming together in her brain that he had a pair of wings and a horn.

“Wait, is he an alicorn?” Celestia asked in disbelief, breaking out of her momentary spell. She checked to see who else was with Twilight, finding that her faithful student had brought with her Electrum, who had the stolen SOCOM teleportation beacon on her back, as well as Daniel, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Fluttershy, and two more of Fluttershy’s gang. The zebra mare, and the gryphon stallion. Their names escaped her at the moment.

“His name is Deathclaw Joe,” Twilight said, nudging her head to the stallion. Celestia recognized the name, and realized that she had heard of him before. Many interrogated raiders claimed that he had crowned himself as their king. There was also the fact that Luna had fought him.

“Luna told me about him, but never said he was an alicorn,” Celestia said. How had Luna missed that detail? Although they had been fighting at the same time they were talking, so Luna could have missed some details. What she had said was that he was so skilled with hoof-to-hoof fighting that she’d had to banish him back to Earth, or else she would have lost the fight. And she’d had her swords at the time.

Despite the fighting, he had been cordial and well spoken. A cut above almost all of the raiders that had crossed over. Celestia assumed that if he was with Twilight, he was here for a meeting.

Celestia gave him a polite bow. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“I am honored to be in your presence, Princess Celestia,” Deathclaw Joe said as he stepped past Twilight. His horn flared electric blue, and a longsword made of pure magic formed in the air in front of him.

Celestia tensed, ready to defend herself, but the raider king pointed the blade down and stabbed it into the dirt road as he bowed, his horn touching the pommel of the sword.

“I humbly ask you, Princess Celestia of Equestria, for a small amount of land for my family, the families of my warriors, and the vassals loyal to me. I have around a hundred and fifty people desiring to resettle. We have tents and can make do with open fields. In return for a small kingdom of my own, I will pledge my warriors to fight under your flag when called on, and an annual portion of my treasury as taxes.”

His request had come out of the blue, and Celestia had to stumble over her earlier thoughts to consider it. Hearing trade offers like that dredged up old memories within Celestia. Deathclaw Joe would have been right at home in the royal courts six or even seven centuries ago. They were far less civilized times.

“I’ve visited his kingdom back on Earth,” Twilight said, nodding along with Fluttershy. “The only issue I have with him is how he chose to solve Equestria’s raider problem.”

Celestia raised a brow. If he had solved the problem with raiders, what difference did it make? She had sent as many raiders back as she could to spread a warning to change their ways, but very few took heed to it. The plan had backfired and only encouraged them to seek out Equestria as an easy target.

“How did he do that?” Celestia asked.

“As dishonorably as the rapists and murderers deserved.” Deathclaw Joe’s voice, even when just in a casual tone, rolled like thunder. He dispelled the sword planted into the ground and rose to his full height, which Celestia realized was a few inches over her own stature. “I invited them all to a feast where I poisoned their leaders while my warriors dealt with their drunken underlings.”

So, more of the courts nine centuries ago.

Celestia caught Twilight and Fluttershy’s wince, and she frowned. While honorless, it was efficient, and the raiders wouldn’t be around to cause Equestria any more issues.

“Good,” Celestia said, ignoring the shock from everyone but Deathclaw Joe and the two unknown people. It was a cold, blunt stance to take, but Celestia was done with feeling sorry. The nukes from SOCOM had been the final straw. Every route she had tried to take for peace had been rebuffed by the raiders and SOCOM. It was time to stop responding to threats with second chances. “May I make a counteroffer that could work better for the both of us?”

Deathclaw Joe nodded.

“Deathclaw Joe,” Celestia said, “I will give you and your people twenty square miles of land to settle as a new town. However, the land will not be for you to rule as you see fit. Instead, your people will become full citizens of Equestria. You will have a place as a counselor to myself and Princess Luna. We could use the advice of someone who knows the human world, and is an expert in the use of violence.”

Deathclaw Joe’s features twitched and shifted as he mulled over her offer.

“It’s not exactly what I wanted,” Deathclaw Joe said with a heavy frown. “I lead my people. I do not want to turn their fate over to another that I don’t fully trust. So, I will take your offer under one condition.”

Protecting one's own people. She could relate.

“And that is?” Celestia asked. A counteroffer to her counteroffer. She hadn’t had to deal with one of those in at least five centuries. Ponies were usually too busy bowing and scraping like she was a goddess to try to negotiate.

“We unite our kingdoms through marriage.”

Twilight and the rest of the ponies around whipped over to Deathclaw Joe in shock. Celestia just chuckled, but it extended into a laugh that didn’t quite end. Seconds later, she was almost doubled over.

“Celestia?” Twilight asked, rushing over to her side. “Are you okay?”

It took several moments for Celestia to settle down and stand upright.

“I’m more than okay,” Celestia said with a heavy sigh. She needed the laugh. “Just nostalgia for the past. Deathclaw Joe negotiates like a noble from the days when I was a filly.” She wiped tears of laughter out of her eyes with her foreleg. “A political marriage is ten centuries out of date, so I can only accept that if the arrangement is with me. I can not agree on my sister’s behalf.”

“Are you sure about this?” Twilight whispered. Her face was a mask of confusion and concern for her. “He already has two wives.”

“Does he now?” Celestia asked as she looked towards Deathclaw Joe. If so, he truly was a stallion from a different age. “You’re already married?”

Deathclaw Joe nodded. “Will that be a problem?”

“I will have to check with your wives, alone, to see if they have any issues,” Celestia said sternly. “Polygamy can be… messy.”

“Speaking from experience?” Deathclaw Joe asked, his tone playfully coy.

Celestia bit back a smile and nodded.

“WHAT!?” Twilight gasped. “I never knew you married anypony before.”

“It was over four and a half centuries ago,” Celestia said. “You go through many phases when you’re immortal.”

Celestia had lived to see entire generations come and go. She had cut the ribbon at Manehattan’s first alehouse, many centuries before it became known for its skyscrapers. She was a living witness to most of the history taught in Equestria’s schools.

Marrying someone to acquire the expertise of their people, their land, or to acquire veteran soldiers was a refreshing and nostalgic trip back in time to how things used to work. A break from the chaos of trying to manage dealing with humans who could take entire cities off the map with something that could fit in the back of a wagon.

It didn’t hurt that he looked good as well.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight winced as Fluttershy slammed the door hard enough it rattled the windows of her house. It sent a painting of a windmill surrounded by wheat fields clattering to the floor. Fluttershy’s other two gang members poked their heads out of the kitchen.

“So, are we going to talk about what just happened!?” she growled and stomped a hoof onto the floor.

Twilight collapsed onto the couch, scooching over enough for Daniel and Spike to join her. Their group had quickly reduced in size after finding Celestia. Pinkie Pie had gone to check into the hospital for her head injury, Electrum was recharging the teleportation device with Starswirl the Bearded, while Celestia and Deathclaw Joe were…

“Yeah, I’m just as confused as you,” Twilight said, rubbing her chin in thought. It was as though female alicorns were somehow attracted to Deathclaw Joe. No, that was incorrect. It wasn’t one-way like that. Deathclaw Joe was just as attracted to alicorn mares as they were to him. He had sensed Twilight standing behind him.

Twilight sighed. “For as long as I’ve known her, Princess Celestia has always had a playful streak. She enjoys putting ponies on their back hoof with the unexpected, so this sort of tracks for her.” Which meant it probably wasn’t entirely the unnatural attraction confusing their brains. “Celestia’s a smart mare. I bet she’s got something under her crown, but I can’t put my hoof on it. There’s no way she’d marry someone after just meeting them unless she was getting something more out of it than an advisor and some soldiers. Regardless, she’s her own mare.”

“Of course you’d say that,” Fluttershy groaned, grinding a hoof into her temple. “You had to learn about irresponsible marriage from somewhere.”

“Hey, that was uncalled for!” Twilight blurted as she leapt up from the couch and pointed a hoof at the accusing mare. The only time Fluttershy had been this mean spirited was when she had been turned unkind by Discord. Or had taken lessons from Iron Will. Or… okay, so Fluttershy had a mean streak. But it still was out of line. “What in the hay is wrong with you, ‘Shy?”

Fluttershy spun in place, facing Twilight with a glower of cold fury.

“What’s wrong is that monster murdered everyone,” Fluttershy seethed. She swept her foreleg to point out every one of her gang, who were still lingering in the doorway to the kitchen. Ethan, Paul, Kerri, and Slim Joe. “He even told you that Jack would have been at the table. What would have happened to them, huh? But no, you and Celestia throw every raider under the wagon because a handsome alicorn told you it was okay.”

“No offense,” Twilight growled, taking a step towards Fluttershy. “But your gang isn’t a pack of lost puppies. Paul over there was kicked out of Rivet City for murdering someone while high on psycho.” She glared at the earth pony, who quickly joined the other raiders in shuffling back into the kitchen. “And Kerri ate human meat.”

“It was accidental, but she could peg me for a whole lot more,” Kerri said, rolling her eyes and smiling. She punched Slim Joe’s shoulder. “About the only one of us who isn’t a living piece of shit is Slim Joe here, but he’s ex-Enclave.”

“W-what? No, I’m not!” Slim Joe spluttered unconvincingly in time with him jumping away from the other raiders. He dropped down low and spread his wings. The fluffy down on the back of his eagle head rose similar to an angry cat’s hackles.

Twilight frowned, checking back on Fluttershy who simply shook her head, body shaking with anger.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy said, her breath fluttering with barely contained rage. “You're better than mass murder.”

Twilight ground her teeth together. Why was Fluttershy being so obstinate? She had fought raiders when she was with the Brotherhood of Steel. She knew what they were capable of.

“I know,” Twilight stressed the word. “But after I learned what those raiders had done, I… I probably would have done the same.”

“Well what did they do!?” Fluttershy snapped.

“Rock Bend.” Twilight’s tone was as weighty as a hammer, and Fluttershy’s jerk at the name resembled somepony being hit with one. “The mare who was in charge was there, and she wasn’t the only raider with pony parts. It's not just surface raiders who are psychotic.”

“Oh… I didn’t know that,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head as she cradled it in her hooves. “It's hard trying to be kind.”

“‘Shy?” Twilight asked, reaching a hoof out towards her friend. She regretted the movement as Fluttershy knocked it away.

“Stop, please,” Fluttershy snapped. “I’m not in a hugs and apologies mood right now. I’ve seen enough death and violence the last three weeks to last me a lifetime.” She sighed heavily, shaking her head. “I’m going to stay in Equestria. My poor animal friends haven’t been home in weeks. A familiar place should help comfort them after those nukes. It’ll do me some good as well.”

She held up a hoof, slowly inhaled, then exhaled. A breathing technique much like the one Twilight used to avoid a panic attack.

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, her tone losing its snippish edge. “But I’m not made for the stress. I can try to hide the real me by acting as much as I want, but sooner or later I’ll have to do something that will get through every persona I put up. Trying to help raiders find a way out of their life was the only reason for staying after all of our friends turned out to be safe.”

Twilight stood silently in front of her friend, carefully contemplating what to say. She needed Fluttershy. She needed her friends in the wasteland. Everything had started to feel better after she had found them all. But circumstance was tearing them apart just as quickly as they reunited.

But if Pinkie and Fluttershy were in Equestria, they would be safe.

“I understand,” Twilight said, lowering her head. “I’m going to go. It’s almost nightfall. The teleporter will be recharged by tomorrow morning if you change your mind, but I won’t argue against you staying.”

Twilight turned for the door, but Fluttershy’s soft, meek, almost old-self voice stopped her in her tracks.

“I really am sorry, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “One more thing, before you go.”

Twilight turned back.

“Will you be mad if I borrow Spike for a while? He’ll be my only way to talk to Discord.”

That was up to him. Twilight regarded Spike, who had hopped off the couch.

“Well…” Spike drew out. He had, as Twilight expected, reverted back to his baby dragon form. Though he was a little taller than Twilight remembered. “Are you sure there isn’t a way for you to visit Discord? I’d like to stick with Rarity if I can.”

Twilight overheard him mutter something about being taller under his breath at the end, but didn’t make the rest out.

“The only way I have to visit his realm without his teleportation is my spirit going to his realm,” Fluttershy said with a soft sigh. Most of her rage had fizzled out, and she traded places on the couch with Daniel.

“If I’m really your only way, then sure,” Spike said. “I’m always ready to help a friend.”

Twilight was about to smile at the touching moment, but something about the wording Fluttershy used rose Twilight’s hackles. She scrunched her face in confusion. What did Fluttershy mean by ‘my spirit’?

“Hold on,” Ethan said, raising a bat wing. “Did you sell your soul to Discord or something?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said without hesitation. “Has anyone else caught on to the fact that he’s an immortal spirit with his own chaotic realm and almost unlimited reality bending powers? He’s also capable of laying claim to the spirits of those who worship him.”

Kerri snorted.

“Guess a lot of that worship goes on in the bedro—”

Ethan smacked her in the back of the head with a leathery bat-like wing. Fluttershy rubbed her temples with a huff. But she was smiling.

Twilight took the brevity to leave on good terms, waving goodbye to everyone as she backed towards the door, Daniel in tow. Spike stayed with Fluttershy.

Once outside, the door shut behind Twilight and Daniel with a hefty click.

They walked along the stone path away from Fluttershy’s cottage before Daniel shook his head.

“That was quite the drama,” Daniel said as he massaged the bridge of his nose. “Celestia, Deathclaw Joe, that argument. I wasn’t involved and I feel emotionally played out, I can’t begin to imagine the roller coaster you’ve been on. How are you feeling, hun?”

He bumped his flank into hers.

“Like I need a warm bubble bath and a cold pillow to cry on,” Twilight said. The weight of the argument bore down on her like a ton of bricks. She had come a hair’s breadth from losing Fluttershy as a friend, possibly forever.

“I could go for the same,” Daniel said. He forced a grin. “Maybe we share the tub and pillow?”

Twilight laughed. That sounded wonderful.

They walked for a short while longer, Ponyville coming into clear view through the trees down the road.

“So, I’ve been thinking,” Daniel said, his voice apprehensive. “Discord, Celestia, and Luna are all immortal, right?” Twilight turned her eyes from the road to lock with his. “Are you immortal, too?”

Her stomach flipped. Oh… I never did get around to telling him that.

Chapter 39: Dark Horizon

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Deathclaw Joe smiled as he sniffed the largest bushel of flowers on the top shelf of the display stand.

He had only seen roses in old pictures, but Equestria gave him the chance to smell them, and their scent was nearly indescribable. The best that he could think of was that they smelled… nice. Maybe sweet? Like the scent of a freshly bitten apple or mutfruit. But… better, somehow.

Deathclaw Joe needed to share the experience with Lisa and Samantha. Silver would love them too.

“Do you take bottle caps?” Deathclaw Joe asked the trembling pale-yellow woman—mare, he needed to get the lingo right—behind the stand. Her green eyes were pinpricks, carefully watching his every move.

“F-free,” she managed to stutter through chattering teeth.

Deathclaw Joe’s smile faded. If the mare kept shaking, she’d rattle herself apart, but at least she was talking. It was better than most. Even with Princess Twilight—and then Princess Celestia—as his chaperone, the slamming of doors preceded him as panicked mothers pulled their children inside.

He didn’t blame them, he could have stepped on the children if he wasn’t careful. His height was even more pronounced after the transition to Equestria, and he was taller than his first visit now that he was an alicorn. He glanced towards Princess Celestia, who was busy beside him sniffing her own bushel of roses.

He had an inch or two over Princess Celestia now, yet he had barely met Princess Luna’s eye level during their battle.

Deathclaw Joe watched Princess Celestia spot the trembling flower mare, and her face scrunched with puzzlement before she looked back to him and her expression clarified with understanding. She sighed and draped a wing across his back. The brush of the delicate feathers across his scars sent his head rushing to the clouds. Something about being around other alicorns was just…

He clenched his teeth and yanked his thoughts back on track. He needed to stay focused. The kingdoms hadn’t unified yet; he would not allow himself to screw up when he was so close to securing everyone’s safety.

Self-discipline and a sharp mind were his best weapons.

“Roseluck, he’s not here to hurt you,” Princess Celestia said to the flower mare in a soothing, matronly tone. The same tone Samantha used when introducing Silver to someone unfamiliar. “He’s a friend of mine. We’ll pay what everyone else pays.”

“O-okay,” Roseluck said, her voice still shaky. Deathclaw Joe wanted to try and help calm her down.

“These, flowers, are… nice.” Deathclaw Joe said in his best paternal voice, attempting to match the soft reassurance of Princess Celestia. He chewed his tongue with every word. He could spit rhyming lines in the heat of battle, or wax poetic at a table full of corpses. But comforting a stranger… he was more suited to hitting things. Princess Celestia patted him on the back for the effort.

“Thank you,” Roseluck said, a small smile creeping out. She bowed to both Princess Celestia and him, before asking in a surprisingly more confident tone, “So, if roses are a sign of love, and you’re both alicorns doing some rose shopping… Does this mean that you two are together?”

“Considering it,” Princess Celestia said. Her smirk was delectably devious, leaving no question for the mare, who shot upright with a bright smile at the insinuation. “The Deathclaw King and I were on our way to Twilight’s castle to talk about royal business when I saw your wonderful roses. Such a beautiful bounty is worthy of a once-in-a-lifetime event.” Princess Celestia leaned in close, whispering conspiratorially. “Don’t tell anypony, but could you hold enough for a bridal bouquet?”

Roseluck threw a foreleg to her head and collapsed backwards in a swoon.

“What did I just watch?” Deathclaw Joe asked as he and Princess Celestia both turned back onto the main road through Ponyville. Their destination—Twilight’s castle—was impossible to miss. He had seen the crystalline tree all the way from Canterlot during his first Equestrian visit. The scale of the structure now that he was in Ponyville…

“A seed being planted,” Princess Celestia said, interrupting his thoughts with a jester’s smile. “Roseluck will tell her friends, and then they will tell their friends. Letting the rumor spread will prepare my subjects for the announcement.” The smile slowly faded as she glanced towards the horizon. “They don’t need any more unexpected surprises.”

Canterlot’s crater glowed like a jade bonfire on the mountainside.

“Electrum never said what the death toll was,” Deathclaw Joe said. He knew it was the wrong subject to bring up, but grim curiosity had taken the wheel. “Do you have estimates?”

Celestia dropping her gaze to the dirt sent Deathclaw Joe screaming internally at himself for his idiocy. It was his turn to drape her with a wing. The movement was automatic, as if some instinct compelled him to comfort her. He had reflexively done the same when he had rescued Twilight from her attacker.

“Two-thousand-and-thirty-nine in Canterlot, with three times as many injuries,” Princess Celestia replied, her voice low. “Most of the fatalities were military personnel. Cloudsdale, though…” She shook her head and pressed herself into him. “They tallied up the survivors and subtracted it from the last census. It’s not accurate since Cloudsdale was a tourist and trade destination, but it's the best we have.”

Princess Celestia shuddered.

“Forty-nine-thousand and counting as ponies succumb to radiation poisoning. We haven’t had the time to manufacture enough rad-away for a nuclear attack.”

Deathclaw Joe ground his teeth.

So much pointless death dealt to those that didn’t deserve it. He doubted that there were anywhere close to fifty-thousand people in the Capital Wasteland. It would take his kingdom dozens of generations to even think about approaching that number.

“When I heard the news, I became bellicose,” Deathclaw Joe said. He wished he still had his fists to clench. He settled on flexing the wing not holding Celestia. The pride of teaching Princess Twilight a combat spell had only slightly soothed his cold rage. “Your world is beautiful. It should not become as ugly as I am.”

“Would an ugly stallion have two wives?” Princess Celestia tittered, some of her cheer resurging. He knew she wanted to change the subject, so he obliged.

“Only two? I thought it was soon to be three?” Deathclaw Joe asked, curling his lips with a grin. His rash suggestion of uniting the kingdoms had worked out in his favor. But what was Princess Celestia getting out of him?

He pushed the thought aside as he bumped his loincloth-clad rump into Princess Celestia’s bare flank. He had so much mass over her that it was like a wrecking ball hitting a garden fence.

“Careful!” Princess Celestia yelped while stumbling. She recovered quickly with a wing flap to keep herself from falling over, then quickly laughed it off. “My word, if you can hit me that hard with your hips going that direction…”

Deathclaw Joe reminded himself that he didn’t have a soft palm to slap against his forehead as he beamed himself with his own hoof.

“Owwww, please don’t be another Lisa,” Deathclaw Joe groaned through a grin, massaging the goose-egg that he planted between his brows. He was probably Equestria’s first two-horned unicorn.

“Should have done your research on me before stepping your hoof into a marriage deal,” Princess Celestia said with a grin. She spread her wings and took flight, turning around once her hooves had passed his head height. She motioned with a hoof for him to follow her.

“And you’ve done research on me?” Deathclaw Joe asked, thumping his chest with a hoof.

It was a silly question. Of course she had. Every raider that had been banished back to Earth had said the same thing. Celestia, Luna, or Discord had interrogated them with truth spells making them admit everything. And the children sent back didn’t need to be interrogated to admit everything to the ‘nice fuzzy people’.

“From the look on your face, I think you figured it out.” Princess Celestia punctuated herself with a wink. “You’ve certainly cleared a lot of filing cabinet space with your feast. We had information on nearly every raider gang in the metro tunnels, and out of the lot, only you and possibly three others were worth negotiating with. I should thank you for saving the Equestrian lives that would have been spent taking those tunnels.”

Deathclaw Joe didn’t know if he should have been impressed or afraid. She didn’t need muscles to flex. She had power and a sharp mind, and centuries of wisdom to draw from. She also had far more land and military power than he did.

“If you interrogated the raiders you captured, you know my holdings are a fraction of a fraction compared to Equestria,” Deathclaw Joe said. He tapped his chin with a hoof. “I must have something of immeasurable value if you’re agreeing to become equals through marriage.”

And not simply send in her army.

“You are as cunning as the raiders said you were,” Princess Celestia said with an approving nod. “What you hold is a fortress in the human world. An arterial network of chokepoints and easily fortified concrete bunkers with rail lines running between them. A place where—when we develop the technology to make our own portals—Equestrian soldiers can fortify and sally forth from.”

Deathclaw Joe bellowed with laughter.

“That’s why I never had us move out of those tunnels,” he said. The metro stations were the castles of his feudal lords. “I saved your army attrition from taking the tunnels, and by agreeing to marry me those tunnels become yours for occupation without having to take it by force from the rest of us.”

Celestia nodded and waved her hoof again.

Deathclaw Joe’s mirth quickly drained as he shook his head.

“I can’t fly.”

“Oh, I can help teach you right now,” Princess Celstia said genuinely. She landed softly and spread her wings. “Hold your wings out like this.”

Deathclaw Joe shook his head.

“No, I mean, I literally can’t fly,” Deathclaw Joe said as he spread his wings. He flapped them, and rose off the ground, but he lost too much height by the time he had his wings back into position for another flap. He forced a few more flaps, but groaned as if someone were pressing a red-hot piece of steel between his wings.

“Oh,” Celestia gasped. She closed the gap between them to study his scars with a pained expression of genuine concern. “The whip scars on your back…”

“Sadly, my alicorn ascension didn’t come with free muscle damage removal,” Deathclaw Joe grumped. “The only thing my wings are good for is a speed boost to charge towards someone.”

Like a certain pink-haired woman. He needed to apologize to Fluttershy… for a lot. She was part of his gang, and he had betrayed her trust just as much as the raiders he had killed.

“I’d like to apologize for assuming you could fly,” Princess Celestia said genuinely.

“No offense taken,” Deathclaw Joe said with a nod. He had kept his alicorn transformation a secret for as long as he could, even from his own people. Celestia had no way of knowing his wings only partially worked.

Celestia smiled, and her horn glowed gold in time with a small bead almost entirely hidden inside of her right ear.

“Detail, I’m going to have to teleport back to base,” she said in a professional, near monotone voice. “I’ll pick up the second detail at the castle. Take lunch.”

Deathclaw Joe looked around for anyone. Who had she been talking to? Bodyguards?

“You won’t see them,” Princess Celestia said as her horn glowed soft gold once more. “They’re extremely good at their jobs.”

For a moment the world flashed gold. When Deathclaw Joe’s eyes cleared, the two of them were standing together on a balcony made of purple crystal overlooking the main road through town.

A hoarse, older female voice croaked behind him. “You might want to move.”

Deathclaw Joe turned around and came face-to-barrel with a sniper rifle. A gryphon with a head full of gray feathers and wrinkles around her beak lay atop a mattress on a table, perched in a way to have a clear line of sight down the main route through town.

“I think I do,” Deathclaw Joe said as he sidestepped out of the way of the large silencer on the gryphon’s bolt action rifle.

She smirked as she reached into a saddle bag and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

“Also avoid making any more magical swords around the princesses,” the old gryphon woman said as she stuck a cigarette in her mouth. She had a plastic bracelet around her wrist. The black lettering was bold enough against the white plastic for Deathclaw Joe to read it. Canterlot General Hospital, Blackhawk, G. “I was close to giving your brain a vent hole.”

Deathclaw Joe chuckled sheepishly. Summoning a weapon around one of the royal leaders of Equestria hadn’t been his best idea. Especially since he was known to have already fought one of them in semi-self-defense. His conflict resolution typically didn’t involve deescalation, so the fight had been at least halfway his fault.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Deathclaw Joe said as Princess Celestia approached the old gryphon’s side and politely bowed.

“Anything to report?” Princess Celestia asked.

“Besides having the broadside of a barn pull a weapon on you, no,” Blackhawk said, smirking again at Deathclaw Joe. She lit the cigarette and burned most of the stick in one drag.

“Very well,” Princess Celestia said. “Go take some leave time.”

The gryphon bowed with a smile before she started collecting her things.

Princess Celestia turned away from the gryphon and slowly walked towards the balcony’s double doors. Deathclaw Joe followed behind.

His eyes wandered from her disheveled mane, down her back, and to her long tail.

He didn’t know if she did it by accident, but it raised just enough to glimpse a peek of what lay underneath, teasing him.

“So,” Deathclaw Joe said to help distract himself from staring. “How old are you?”

“The question should have been how young,” Princess Celestia said as she cracked open the balcony doors. She left only enough space to allow her thinner frame to slip through. She looked over her shoulder with an impish grin. “And it’s young enough to outrun you… catch me if you can.”

She flashed him with a full tail raise and flicked the tip of his nose with the end strands of her tail.

Deathclaw Joe nearly passed out from the headrush. He pushed through it in time to catch the doors slamming closed.

“Well, that just isn’t fair,” Deathclaw Joe chuckled as he limbered up for the chase.

He was going to catch her, and when he did, it was going to be a night they both wouldn’t forget.

<>~<>~<>

Daniel knew from Twilight’s twisting facial expression and false starts what the answer was going to be.

“I…” Twilight finally said, her voice thin. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I'm so sorry I never told you before now. It’s just that there's been so much going on, a-and I don't like to think about how I'm going to outlive all of my friends."

The tears escaped, cutting lines through the grime accumulated on her fur.

Daniel’s jaw worked itself over as he stood there, half dazed. He’d known it was a possibility that she was immortal, she had told him about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s long lives, but to have it confirmed was like getting the results back from a lab test saying that a disease was terminal.

Expected, but still unwelcome. The weight of the unknown had been taken off his shoulders, only for the answer to replace that weight.

Twilight would stay young forever while he grew old and feeble, then died. Immortality was a blessing and a curse. Maybe that was why alicorns were so attracted to one another. Mortal partners would fade away, but being among kindred spirits would last forever.

He had two options. Allow himself to despair that Twilight would eventually lose him and be alone, or accept it and do something about it.

"Hey, Twilight," Daniel said softly, cupping her chin with his hoof as his horn glowed. “I’m not mad that you didn’t tell me earlier. But now that I know, I think I really need to give you your gift.”

Daniel had wanted to get her something earlier, but the portal dragging him to Equestria had ensured that things were too crazy to focus on something like a gift. And until the Knock, he hadn’t separated from Twilight long enough to get anything.

Daniel stepped back as he levitated the teddy bear he had bought between him and Twilight. Rarity had restored the bear and made additions. It was dressed in a pair of glasses and a white lab coat with a blue and yellow cloth mock-up of a vault suit underneath. Sewn to one of its paws was a tiny book Rarity had made for the bear, while in the other paw was a gray cylindrical piece of cloth that was supposed to resemble a test tube, but Daniel thought it looked more like a snake.

“I-it’s perfect!” Twilight stuttered. Daniel’s heart skipped a beat as her eyes lit up with pure joy. She wrapped it in her own telekinesis and pulled it gently to hug against her breastplate. She held it close with her forelegs as she collapsed onto her haunches. “I love the little accessories.”

“I have no idea where Rarity found enough cloth to make them,” Daniel said, grinning ear to ear. “I know sometimes we don’t have the best communication, but I wanted to get you something that showed how much I love you. He’s a little friend for you so you’ll never have to sleep alone again, and he loves science and storytime just as much as you do.”

Twilight threw her forelegs around his neck, pulling him into a crushing hug that included the bear between them.

“That’s so sweet and considerate,” Twilight said, her voice overflowing with joy. Daniel’s heart fluttered hearing her so happy. She gave him a short kiss on the lips before she added, “Thank you.”

A touch of pride mixed in with his happiness having it confirmed that he had paid attention enough to know what to get her. It helped soothe some of his worries on how inexperienced he was, and how rocky their relationship could be at times.

“You’re welcome, Twi,” Daniel said. He loved Twilight so much, even after only a few days of really knowing her. “I couldn’t have done it without Rarity. She worked tirelessly trying to match every little detail I wanted to add. I’m glad you like it.”

“I really do,” Twilight said, kissing the bear—then him again—before she gently slipped the bear into her saddlebags. “That brightened my day.”

Daniel smirked, laying on his best impression of what he thought suave sounded like.

“Not bright enough that we’re skipping on sharing a bathtub and pillow together, eh?”

“Definitely,” Twilight said as she playfully smacked him in the shoulder. Her horn glowed with magic… then fizzled out.

Daniel’s heart rate jumped. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, scratching her mane with a hoof. “They must be blocking teleportation or something to the castle.”

“We are,” a stallion said, sending Daniel wheeling to face a concrete gray unicorn stallion in a black well-tailored suit. His black mane was short and slicked back with gel.

The air shimmered and flickered before a second stallion appeared beside him. It reminded Daniel of a stealth-boy wearing off. He aimed his carbine at the first stallion.

“Who are you?” Daniel asked with a growl. The pair had been invisible during their whole conversation, listening in to their private moment. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on-end as the sensation of being watched without his permission violated his thoughts.

“Equestrian Strategic Surveillance,” Twilight answered for the stallions in an angry snarl. “If I remember my government departments correctly, you people had most of your funding cut until the changeling invasion.”

“That’s correct,” the first stallion said. “But recent circumstances have seen a need to increase our funding and change our priorities. Now we’re running security.”

“What does the ESS normally do?” Daniel asked.

“Mostly spy on Equestria’s citizens without their knowledge or consent,” Twilight growled.

“In Celestia we trust,” the second stallion said through a smirk. “All others are under observation.”

“Spies, huh?” Daniel asked. “That explains your invisibility spells.”

“More or less,” the first stallion said, shrugging.

“So, are you two being vague and threatening for a reason?” Daniel asked. “My wife and I were having a moment, and you’re ruining it.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said beside him. “Get to the point or leave me and my husband alone.”

The stallion stepped back, his tone shifting instantly as he bowed.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Princess Twilight, we were not informed that you and Daniel Neeson had married,” the stallion shifted to bow in front of him. “A million apologies, Prince Neeson. We will inform the guards that you are on the entry list and additionally may keep your weapons on government property.”

“W-what?” Daniel spluttered. “Prince?”

“Something else I didn’t tell you about,” Twilight said. She looked away, blushing for a moment before she glared at the ESS stallions. “Now, is there anything else you two spooks are here to talk to us about? ”

“Yes,” the second stallion said. “Princess Celestia is not responding to comms, and Princess Luna is busy calming the dreams of Equestrians after the loss of Cloudsdale and Canterlot. We need a royal to await the arrival of Princess Cadance.”

“Why is she coming here!?” Twilight yelped, flailing her wings. “Equestria is dangerous right now.”

Daniel nodded in agreement.

“Because we’re sending refugees from Canterlot and Cloudsdale to temporarily live in the Crystal Empire,” the ESS agent said. “Princess Cadance wished to personally reassure them that they would be safe, happy, and comfortable in her land. The ESS is working closely with the royal guards to ensure that nothing will endanger the princesses.”

Daniel frowned. Knowing Equestria’s recent streak of bad luck, there would be something that would endanger the princesses.

It was just a matter of waiting and seeing.

<>~<>~<>

Private Gold Medal yawned as he leaned back in his chair, lazily turning the page of the book he was in the middle of reading instead of watching the road.

The checkpoint was, in theory, on high alert. However, Canterlot and Cloudsdale had been bombed by humans, and tourism to Equestria had cratered since the portals and psychopaths had first appeared. Private Medal was confident the Gryphonia-Equestria border was safe enough without his eyes on the road.

He never understood why there was a road checkpoint since gryphons and pegasi flew through the air checkpoint. But then again, earth ponies and unicorns like himself didn’t have wings.

A bright red flash outside the guard shack ripped Private Medal’s attention away from the book. He peered out of the window, looking for his fellow guard pony.

“Copperhead?” Private Medal called. He squinted, wishing that he was a batpony so he could see clearly in the darkness beyond his little shack. “You good out there?”

There was no response. Channeling magic through his horn, Private Medal sent a globe of light skyward to illuminate the area.

He screamed as a pair of talons reached down from the roof. They grabbed the lip of his helmet and dragged him through the window, carrying him out by his chin-strap to bring him face-to-face with a smiling gryphon, one he recognized from the only ‘no entry permitted’ poster in the checkpoint.

“Hello, my little pony,” Greg Steelbeak growled with sadistic glee as he pressed a gray and black, boxy limbless crossbow to Private Medal’s temple.

“P-p-please!” Private Medal begged and choked as his back hooves flailed in the air. His front were busy fighting with his chin strap as he looked around for any route to escape.

He caught moonlight glittering off a suit of royal guard armor. Ashes were all that remained inside the suit.

Something had disintegrated Copperhead.

“Tsk-tsk-tsk, always no fight in you little ponies,” Greg Steelbeak said, dropping Private Medal. He landed wrong, rolling an ankle.

“OW!” Private Medal screamed.

Six more gryphons landed and surrounded him, all dressed in black armor and carrying weapons, human weapons that Private Medal had only seen in the newspaper.

Private Medal rolled onto his back, staring up at the half-dozen hook-beaked predatory birds surrounding him. Steelbeak launched himself off the roof of the guard shack, hovering above the circle.

“He doesn’t want me to kill him,” Steelbeak said with a sigh of feigned annoyance. “I guess killing him is up to you boys. Claws only, and spare the face. I want him to watch Equestria burn before he bleeds out.”

Chapter 40: Reflections

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Princess Luna followed the trail of blood streaking down the linoleum-tiled hallway. She occasionally kicked aside fallen cork ceiling tiles or an errant bent tin can, her way lit by flickering overhead lights. They painted the cracked concrete walls in a dull, eye-straining wan light. She could barely read the faded, curling memos and cards pinned to cork boards on the walls. The fact that Princess Luna could read them at all was out of place in a dream.

She had entered one at random, desiring a reprieve from calming hundreds of nightmares in one sitting, only to find one of her own.

The dream was clean. Not in the sense that there was no dirt or grime, there was plenty to go with the blood. It was clean in the sense that it lacked the fuzzy edges, the warped gaps from the mind filling in the blanks, and the utter chaos of random imagery and scenarios. No pink bunnies in leotards riding unicycles juggling chainsaws. Nothing of the sort.

The details of the ruined office hallway were immaculate, down to the blood finding cracks in the linoleum to pool into. The dreamer’s mind was impeccably defined. Even more detail-oriented and focused than Twilight’s, whose dreamscape was the only other to come this close to matching the scale of detail.

Princess Luna smelled the mildew on the moldering cork tiles, heard the drip-drap of the leaks causing the mold, felt the draft blowing through the blown-out windows down the hall, and even tasted the copper tang of blood in the air, the smell of which mixed with that of the mildew.

She was in the mind of a human who could outperform Twilight. A knot of worry bit at the back of Princess Luna’s mind. She needed to find out who the dreamer was and report them to the authorities.

“Another hidden agent?” Princess Luna asked herself. She wasn’t afraid of the dreamer finding her. Even if she was killed by the dreamer, it would not harm her physical self. Finding them was her goal regardless, as she needed to identify who the dreamer was and report them to the authorities.

Even if it wasn’t another human agent infiltrating Equestria, a tranquil mind did not calmly dream of blood and destruction.

“Celly really took the loss of Canterlot hard,” Luna said, continuing to talk to herself to bait out the dreamer. “You should do something for her. But what can you do for a sister who has just lost her home of a thousand years and many subjects?”

Princess Luna grunted in frustration and kicked a bent tin can. It half-bounced half-rolled down the hall, rebounding off the back wall of a T intersection.

Princess Luna turned left and gasped at the sight of her own corpse on the floor. She summoned her armor and swords. While she had seen far, far more graphic and depraved things featuring herself in other dreamers' minds, seeing herself dead was new. It was a small comfort that Celestia wasn’t part of the dream this time.

“If Celestia ever found out what goes on in the dreams of young colts,” Luna said, forcing a chuckle. Humor was her shield to brace against as she approached her own corpse. She stopped a few hooves away, before she prodded the corpse’s cleanly severed head with her sword, turning the stump to face her.

The dreamer’s eye for detail had remained. They had the vertebrae and veins correct, hinting that they were well versed with decapitations.

“Now I know I need to report them to the authorities,” Princess Luna said, her spine crawling as she stepped over her head and around her corpse. A quick glance down revealed that dozens of holes had been stabbed into her side. Princess Luna paused. Something about the holes was off.

They were exact mirrors to the two wounds she had taken from…

A door in the hall exploded outwards in a shower of splinters. The rain of wood framed a quadrupedal, mare-shaped pegasus robot with two machete-like swords instead of wings. The laser cannon in the center of their faceplate was already glowing with building energy..

“Exterminating!” The assaultron yelled as it bounced off the wall opposite the door, turning the bounce into a redirecting spin to quickly reorient to face Princess Luna. The machine’s servos whirred as it crouched and prepared to lunge.

Luna teleported behind her, swords raised to swipe at the nap of the neck, just like last—

Princess Luna appeared at the beginning of the hallway, two dull pains in her chest.

“Owww,” Luna groaned, tapping her chest, her hoof tinking on her chest plate. That wasn’t an assaultron conjured up by the dreamer. The assaultron WAS the dreamer, somehow. It had learned from their last battle.

“When I’m done here, I’m telling the researchers to disconnect her battery.”

But this horror show could be turned to her advantage. The researchers were having difficulty interrogating the severed head, which functioned even without a body as long as power was fed into its neck cables. But in a dream, Princess Luna could interrogate the assaultron at her leisure, especially if it wished to brag and boast like the deathclaw-skull-wearing barbarian king.

Princess Luna smiled. If Deathclaw Joe ever arrived back to Equestria, she wanted a rematch. Either friendly, if his tribe of semi-reasonable ruffians could be negotiated with, or her defeating him fairly in a duel, with no banishing him back to earth.

The assaultron was an additional boon. What better way to practice sword fighting than with an opponent who could adapt every time they were defeated? Princess Luna smiled. Sharpening her dulled edge against a skilled opponent, even in the dream world, would do wonders if she ever had to fight Deathclaw Joe again.

“Maybe he’ll get sucked back to Equestria and find his way to Celly this time,” Princess Luna said, slowly walking back down the hall. He was Celestia’s type. A big muscled stallion with a powerful jawline. Luna rolled her eyes.

Celestia’s libido more than made up for Luna’s lack of one. Her older sister had laid claim to all of that urge. Sex wasn’t of interest to Princess Luna, which made it all the more awkward when she entered those types of dreams.

Princess Luna shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind as she approached the end of the hallway again, ready for an ambush. She rounded the corner, and found the assaultron standing over her fresh corpse while the original headless body lay nearby.

The assaultron looked up from the corpse and tilted its head.

“I did not generate multiple targets,” the assaultron said with its synthesized mare’s voice. It made no moves to lunge or attack, instead, folding the blades to its back like a pair of pegasi wings. “I do not detect any processing errors. The likelihood of a duplicative target glitch is almost zero percent. Your target information claims that you can enter the biological recuperative-state mental simulations, also known as dreams. Likelihood of cross compatibility with electronic simulations due to exotic powers, also known as magic, is a probability greater than the likelihood of undetected yet repeating processing glitches. Theoretical: you are the real Princess Luna. Why are you in my assassination and combat simulation?”

Princess Luna backstepped. She expected violence and to be the one asking the questions, not the one being questioned. Especially from the machine that had punctured both of her lungs and burned off half of her face.

Princess Luna wasn’t a vindictive mare, but she desired recompense for the trauma. Pounding the robot to scrap a few times in her own simulations would suffice. But what answers can she give that would satisfy the murder robot? The sentient murder robot. If it was running combat simulations with her as the target, it was intelligent enough to hold a grudge of its own.

“Killing time, I guess,” Princess Luna said, which was true. Princess Cadance was going to arrive later, and Princess Luna didn’t like waiting around and doing nothing. She pointed one of her swords to the two holes punched into her second corpse's chest. Both blades had gone for the heart. Together they had gouged out a hoof-sized hole in the armor. “Good thrusts.”

The assaultron stood in place, its nearly blank faceplate impossible to read, yet the robotic mare’s body posture and head tilt conveyed… confusion, maybe? Princess Luna didn’t know how she had managed to confuse a machine, until it pointed one blade at her, then the other at the corpse on the ground.

“If you are Princess Luna, and the corpse there is yours, then I have assassinated Princess Luna successfully,” The assaultron retracted its blades once more, then stepped towards her. “Tell me, how does one ‘kill time’. It is a skill that I have not been programmed for.”

Princess Luna tensed as the machine approached, expecting it to spring forward and attack. At the same time, though, she tapped her chin with a hoof, considering how she could explain a concept like procrastination and breaks to an untiring machine?

“Well, what are some things that you like to do?” Princess Luna asked, smiling at the robot. Maybe she could teach the robot how to slack off. Disarm it through the power of friendship and laziness.

“Assassinate targets, disembowel targets, vaporize targets, desire for my combat inhibitor to malfunction so I can murder my once allies.”

Princess Luna winced, her plan crumbling to dust.

“Is there anything other than murder that you like to do?” Princess Luna asked cautiously.

“I compose haikus,” the assaultron said, stopping just in front of Princess Luna. “My life is sadness, after I have filled your grave, you are in swords reach.”

The assaultron’s blades bounced off Princess Luna’s bubble-like magic shield. The assaultron leapt back and glared at her with its expressionless gaze.

“Five-seven-five, so it was a haiku, but really?” Princess Luna scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Betraying me like that was predictable. My sister and I fought far better opponents bringing the lands around Equestria into our nation.”

Princess Luna dropped the shield and raised her swords. She was going to fight the assaultron for a few rounds before getting back to work. There were too many ponies in need of nightmare resolution for her to dally too long.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight made it her mission to ensure that everything would be ready for her foalsitter’s late-night arrival. While there wasn’t much to plan for, as Princess Cadance would arrive in an airship and only stay until the morning, Twilight would not settle for anything less than perfect.

She zipped around the cavernous dining room in a blinding blur, flying so fast over the table that she could barely keep track of where she was sending all of the plates, cutlery, and cups—but Twilight didn’t need to see to set them out. She had set the dining table so many times for her friends that it was routine.

So routine she had time to think and process the events of the day as she worked.

The betrayal at the Knock had been so nightmarish and unexpected that it was as if it were a dream to be packed up and shoved to the back of her mind. Yet like the memory of a bad dream, Twilight couldn’t forget about it. The faces of the two royal guards obediently slitting throats were seared into her mind’s eye. Stone cold expressions of pure contempt and focused hatred. Had they enjoyed ending the lives of those raiders? Had they lost anypony like the stallion who had tried murdering her?

Twilight’s mane crawled, the sound of snapping ligament just as fresh in her mind as the expressions of the guards. The wasteland made monsters. Deathclaw Joe was dangerous, calculating, and strong willed. He was a villain by Equestrian standards, but completely reasonable by human ones.

No, not entirely true. Deathclaw Joe was a villain by modern Equestrian standards. Was that why Princess Celestia had hidden so much from her? Princess Celestia had fostered centuries of peace in Equestria, but it hadn’t always been sunshine and rainbows. The royal guards were still issued spears, and from the craftsmanship of the daggers used at the Knock, edged weapons as well.

If Princess Celestia had ruled Equestria for over a thousand years, how many skeletons did she have in her closet?

Twilight had already dug up one hundred in Vault 112 alone.

Twilight frowned as she spread her wings and whittled her speed before she hovered over the table, giving it one last inspection. The tables were set, and the decorations were in place for a very late dinner. One that Twilight had planned and set up in Princess Celestia’s place.

Twilight could understand why Princess Luna wasn’t available since she was busy calming the nightmares of everypony, regardless of what time they managed to fall asleep. It wasn’t the case with Princess Celestia. Was she really going to shirk the responsibility for Princess Cadance’s arrival just to have sex with someone she’d just met?

Twilight knew for certain that’s what the ESS agent had meant when he said that Princess Celestia wasn’t responding to comms without any alarm in his voice. Security guards wouldn’t lose all contact with their protectee and still act completely calm like that.

“Twilight!” Daniel yelled from the sidelines, breaking her out of her thoughts. He was levitating a rolled-up scroll. “A young gryphon named Gallus just handed me this and said it was for you.”

Twilight’s ears flicked at hearing one of her student’s names. She had seen Gallus working as Tempest Shadow’s aide. Twilight landed in front of Daniel, gently taking the scroll to read. The crystal heart seal could only be from one princess. Twilight eagerly broke the seal and unfurled the scroll.

Dear Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, or Grand General Tempest,

I am deeply saddened to have to send this message, but the northern regions of Equestria are experiencing the return of uncontrolled weather patterns. A harsh sleet storm is blocking the progress of my airship. I may not be able to reach you until tomorrow morning depending on when this storm lets up enough to safely travel via air. Do not stress yourselves waiting on the landing pad for me, I will arrive as soon as I can. Please give Shining Armor my love until I arrive.

With sincerest apologies and regards, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza

Twilight’s heart fell faster than a lead balloon. She had wanted to see Princess Cadance again, maybe see Flurry Heart if Cadance had brought her along, but the plan was to leave tomorrow. Princess Cadance might be delayed even longer than expected with Equestria’s weather now being unpredictable. However, there was no rule saying that Twilight couldn’t delay their return. She would have to ask Daniel if he had any pressing matters to attend. Or Electrum could take Daniel and Deathclaw Joe back and return later to pick her up.

Twilight carefully rolled up the letter and tucked it into her saddlebag.

“Looks like Princess Cadance is delayed,” Twilight said, looking into Daniel’s silver gray eyes. “Do you want to stay—”

Twilight’s stomach gurgled like a draining sink. The vibrations were hard enough she arched her back and grabbed her stomach. She hadn’t eaten since before she left for the Knock, and she’d been in Ponyville for a few hours. It was likely close to nine P.M. She checked her Pip-Boy and her suspicion was confirmed.

Nine thirteen P.M.

“Sounds like you’re hungry,” Daniel said. His wide, almost goofy smile edged out one of her own as he nudged his head in the direction of the nearby kitchen double doors. “Let's grab a little something to eat and go to bed.” He set off for the doors. “Well, we need a shower, too, especially after all the preparation we rushed through.”

Twilight chuckled and followed beside him, kissing him on the cheek.

“And thank you for helping,” Twilight said. In truth, she had done most of the work. Not for a lack of Daniel trying, and his help was appreciated, especially with carrying things over what she was comfortable lifting with her still healing horn. She just knew where the important supplies were in her own house. Well, the parts of her house that were not thoroughly converted into Equestria’s last bastion of central government.

“Thanks,” Daniel said. “So why did you have an emergency stash of checklist supplies hidden in the pantry?”

“For checklist emergencies,” Twilight said, blushing. The explanation was a silly one, but it had a silly origin. Stockpiling random supplies around her house for extremely specific emergencies was a habit she had picked up from Pinkie Pie. Twilight desperately grasped for a way out of sounding like a complete weirdo to her husband. “I like to be organized. I’m even making a checklist in my head right now.”

Twilight forced a grin she hoped wasn’t describable as ‘manic’. Daniel arched a brow quizzically, and Twilight listed the items off.

“My checklist for tonight; food, bed, bath, bed.”

Daniel scrunched his face in concentration, a look Twilight recognized from her school days when the teacher had proposed a particularly perplexing problem.

“You said bed twice?” Daniel said as if it were a question. “Why would you—ohhhh,” his face clarified with sudden realization, and Twilight winked. “Wouldn’t we just get the bed dirty?”

Twilight hummed and tapped her chin with a wing tip. Getting the bed dirty with some fun would be counterintuitive regardless of before or after the bath. They would either have fun, wash off, and have to completely change the bedsheets, or doing it after the bath would just undo getting clean in the first place.

“Now that you say it, you’re right,” Twilight said as she pushed open the kitchen doors with her magic. The solution was simple. Cut the bed out of the equation. “There was a romance novel I read where a couple were in the shower.”

The kitchen was almost as big as Daniel’s house in Megaton. Cabinets, stoves, and refrigerators lined the walls, while the center of the room was one massive island of counter space for meal preparation.

Princess Celestia was in the middle of making a plate full of sandwiches. Her mane looked like it had exploded, the wild strands puffed out to surround her head like a lion's mane. Deathclaw Joe stood beside her, his mane as equally tossed.

"Heyyyyy, Celestia," Twilight squeaked at the sight of the pair. "Snack break?"

"Want some?" Celestia replied, smiling as she levitated over the two slices of bread she’d been holding in her magic as Twilight walked in. Peanut butter was smeared onto one slice, while the other was lathered with grape jelly.

Despite the scent of food in the air, Twilight’s nose curled at the pungent reek of prom night carriages. She stared at her teacher, a clawing tendril of dread worming its way through her mind as she connected the dots. They were strangers to each other who’d promised to marry and just had a toss in the hay. Meanwhile she had just finished telling her husband that she’d only had for a few days that she wanted to have more sex.

Maybe Fluttershy was onto something.

“I think I’m good,” Twilight said, quickly crushing down the thought of being Celestia’s younger mirror with a shake of her head. Twilight didn’t want to linger on that horrific thought. “So, did you know that Princess Cadance was supposed to show up tonight?”

Celestia nodded slowly, her smile fading.

“Yes, I assumed you wanted to see your old foal sitter,” Princess Celestia said, levitating back the PB&J sandwich. “Was that you in the dining room setting the table? Princess Cadance wasn’t coming for a full formal meeting. You didn’t need to do anything but greet her at the landing pad.”

While that was true, Twilight couldn’t help the nagging sense of indignation bubbling in the back of her mind that Princess Celestia was being rude by passing it off to her in the way that she had. Princess Celestia had duties—sure, Deathclaw Joe was technically a foreign dignitary—but she could have at the very least asked Twilight before running off to get laid, instead of putting it off entirely on her.

Twilight gnashed her teeth, her nostrils flaring.

“I know that look,” Daniel said beside her, his voice wavering as he patted her shoulder. He leaned close to whisper warningly. “If you’re about to rip into her, I won’t stop you, but be careful. Words can’t be unspoken.”

He had correctly identified her look, it had been the same look he had given his father.

Twilight quickly inhaled a breath while bringing a hoof to her chest, before she slowly exhaled while swinging her foreleg out. There would be no yelling or cursing. Not like in the throne room after Princess Celestia had pulled her back to Equestria with the recall spell.

“Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, calm and even. She sat on one of the stools surrounding the island counter before she pressed her forehooves together and brought them to her brow. It was a gesture which was far easier to do with hands, but if Twilight didn’t vent her excess anger into gestures, she would blow steam out of her ears.

“You have helped raise me, guided me through over two decades of my life, and loved me like a second mother, but—and I say this with all due respect—you have worse communication skills than I do at times. I had to learn about Dr. Stanislaus Braun, the serums, your trip to Earth, and the ponies that you sent as a foreign exchange. I learned from Electrum that you knew about the teams embedded into Equestria for months before I accidentally broke the mirror. Maybe if I had been in the loop, things would have turned out differently. Please, Celestia, no more secrets.”

Twilight dropped her hooves away and stared down Princess Celestia, even though Twilight didn’t want to look at her at the moment. Twilight couldn’t bear to think about digging up something else on her former teacher. Was she going to find out that Princess Celestia had a body count?

Then again, who had led the armies of Equestria’s distant past?

Princess Celestia bowed her head, shifting from side to side as she pushed the plate of sandwiches towards the end of the counter. Deathclaw Joe took one, but nopony stopped him.

“Do you want to know why I didn’t tell you about SOCOM?” Celestia asked. She didn’t wait for an answer. “You are good at organizing, managing, and are a chronic overachiever. I have no doubt you would have solved the problem, but Princess Luna and I were scared that if we told you that there were spies hidden all over Equestria, you would have turned Equestria into the most frighteningly effective surveillance state to root them out.”

“Says the mare who founded Equestria’s own version of the Defense Intelligence Agency. You even pumped up their funding after the changeling invasion, and now they’re your invisible bodyguards, so who’s running the surveillance state here? The Equestrian Strategic Surveilances’s pithy little motto of ‘In Celestia we trust, all others are under observation’ may look good on a seal decorating a marble floor, but it hardly does anything to put ponies at ease and convince them they aren’t being spied on by their own government.”

Twilight tapped a hoof against her brow in indignant frustration. She had so much respect for Princess Celestia and it was withering on the vine like grapes left past harvest. “You know me, Celestia, you know I’ve always disliked the ESS, even before I put it together they got their start from the DIA agent who turned to your side. I would have thought of a way of finding the spies that didn’t involve prying into the private lives of people.”

Somehow. Twilight didn’t know how, but she would find a way. After lots of research and studying. She didn’t fly off the rails every time she was confronted with a problem, especially when she had her friends to help. The only time she had truly gone off the deep end was when there was no problem to solve to begin with. The lack of trust was like a knife slipping between her ribs, carving out her heart. Twilight loved and trusted Celestia, and all it got her was secrets and lies.

Twilight threw a wing over Daniel as he joined her. She knew he could relate. It was a cold comfort to have someone to commiserate with.

“You’re right,” Princess Celestia said with a heavy sigh. Deathclaw Joe wrapped her in a wing. “I can’t change the past, but I can help shape the future. That is why I hoped to raise you to be a better ruler than I ever was.”

Celestia removed her crown and set it onto the countertop between them, staring down at it mournfully. She pushed it across the countertop towards Twilight. The heavy gold diadem slid across the granite with the sound of a tsunami in the silence that had fallen over the room.

Twilight stared at the crown. She knew what Celestia was asking.

“No,” Twilight said, slowly pushing the crown back towards Celestia.

Celestia jerked as if she had been shot. The look on her face resembled it too. “W-what? No? B-but—”

Twilight cut Celestia off with a grunt.

“I have things I need to do, Celestia,” Twilight said. “Being responsible means owning up to your failures and doing what needs to be done. Even if it isn’t pretty.” She traded glances with Deathclaw Joe, who nodded sagely through a bite of his sandwich, before Twilight bore back down onto Celestia. Twilight could feel her filters slipping as hot anger boiled through her veins. “Abdication right now is just a fancy way of saying ‘I’m too much of a coward to face the fact that I failed.’” She clopped a hoof onto the counter hard enough to rattle the crown before she jerked her hoof to point at it.

“You said it yourself that you can’t change the past, but you can shape the future. Well, put that crown back on your head and shape the fucking future.”

<>~<>~<>

The cold night wind chilled Twilight’s still damp fur as she leaned on the railing of her balcony. Shining Armor’s shield gleamed like an oversized jewel over the Everfree Forest, and the still raging maelstrom within lit up most of Ponyville in striking blue and earthy hues. Only the parts of town close to White Tail Woods remained unilluminated.

Similar to the contained rage of the shattered portal, Cloudsdale crackled on the horizon with green lightning.

“How are you feeling?” Daniel asked, pressing against her. He was still warm from the bath.

Twilight leaned into the radiating heat, sighing softly.

“I’m upset that I’m comfortable in my castle while so many others have lost their homes and lives,” Twilight said. She was royalty, living it up with hot baths while others had lost everything. She needed to visit the refugees with Princess Cadance when she arrived.

“Twi,” Daniel said firmly, cupping her chin with a hoof. He turned her head gently and stared deep into her eyes. “You are not Marie Antoinette, you aren’t telling starving people to eat cake. Bad things are happening everywhere, and if you feel like you deserve to be miserable while injustice exists somewhere in the world, you’ll never have a happy day in your immortal existence.”

Twilight shifted, her cheeks flushed with shame. He was right, of course. But she was a ‘have’ while there were too many ‘have-nots’ in Equestria at the moment.

“Who’s Marie Antoinette?” Twilight asked, not recognizing the name. It was human, Twilight knew that much.

“She was a French noble who—this is probably misattributed or completely fabricated knowing how inaccurate Vault-tec textbooks could be—when told that the peasants were starving for simple things like bread said that they could eat cake instead. She was attending lavish banquets with other nobles while the peasantry starved. News of it spread, and the peasants were so upset that they built a machine just to speed up decapitations.”

Twilight winced. Human history wasn’t fun to learn. There was way too much death and destruction. But the reassurance had helped.

“Okay,” she said, “I guess I do feel better overall after that hot soak in the tub. You?”

Daniel held both of his forehooves up, his body supported by the railing as he moved his hooves up and down like balancing scales.

“Eh,” Daniel grunted. “I learned that my wife is immortal, but that’s fine. It's offset by the fact that I’m in Equestria again. I wouldn’t mind spending a few days here, maybe study some medical textbooks and see if I can learn healing magic.”

That was a decent idea. It would save caps on stimpaks and be useful in emergencies.

“What about Project Purity?” Twilight asked. She had avoided talking to him about it as long as possible. She didn’t want to reopen any still-closing wounds between him and his father if she could help it. Her blowing up on Princess Celestia—again—changed things.

“It’ll take a while to repair,” Daniel said. “Almost twenty years of neglect and a super mutant occupation has left the place needing an overhaul. Not as simple as changing out some fuses and turning valves, which is as far as my handyman skills go.” He shrugged. “It gives us some breathing room before we need to go get the GECK from Vault 81, if you’re interested in joining me, that is.”

Diving head-first into another vault with her husband. It sounded like an adventure. Rarity was sending supplies and mercenaries to the Temple of the Union to solve the slavery problem, so Twilight didn’t recall anything immediately pressing. She had years before Vault 112 needed parts. Maybe Vault 81 had parts to spare.

“Sure,” Twilight said, clopping her forehooves together before she held out her Pip-Boy. “Do you know where it is?”

“I do,” Daniel said, wrapping her Pip-Boy with his magic. He then connected a cable from his Pip-Boy to hers, before he began pressing a series of prompts on his Pip-Boy. “Colonel Autumn knew where it was because of old Enclave records. He also unlocked my Pip-Boy.”

Twilight furrowed her brow. Unlocked his Pip-Boy? Daniel had somehow locked himself out of his own wrist terminal? He must have recognized her expression, because he elaborated. “We’ve been using civilian-issue settings. Link up the right hardware, punch in the right codes, and—”

Twilight blinked as a purple compass appeared in the bottom right of her vision. A half-dozen dark blue bars appeared on the compass. Wondering what was going on, she tried to check her Pip-Boy, but it was in the middle of a scrolling boot screen.

//Running: Milspec_Settings.exe
//Loading…
//Compass v3.08: Activated
//Identify Friend of Foe v3.08: Activated
//Vault-Tec. Assisted. Targeting. System (VATS) version v4.15: Activated
//Enclave Broadband Radio Decrypter v1.97: Activated
//Inventory Management System v2.98: Activated
//Update complete: Better Dead than Red

“What the hay?” Twilight blurted as even more icons had appeared in her vision. One of which was labeled VATS charge. The boot screen then flickered and her Pip-Boy returned to displaying its home screen. She waved her hoof in front of her face, but the compass and other icons didn’t go away. “What’s VATS?”

“It’s a military grade targeting system,” Daniel said, chuckling. “It uses some fancy algorithms and biometric interfacing to shave down your reaction time to the point the world slows down while the algorithms help you line up shots. It even gives you hit percentages, so the computer practically aims for you. VATS needs to take time to recalculate and cool off after using it, so it's not infinite.”

“Why isn’t this unlocked on all Pip-Boys!?” Twilight asked. It would have saved her so much trouble trying to learn how to shoot if she had a computer that could aim for her.

“I don’t know,” Daniel said, shrugging. “Probably because it’s supposed to be for Vault Security only, or maybe it’s supposed to be unlocked when the Vault dwellers are unleashed on the wasteland following normal Vault-Tec procedures. Can’t let all of the residents have targeting computers in case they get uppity when cooped up for years in a windowless bunker.”

It made sense. Still, it would have been nice to have earlier.

“Now we need to go try it out, the military’s set up a firing range nearby,” Twilight said. She still needed to tell Shining Armor that Princess Cadance was delayed as well.

"Isn't it a little late?" Daniel asked, checking his Pip-Boy. Twilight checked her own.

It was only ten-oh-one P.M. Twilight and Daniel hadn’t spent an overly abundant amount of time in the bath. Seeing Celestia and Deathclaw Joe had snuffed out Twilight's eagerness for a tumble in the sheets.

"It’s not too late,” Twilight said. “Especially since batponies need training too.”

In reality, Twilight didn’t know if that was the case, but it made sense to her.

"Good point," Daniel agreed. "Do you think you can safely teleport us?"

Twilight nodded. It was only teleporting two ponies across town. She would teleport them to the entrance of the school rather than the firing range. There was no sense risking accidentally overshooting her mark and ending up on the field in front of a squad’s worth of inexperienced shooters.

<>~<>~<>

Looking at the School of Friendship was like looking at the corpse of a butchered friend. A deep sense of unease wormed its way through Twilight’s gut at the sight of such a hopeful building twisted to war.

Even from the front of the school, Twilight could hear muffled cracks of guns going off on the hoofball field. The walk to the range gave Twilight the chance to look around.

Maybe one day her school could return to how it used to be, like Fluttershy, ready to give up violence when the chance came. But like her friend, it would take time and lots of healing to rehabilitate the campus back to what it once was. Even with expert renovations, the scars would linger for years to come.

No students walked the grounds. Corrugated sheet metal reinforced with sandbags blocked the bottom floor windows. The formerly well-kept grounds had been churned into muddy paste by hundreds of hooves and heavy equipment moving back and forth from the multiple campus buildings. Many of those buildings were recent additions to expand the school and had never seen a student before the portal accident.

Twilight and Daniel passed the detached shop class building. What once had been a workshop to learn team building skills like welding and woodworking was repurposed into a motor pool. Twilight didn’t know how or why the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 had been acquired, but it was there, surrounded by numerous parade floats and wagons in the middle of a camouflage repaint.

A little past the motor pool was a carriage with the front half of the vehicle canted downwards at a heavy angle, the front wheels were splayed out like a pony doing yoga, and puddles of fluid leaked out around the front wheels and into the mud.

A tall, older earth pony guard in royal guard armor repainted from gold to camouflage yelled at a jittery and uncomfortable looking pony who seemed to be twenty years his younger.

“Private, how in Princess Celestia’s solar powered mammaries, did you get the vehicle this far back from your joyride with the drive shaft through the engine block!?”

“Just did, Sarge… i-is it field-repairable?” The private stuttered, leaning away from the yelling officer.

The sergeant facehoofed with enough force Twilight thought he was going to knock himself out.

“No!” The sergeant yelled incredulously. “Your stunt snapped the front axle clean in two. Grab the rest of your squad and some rope, we just found a new PT exercise for you all to do by dragging the darned thing the rest of the way to the shop!”

Twilight and Daniel passed the scene by before Twilight could see the very end.

“That was interesting,” Daniel muttered beside Twilight.

“I feel like we’re going to see a lot more scenes like that before we leave,” Twilight said.

The hoofball field, outfitted as the firing range, lay to the northwest in relation to the motor pool. She could see the goalposts, as well as the tables and targets that had been set up, but nopony was on the range. Instead, dozens of ponies—mostly batponies and unicorns—surrounded a house-sized bubble of translucent pink magic. It bordered a pit to prevent anyone from falling in. Muffled gunshots came from within.

She recognized her brother’s shield spell anywhere. Picking up the pace as much as her braced leg would allow, which was around jogging speed, Twilight closed the distance. She could have flown, but she wasn’t going to over-rely on her wings.

Reaching the crowd of soldiers, she easily found a spot. Even though there were maybe fifty ponies around the pit by Twilight's best guess, the pit was so large that the vast crowd wasn’t competing for shoulder space.

She looked down into the rectangular pit, expecting her brother. Instead, she saw a maze of walls set up to simulate rooms and corridors.

Her jaw dropped when she saw who was running the gauntlet.

Princess Celestia, in full royal guard armor, sped from room to room with a rifle floating in her magic.

Teams of unicorns with clipboards observed Princess Celestia, while another team of unicorns sprang up targets within the rooms. Princess Celestia would enter a room, shoot the two or three targets the instructors sprang up, before moving onto the next room.

Twilight watched her former teacher ram shoulder-first through a door into the next room. She raised her rifle, fired at two targets but ran out of ammo. In a single motion she dropped her rifle to her side as a pistol came up, finishing off the last three targets in the room.

A loud coaching whistle was blown in three quick successions.

“Time!” shouted an instructor.

“For a newbie, she handles that weapon like she was born to wield it,” Shining Armor said beside Twilight, making her jump. She had been focused so heavily on Princess Celestia that she hadn’t heard her brother sneak up to her side. Or Daniel, for that matter.

“Y-yeah,” Twilight stuttered, holding a hoof to her chest. Nopony else knew she had handled human weapons before in simulations. “Please don’t sneak up on me.”

“Sorry, sis,” Shining Armor said with a halfhearted chuckle. Meanwhile, Princess Celestia teleported out of the pit. However, it was to the group of instructors, not to them.

“So, how’d she do?” Twilight asked, turning from the pit and to her brother. She blinked once she got a good look at him. In her opinion, he looked almost as bad as her.

“Near flawlessly as far as I could tell. I’m not too keen on firearms,” Shining Armor said. For a stallion in his mid thirties, his blue mane was starting to gray at the roots, and his sunken, puffy eyes betrayed a lack of sleep. “But after what happened, we need them.”

He tapped a pistol on his foreleg. It was the same type of 10mm pistol as hers.

“It's strange seeing you prepared for the offensive,” Twilight said. Her brother’s specialty was protection. It was stranger to see pony soldiers with Equestrian-built guns. It was a whole new frightening avenue of technology that Equestria was rapidly exploring. “Have there been any training accidents? I noticed you had a shield over the course Celestia took.”

Shining Armor nodded.

“One so far, but the stallion survived,” Shining Armor said with a heavy sigh. It wasn’t as heavy as it could have been. “He lost most of the sight in one eye and several teeth after his pistol exploded.”

“How?” Twilight asked, giving her own pistol a worried glance.

“Well,” Shining Armor said as he turned to follow the crowd, which was following Princess Celestia towards the firing range. “Human weapons degraded alongside the human ammunition. We built our ammunition to the specifications printed on the ammunition boxes and cases, meaning they aren’t degraded like human ammunition is. We can fire our weapons with human ammo, but putting our ammo in human weapons puts too much strain on them.”

That entirely defeated the purpose of trying to make ammunition cross compatible.

“How’d a flaw like that make it past testing?” Daniel asked.

“Simple,” Shining Armor said. “We only tested our ammo with our own guns. Apparently, early on, captured human weapons were too rare to use for testing.”

Twilight wanted to punch something. The lack of a proper control group was infuriating. Instead, she brought up one of the reasons she had come to the firing range.

“I’d better get this over with sooner than later, but I have some bad news. Princess Cadance is caught up with a storm somewhere between here and the Crystal Empire,” Twilight said, levitating out the letter from earlier. Her brother took the letter. “She should be here by tomorrow morning if everything goes well. How have you been?”

He rubbed his face with a hoof, shaking his head.

“Drained,” he said with a groan. “I want to put a shield over Ponyville, but I would have to stop the one over the Everfree, and Starswirl the Bearded says that would make the portals even worse. I’m just glad Mom and Dad found work in other cities before…”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, rubbing the back of her neck uneasily. They all reached the firing range. “Daniel and I wanted to practice shooting some targets if we’re allowed to.”

Shining Armor nodded.

“Of course you can,” he said. “As long as you have your own ammunition. The Phillydelphia plant is having to deal out ammunition piecemeal to every royal guard battalion in Equestria. We’re building weapons too fast for them to properly meet demand.”

And Twilight didn’t know of any other Equestrian fireworks factories that could be easily converted over to an ammunition plant. To meet demand they would have to build a new plant from the ground up, which could take months of skilled labor and specialty machines.

“That isn’t good,” Twilight said. She looked around before she frowned. There was a distinct lack of a particular giant male alicorn. “Where’s Deathclaw Joe?”

“Training Apple and Cherry companies in hoof-to-hoof,” Shining Armor said. “I never imagined I’d see a male alicorn.” He clenched his teeth. “Never thought I’d see entire cities get destroyed, either.”

Twilight turned to look towards the horizon. Cloudsdale was still surrounded by a brewing radstorm.

“I see the military hasn’t fixed Cloudsdale yet,” Twilight said. “I thought they were supposed to be handling it.”

“Yeah,” Shining Armor said with a sigh, kicking a clod of mud. “The problem is scrounging up enough radiation-proof suits that pegasi can still wear while flying. It’s slowed our efforts down to a crawl. We have the radstorm contained to Cloudsdale, but bottling up the radioactive clouds has only made the need for radiation proof gear all the more important. And we can’t send in only one or two ponies to blow the machines.”

“Why’s that?” Twilight asked. Princess Celestia had taken a spot behind the tables, and was showing the crowd how to hoof-load an empty rifle magazine.

Daniel answered for him.

“Cloudsdale has a new feral ghoul problem, doesn’t it?”

Shining Armor nodded grimly.

Twilight ground her teeth. It wasn’t fair that the ponies not only had to die to the nuke, but many were mutated into mindless, flesh-eating, crazed ponies. And unlike the feral ghouls that she’d flown over in the metro, these ones might be able to fly.

Twilight felt her fur itching like she was being watched. Her muscles tensed, ready to react to the flying zombie apocalypse landing on her head. In her state of near panicked hypervigilance, her ears flicked.

There were several loud krumps from White Tail Woods. Even Princess Celestia had heard it. Twilight’s unease only grew as Princess Celestia’s look of recognition twisted into horror.

The silence following the krumps was torn asunder by numerous, ear-piercing whistles screaming overhead.

“MORTARS, GET TO COVER!” Princess Celestia screamed. Everypony scrambled towards the main school building as several fiery explosions blossomed around the training field.

A guard pony running in front of Twilight fell over, almost tripping her up. He was punched through by dozens of bleeding holes. Twilight grabbed him with her magic, straining to pull him out of the line of fire.

Looking skyward, Twilight’s alicorn-enhanced night sight allowed her to see the armored forms of dozens of gryphons in black, devil-horned Enclave power armor flying towards Ponyville.

They were under attack.

Chapter 41: The Battle of Ponyville

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Raking lines of ruby light peppered the ground around Twilight, nearly hitting the wounded guard stallion both she and Daniel co-levitated in their magic.

Twilight had never liked violence. Even before she'd become the Princess of Friendship, she had always preferred using words over fighting; and when words failed, none of her spells were meant to kill. During the chaos of the changeling invasion of Canterlot, she’d only used stun spells and light blasts of magic.

But as the armored shapes in the night sky descended firing indiscriminately at running ponies, explosives raining down alongside their armored bulks, Twilight knew that true, bloody violence was unavoidable.

However, unless something changed, she needed to make it inside the School of Friendship before she could do anything.

More laser beams popped the dirt around her hooves; causing Twilight to stumble. She looked back to spot Princess Celestia quickly conjuring a shield over the school. It stopped any more power-armored gryphons from getting in, and blocked the explosives fired from the mortars.

That changed things.

Twilight let go of the wounded stallion. Daniel caught himself when he took the soldier’s full weight in his telekinesis. He craned his neck back to her as she slowed and turned towards the attackers.

“Get him to safety, I’ll catch up!” Twilight called to him. He didn’t protest as she summoned her spellbow and took aim at one of the ten gryphons trapped on the wrong side of Princess Celestia’s shield. Her arrow flew out and hit true, slamming into their power armored chest. The gryphon pitched to the side as they fell from the sky. She didn’t hesitate to nock another arrow.

The gryphons were attacking her people with the intent to kill. It was fair game to respond in kind.

Twilight loosed the second arrow, the shaft of light scraping paint off of a gryphon’s helmet as they ducked their head. The gryphon focused their attention on Twilight and responded with rapid-fire globs of green plasma from their weapons. Twilight leapt to the side, her leg brace squealing as she landed close to Princess Celestia, who was making her own defiant stand.

Princess Celestia took aim with her glowing horn. The energy on the spiraling bone built until the air around her thrummed with energy. She lanced the gryphon that Twilight had targeted through the chest with a beam of golden light.

Twilight had only seen such a spell once before, in a potion-induced vision of Nightmare Moon’s betrayal, and the following castle-destroying fight between the Princesses. The gryphon’s power armor failed to stop the spell that could tear castle walls asunder.

The result was nearly the same as vaporized material and chunks fell from the sky.

Twilight couldn’t register the falling pieces as once being part of someone. Too many disparate parts, like a scrambled jigsaw puzzle that had been set on fire.

True, bloody violence.

Twilight clenched her teeth, wishing she could return back to the days where she could gently swat an opponent with magic and the fight was over, rather than having to end their life. She prayed that Princess Celestia’s overwhelming show of force would scare off the others. Let the battle end. Unfortunately, Princess Celestia’s power did not seem to dissuade the gryphons at all, as they returned fire with their harness-mounted weapons. Crimson beams and globs of plasma criss-crossed through the sky towards both Twilight and Princess Celestia, but a midnight blue shield blocked the assault.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight called out as the princess of the night teleported herself within the shield bubble.

“I knew something was amiss when all of the sleepers in Ponyville awoke at once,” Princess Luna said, her black armor gleaming in the silvery moonlight. She glared at the eight remaining gryphons as they landed around them. Their lasers and plasma bolts hammered against her shield. She pointed one of her machete-like swords at the closest one. “Are these SOCOM troops?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied. ‘Yes’ was the most likely answer. They had Enclave power armor, so unless Applejack had gotten some funny ideas and a portal, they had to be SOCOM. “At least they’re focusing on us instead of our troops.”

Twilight glanced back at the school. The guards had made it inside, excluding the dead. Shots fired from the School of Friendship's windows pinged off the gryphons’ armor, impacted against Luna’s shield, or chewed up the mud around their group. Accuracy was still something to be desired with Equestrian soldiers.

“Surrender, Princesses, we have you surrounded!” one of the gryphons yelled over the sound of combat. The mortar shells continued to fall onto Celestia’s shield with explosive bangs that reverberated through the glowing golden dome. Small but noticeable cracks had already formed on the semi-translucent surface. Princess Celestia was no Shining Armor when it came to large-area shields.

Twilight leaned towards Princess Celestia, holding up a hoof to hide her muzzle from view in case one of them could read lips.

“We’re just going to teleport inside, right?” Twilight asked in a stage whisper to be heard over the noise. She noticed a bead glowing in Celestia’s ear, then narrowed her eyes, trying to guess what Princess Celestia was up to. Princess Celestia had her attention to an empty patch of mud behind the speaker.

“It seems that you do have us surrounded,” Celestia said with a calm, resolute tone. Her expression was just as hard and determined. She nodded, the bead in her ear flashing twice as she pressed it off and on. “It’s a shame that you’ve managed to herd all three of us into a very small area.”

Hoofprints appeared in the mud before a dark-gray cylindrical object rolled between the gryphon who had spoken and another gryphon. Then another cylinder appeared between a separate pair, along with a third one dropped between another pair. The three objects came to a rest, and Twilight recognized what they were.

Grenades.

They burst with static. Blue lightning blossomed in a dome, arcing over the metal plates of the power-armored soldiers. Six of the gryphons fell over in smoking, twitching heaps. The last two whipped around, searching for the attackers, only for Princess Luna to wrap her shield around them.

Twilight summoned her bow once more in time with three of the ESS agents dropping their invisibility spells. It was probably the only time Twilight had ever been thankful to see the ESS. She approached the gryphons caught in the magical cage with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna flanking her sides.

“Cheating ponies!” one of the gryphons spat, ripping off his helmet and throwing it at the shield. It bounced off the shield wall and nearly hit the second gryphon, who had removed his helmet as well. The first roughly shoved his talons into a utility pouch on the armor’s belt, not caring that he ripped the pouch in two with his armored claws as he retrieved a fragmentation grenade. The second gryphon retrieved his own grenade.

Twilight’s eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. Without helmets inside the enclosed space, a detonation like that would be suicide.

“Wait! You’re not going to—”

“EQUESTRIA WILL BURN!” they screamed in unison before they hooked the pins in their beaks and pulled. Twilight’s jaw dropped in horror as they released the spoons nearly at the exact same moment. Like they had rehearsed taking their own life before this mission. “Long live the glory of Gryphonstone, death before pony subjugation!”

Princess Luna’s shield turned the force of the explosions back in on themselves. Shrapnel ricocheted off the curves of the bubble encapsulating the pair, turning the interior into a blender. The smoke cleared seconds later, revealing that the zealots were dead. Twilight averted her eyes from the headless corpses each missing a forelimb. Her gaze landed on Celestia, who shook her head sadly.

“Crimson Talons,” Princess Celestia muttered. She punted a dirt clod halfway to the shield surrounding the school as she snarled in a very un-Celestia-like way. “Son of a bitch, leave it to the humans to fight us with proxies!”

Twilight felt like she had been slapped. Steelbeak, the leader of the Crimson Talons, was the one and only gryphon permanently barred from entering Equestria for his past crimes. With human technology and only gryphon attackers so far, it pointed to SOCOM arming and training Gryphonia’s most vocal, violent, and extremist anti-Equestrian gangs.

“Well, we’re not fighting the best of the best humanity has to offer, just well equipped gryphon separatists,” Twilight said as she started off towards the school. She called over her shoulder to the other princesses. “We have to get a counterattack organized before they get bored pounding on the shield and turn on Ponyville.”

With the Crimson Talons given the tools to advance away from angry protests and claw-fights in the streets of their own country, it was likely that many of them had turned their rage onto Equestrian civilians. They needed to hurry.

“Can you still teleport with your damaged horn?” Princess Celestia asked. Twilight nodded, then she jumped as another mortar crashed above. The crack spread further across the golden dome. It wouldn’t last longer than a minute or two by Twilight’s guess. Princess Celestia’s voice dragged Twilight’s attention back to her. “Good, I’m going to cause a distraction. You and Princess Luna teleport over White Tail Woods and try to find those mortars. Look for metal tubes on bipods with multiple crews around them.”

“Sister, what art thou suggesting?” Luna asked pleadingly, slipping back into her old accent as she pointed a blade to the crowd hammering on the outside of the shield. “Thou wouldst distract nearly a dozen more gryphons alone in this grim and terrible night?”

“I have the royal guards,” Princess Celestia said as she shook her head, the bead in her ear glowing again as the strands of mane left exposed by her royal guard helmet turned to flame. She pivoted to face the gryphons pounding on the exterior side of the shield while her eyes glowed like lighthouse beacons. She raised her voice in the Royal Canterlot Tone, her voice repeated back by the school PA system.

“ENEMIES OF EQUESTRIA, THOU HAST COME HERE TO DIE! BEHIND ME ARE THE MARES AND STALLIONS OF A WOUNDED LAND, ANGRY AND DETERMINED TO FIGHT WHAT IS IN FRONT OF THEM TO DEFEND WHAT LAY BEHIND! YOU WILL BLUNT YOUR CLAWS AND BREAK YOUR BEAKS AGAINST US, FOR WE ARE THE DEFENDERS OF EQUESTRIA, AND WE ARE A LIVING, UNYIELDING, AND UNBREAKABLE BASTION AGAINST YOUR EVIL!”

The double doors to the School of Friendship burst open as dozens of fully armed and armored ponies answered Celestia’s call, Deathclaw Joe towering over them. They weren’t the only ones to answer Princess Celestia’s summons. Twilight’s jaw slackened as dawn came from the wrong direction, the very sun dragged backwards across the sky.

The gryphons outside of the shield stopped shooting, their voices raised high enough to be heard over the explosions as they screamed in agony. Night became mid-day bright in less time than it would take to turn off night vision goggles.

One gryphon ripped off his helmet and threw it away, rubbing his eyes, confirming Twilight’s suspicion.

Princess Celestia dropped the shield around the school as she charged at the head of a small army of Equestrians. Part of Twilight wanted to stay and watch the fight unfold, swept up by Princess Celestia’s awe inspiring aura, but she had been given a mission to do.

She turned to Princess Luna and shared a nod.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight appeared high over White Tail Woods with Princess Luna beside her. The forest below them was a multi-acre, irregular rectangle opposite from Ponyville to the Everfree Forest, leaving the town flanked on two sides by woodland.

From her high vantage point, Twilight didn’t even need to fly around to spot the forest clearing now that it was broad daylight. Seven gryphon in dark black power armor occupied the clearing. Three teams of two worked the mortars. One gryphon walked between them with a large metal backpack fitted with antennas.

“What do you think the mortar teams are doing?” Twilight asked Princess Luna, pointing to the one with the antenna backpack with her pistol. They were directing the other mortar teams to reorient the green metal bipoded tubes.

If the mortar shells had a consistent propellant charge, then after estimating mortar range from White Tail Woods to the School of Friendship, the new angles and direction the mortars were facing would send the shells…

“They’re about to hit the hospital!” Twilight yelled. Pinkie Pie and dozens of burn and radiation victims from Canterlot and Cloudsdale were in danger. Twilight didn’t spare any more time to think, she acted.

She appeared between a pair of gryphons. Pushing her healing horn to its limit, Twilight summoned her spell bow and fired it point blank into the helmet of one gryphon as she telekinetically shoved the barrel of her pistol into a gap in the other gryphon’s armor plating.

She fired six times. The lead slugs burrowed deep into the gryphon’s heart and lungs as Twilight shot through the rubber covering their armpit. Princess Luna appeared behind the middle of another pair, her twin swords arcing away from each other like a pair of opening scissors. Her two targets collapsed, missing their heads.

Princess Luna then pulled the same trick from before and wrapped the other mortar team in a magic bubble. It left Twilight with only one target. She aimed her bow at the gryphon with the backpack. Her arrow penetrated their chest with ease, sending them sprawling over as they clutched the magical shaft of purple light.

Twilight stomped towards the wounded gryphon. She was halfway there before a loud krump signalled that the ones trapped by Princess Luna had recreated the other gryphons’ suicide-pact from just a few minutes prior.

To keep the one she was approaching from performing the same trick, Twilight telekinetically emptied every pocket of the wounded gryphon. They gave no resistance nor moved to stop her. It was only as Twilight made it to within a few hooves of the stricken gryphon that she realized they had already succumbed to the chest wound.

Twilight turned her attention to the backpack. It was dedicated to a single massive radio, covered in dials and knobs. Wanting to listen in on the enemy communications, Twilight removed her helmet and picked up the telephone-like receiver.

She winced as her ears were assaulted by unfiltered, angry Gryphic mixed with the Ponish words that had no translation. Most ponies didn’t bother learning Gryphic, as it was nearly impossible for most ponies to speak since they lacked the ability to flawlessly make both avian and feline noises. But Twilight wasn’t most ponies.

“You pony-screwing featherbrains, we need those pony-screwing bombs now! The hospital is too well defended! Some pony-screwing pony has a grenade machine gun! Unless you drop those pony-screwing bombs right now, we’re leaving this to the humans and you pony-screwers are staying behind with them!”

Twilight furrowed her brow. She needed to use their confusion to her advantage. She looked around, her eyes landing on a piece of paper on the ground by the dead radio gryphon. Twilight’s eyes widened.

“Give me your pony-screwing coordinates then so I don’t hit you!” Twilight yelled as her horn glowed. The magic wrapping her throat forced her voice box to roughly mimic the combination of chirps and meows that composed most Gryphic words. Like the word ‘krelk’, a derogatory word for a gryphon who has relations with a pony. It seemed to be the favorite insult of the gryphon on the other end of the line.

“What are you—” Princess Luna asked, but Twilight silenced her by levitating the radio operator’s map of Ponyville off the ground. The map was separated into nice, easy to read grid squares with ranges to targets already annotated.

<>~<>~<>

Steelbeak slammed the receiver back onto the receptacle of the backpack radio carried by one of his loyal soldiers. The plan was falling apart before his very eyes, and he was surrounded by incompetence. The mortar team couldn’t even remember the coordinates of where they WEREN’T supposed to bomb, let alone where they were actually supposed to fire.

He had to micromanage everything. And of course the humans had given him bad information. Princess Celestia wasn’t a depressed, apathetic wreck waiting to die like the humans had suggested, but instead she had rallied her troops and joined the combat.

And if the panicked reports were true, then there was also a male alicorn fighting alongside Celestia. The ponies had far more fight in them than he had expected after the poor showing from the border guards. He glowered at the third story window of the hospital.

He caught a flash of pink before another wave of detonations chewed at the front of the treeline he and his soldiers were hiding behind. They needed the extra protection, since most of the power armor was doled out to the soldiers dealing with the pony troops.

“It was like that pony knew we were coming,” Steelbeak cursed. “Where are those pony-screwing mortars?”

Three cracks came from deeper within White Tail Woods. Then three more. And three more again.

He grabbed the radio and yelled into it, just as the first shells started to land far too short of the hospital.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight counted down the mortar shells levitated in her magic. She dropped them one after the other into the tube. Luna did the same, her magic strong enough to operate two of the weapons at once. “Five, four, three, two—”

“You pony-screwing idiots, you’re dropping them right on us, stop firing!”

“Thanks for the cooradiants,” Twilight responded in Ponish.

She dropped the last shell in.

“Traitor! Equestria will bu—” he yelled, but cut out mid-sentence as sixty millimeters of explosive packed fury landed too close to him.

“Maybe,” Twilight said to the static-filled connection. Even if the gryphon on the other end was dead, she knew they would be listening in. Colonel Autumn had said that they always were. “No matter what dirty or underhanded tricks you use, we will learn from it and take down as many of you with us as we can. General Beckett, make peace with your preferred deity because you will see them soon.”

The static cut out as the connection terminated. No one held the line open to listen in.

Chapter 42: Turning Point

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Colonel Hoffman stretched and yawned, spreading out into the shape of a star on his bed before he rolled onto his side. The sheets rustled as he shifted around.

Captain Tuckett was already out of the bed. Hoffman watched her pull her shirt over her head before struggling to slip her wings through the holes, as she normally did.

She had cut openings into all of her shirts to make room for her wings, and holes in her pants for her long, silky tail. Everything in her wardrobe had been altered. He visited her room enough times to know. There was no going back to being fully human without a lot of sewing afterwards.

“You like being a pony, don’t you?” Colonel Hoffman asked, sliding out of bed. He was behind Tuckett in an instant and lay his chin atop her head. His snout nuzzled her mane before he playfully nipped at her fuzzy ear.

“Stop it!” she laughed while trying to pull away, but Hoffman wrapped his arms around her from behind.

“Oh no you don’t!” Colonel Hoffman said, lifting her up. She faked a struggle to break free, laughing all the while as he walked her back over to the bed and tossed her down. She rolled to the side before he could pounce on her, and with a flap of her wings she was up to the ceiling.

“Oh, nu feff,” Colonel Hoffman said through a faceful of bedsheets. He rolled over and looked up at her, his grin matching hers.

“And yes, I like being a pony because I can do this,” Captain Tuckett said, flipping upside down mid air yet somehow able to fly with her magic half-pony powers. She hovered close and kissed him on the lips before breaking away.

Colonel Hoffman sighed, his shoulders slumping.

“How long do you think it’ll take General Beckett to find out I was the one who sabotaged the Manehattan nuke?”

Captain Tuckett clicked her tongue.

“I’m sure he already knows,” she said, spinning back upright and landing. “I’m glad Valery was able to warn Canterlot. I made some friends there when I was infiltrating the royal guard.” She looked away, frowning. “Some of them would have transferred to Cloudsdale.”

“What is the General’s endgame?” Colonel Hoffman asked with a groan, shaking his head. “We knew Equestria wasn’t hostile—they don’t even execute any spies they capture—so why go nuclear over Valery asking for peace?”

Tuckett snorted an angry, bitter laugh.

“Have you seen the General’s office?” she asked rhetorically. Of course Colonel Hoffman knew what it looked like. He had played chess with the insufferable bastard. “It's a shrine to warfare. I imagine that he thinks because President Eden was killed, it's now total war with Equestria, and he can give America a solid win against a foreign power after the Resource Wars and the Great War. His rank pins are doing the thinking his brain should be doing.”

“You and I both know that they won’t surrender, not after what we did,” Colonel Hoffman said. He sighed heavily and reached for the radio on the nightstand.

“You know we’re not supposed to listen to the radio since Eden went off the air,” Tuckett said with a sardonic grin. “General’s orders.”

“Fuck ‘em,” Colonel Hoffman said, turning the radio on. It was already set to Enclave Radio.

“—like to thank you all for the opportunity and chance to be your President,” Abigail Jacklyn’s voice came over loud and clear. “But one person should not have all the power. Please hold your applause for my presidential address until after Vice President Autumn finishes his speech.”

Colonel Hoffman and Captain Tucket shared a look.

“She’s honestly trying to restore the republic, isn’t she?” Colonel Hoffman asked.

“It’s Applejack,” Tuckett said, gesturing to the radio. “If you had ever gone to Equestria, you’d learn quickly that her honesty is as legendary as ol' Honest Abe's.”

Maybe it was time for SOCOM to pledge their loyalty back to the Enclave. It was just a matter of waiting to see how the assault on Ponyville went.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight walked through the mulched patch of forest that she and Luna had bombarded with twenty or more mortar shells. Her mind was foggy as adrenaline wore off and exhaustion crept back in.

Twilight occasionally flew over craters to avoid tripping into them. Gryphons lay in mangled heaps in and around the blast holes. More than one had their organs and entrails blown up into the tree branches. The hanging pieces were like grotesque Hearth's Warming Eve decorations, bringing back unpleasant memories of the raider decor in Springvale Elementary.

Twilight hadn’t known what to expect on the other side of the barrage, but it hadn't been… this.

And instead of drugged up lunatics, she was the one who had done it. The gryphons were the enemy, yet Twilight couldn’t stop the tightness in her chest and the overwhelming sense of dread over the pointless loss. A weight pressed down onto her shoulders with the force of a ursa major. They weren’t even proper SOCOM, just gryphons who were used as puppets.

They were people, and she had brutally killed them.

“Looks like they weren’t trained how to space out in a barrage,” Electrum scoffed as she walked up to Twilight’s side. Electrum and Deathclaw Joe had arrived to help Twilight and several royal guards look for any survivors. So far, there weren’t any. “If any ran off, they won’t have time to attack civilians if they’re too busy trying to hide from Celestia, Luna, and half a battalion of pissed off guards.”

“I don’t understand why they would attack a hospital,” Twilight growled as she pointed through the trees and to the hospital beyond, flaring her nostrils. “It doesn’t make any sense!”

Deathclaw Joe hummed.

“Sometimes humans don’t make the logical choice,” he said, “or they take the choices that seem best at the time.” He rolled a gryphon onto their back, then prodded them with a hoof. They coughed alongside a blue bar appearing on Twilight’s new compass. The large alicorn chuckled dryly before he bellowed in his deep voice. “Medics, we got a live one!”

The gryphon’s cough was like an ice bucket to Twilight's fury. Her attention magnetized to the one survivor on the ground. Twilight teleported over and stared down at the wounded gryphon, who turned out to be female. Blood oozed from rents in her combat armor. She hadn’t even been issued power armor like the ones who had attacked the School of Friendship.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Twilight apologized to the wheezing gryphon. The light was almost gone from the gryphon's eyes as she stared up at Twilight, the deep blue fading into oceans of hopelessness as death approached.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said again, in Gryphic this time. She had to look away from the dying woman, or her heart would tear in two forever. As she did, she spotted Daniel approaching at a trot. His horn glowed as he juggled to both remove the helmet off the stricken gryphon and levitate a gurney behind him. An earth pony mare followed behind in a doctor’s coat and rubber boots. Smatterings of blood smeared across her attire. Her bright orange saddlebags were decorated with the symbol of a red phoenix with outstretched wings gripping a roll of gauze with one foot, and a scalpel in the other.

Daniel set the gurney down and crouched by the gryphon. His hooves cradled her head to keep it elevated. He used his telekinesis to strip the gryphon out of the rest of her armor so the paramedic mare could assess her wounds. Even if the gryphon was an enemy of Equestria, the battle for Ponyville was over, and they deserved fair treatment.

Daniel looked up from the gryphon.

“Hey, Twi, you okay?” he asked in a wavering voice like he was just as okay as she was.

“Y-yeah,” Twilight replied, her voice hitching in the back of her throat with a hiccup. Her gaze returned to the gryphon as she moaned in pain, tears rolling from her eyes.

Fucking damnit, it was a person laying on the ground. WHY DID IT HAVE TO COME TO THIS!?

Deathclaw Joe gently wrapped a wing over Twilight, his deep voice carrying a rumble despite his attempt to whisper. “Hey, I think you’re blocking his light. Let’s take a few steps away and give the medics space to work.”

Twilight managed to tear her attention away from the gryphon in time to catch Daniel and Deathclaw Joe share a knowing nod.

Twilight could see on their faces that they knew she was three seconds from breaking down. She needed to leave, so she did. She passed Daniel, still under the wing of Deathclaw Joe. They had to search for more injured survivors anyway.

“You don’t need to do this,” Deathclaw Joe whispered. “Go get some sleep, or a drink, or go spend time with loved ones. It’ll help.”

Deathclaw Joe was right. Someone who had killed as many people as he had would know. Maybe Celestia knew how to cope with being a killer as well? Was guilt from ancient wars the reason why Celestia had strived for peace so fiercely that it ended up being a detriment to Equestria at times?

“Can–” Twilight cut herself off with a snotty sniff, and wiped her runny nose with a foreleg. She was worse off than she thought. “Can we go to the hospital? I want to see Pinkie Pie.”

“Sure,” Deathclaw Joe said. He guided Twilight out of the treeline, Electrum following along. “I think I saw Fluttershy and her crew fly that way, too.”

Twilight wiped away another glob of snot. The fresh air past the forest was good. Getting away from the bodies was better. It helped her think and process what she wanted to say without sniffling… too much.

“Thanks,” was all she could lamely come up with.

Deathclaw Joe didn’t respond with words. He nodded and let Twilight free from under his wing. Part of her wanted to be back under what felt like both a warm blanket and a shield. It made her feel safer, but another part of her was glad to be free from it. Deathclaw Joe being protective of her in front of Daniel, even with Daniel’s approval, didn’t sit right with her.

They entered the hospital, and it was an instantaneous sensory overload to Twilight’s tired, emotionally beleaguered brain. The lobby lights were somehow both annoyingly bright, yet too dim to see all of the lobby clearly.

Ponies who weren’t too sick to their stomachs or too injured to talk spoke loudly over each other, blending with the occasional gut-churning sound of one radiation-sick evacuee or another vomiting into a bucket.

There were too many ponies to count. Seats and couches were used like beds, while several yoga mats, mattresses, and sleeping bags occupied most of the floor space as ponies waited for proper housing and treatment.

Then there was the smell. The air was choked with the clawing pang of expulsions from the radiation-sick victims. There was a dull pink pegasus stallion sitting nearby on a chair reading a magazine. His feathers had fallen away alongside several patches of fur, revealing raw, boiled-looking red muscle underneath that was turning gray and necrotic, adding to the smell in the air.

The early stages of ghoulification, if Twilight had to guess from what little she knew from Gob and fighting feral ghouls. The poor stallion was just sitting around in a waiting room. Equestria hadn’t been prepared for multiple full-scale disasters at once.

“So,” Electrum said slowly, her voice low and conspiratorial. “Why doesn’t Equestria simply use ghoul pegasi to turn off the machines in Cloudsdale?”

Twilight gasped and spun to glare daggers into her eyes.

“Are you insane?” Twilight hissed, her tiredness and apathy gone as she gestured towards the ghoulifying stallion. “We’re not going to force anyone back to where their loved ones died and caused them extreme physical mutation.”

Electrum held up a hoof and smiled gently.

“If you ever feel sorry for yourself for what you have to do on the battlefield,” Electrum said. “Remember that SOCOM wouldn’t hesitate to use them for a second. Equestria is choosing the harder option to spare people suffering.”

The white paramedic mare pushed a gurney carrying a guard mare wearing a neckbrace through the hospital entrance. Daniel followed afterwards with the gryphon from earlier. They passed by without a word, wheeling the two deeper into the hospital.

Electrum chuckled. “You even give your enemies medical treatment.”

Seeing the lobby full of people that she had saved, and hearing what Electrum had to say, Twilight’s conscience eased up on her for what she’d done.

“Hey, Electrum,” Twilight called, “I’m trying to wrap my head around why SOCOM would give away power armor and energy weapons.”

What better person to ask the logic of a group than one of their former members?

“Oh that’s easy,” Electrum said, nodding. “SOCOM uses ballistic weaponry, but we still have a lot of energy weapons stockpiled. We never use them since you can’t suppress them, and the lightshow they make means they become their own tracers, which isn’t always a good thing. As for the power armor, the devil-horned suits are an East Coast design. It's made to be easier to mass produce at the cost of protection over the older version of the Advanced Power Armor Mark 2, so the new stuff is easier to replace while we keep the older and better suits for ourselves.”

“There was a woman named Sergeant Dornan who wore an old set,” Twilight said, smiling. “It had been her father’s and she broke the speaker in her helmet from shout—”

Twilight was cut off as a scroll appeared above her head, which she caught and unfurled in the same motion with her telekinesis. It was from Grand General Tempest Shadow. Twilight’s eyes widened as she read the scroll’s contents.

Princess Twilight,

I have a mission that I need your magical talents for while my soldiers are busy searching in and around Ponyville for those gryphons. A guard outpost at the Gates of Tartarus hasn’t reported in today. We dispatched a wagon with supplies earlier, but they too have failed to report in. I do not wish to cause alarm, but with the nature of our underhanded enemy, nothing can be ruled out.

Due to how remote the outpost is, it could simply be the ponies there having issues with their equipment and the sky-wagon taking shelter due to bad weather, but I would like to know rather than have a SOCOM-backed jailbreak to deal with on top of everything else.

We have a tracking talisman on the supply wagon, and with your abilities as an alicorn, as well as your wasteland combat experience, you are perfectly suited for this task of finding the missing wagon while also checking up on the outpost, and defending yourself if there is indeed trouble. Please come to the castle so we can give you a map of the flight path. If you are unable, I understand and will send a unicorn on a pegasus-drawn chariot, but I have a higher faith in your capabilities to see this through.

Grand General Tempest Shadow

Twilight frowned. Never a chance to catch a break.

“You okay, Twilight?” Electrum asked.

“No, I just got a mission to do,” Twilight said. She looked at Deathclaw Joe. “Do you want to come along?”

Deathclaw Joe shook his head before nodding towards Fluttershy, who Twilight only just realized was in the room. Twilight couldn’t blame herself for missing her. She looked just like a hospital nurse with the green smock, white cloth mask, rubber boots, and lime green plastic shower caps over her short mane and cropped tail. The only markings that she wasn’t an actual nurse were the white armbands sewn onto the smock with bold black lettering proclaiming her as ‘VOLUNTEER’.

“If I’m going to be a ruler in this land,” Deathclaw Joe said, “I need to learn how to be as gentle and kind as Fluttershy. I want to volunteer around the hospital, and from the look of this lobby they need all the help they can get.” He nudged his head towards the door. “And if there is another hidden wave that descends on this place, I will be here to protect these people alongside Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.”

That won Twilight over. She nodded, then looked at Electrum, who smiled and chuckled.

“After what we went through together in the Dunwich building, I’ll always have your back when you ask, Princess.”

It was settled, then. With Daniel and Fluttershy busy doing medical work, Pinkie Pie and Deathclaw Joe on guard duty at the hospital, that didn’t leave many options on companions to take.

All that was left was to get a sky chariot and the flight path of the supply wagon. After seeing if Daniel was available. She still needed to learn how VATS worked. It could come in useful if she ran into trouble on her mission.

<>~<>~<>

Once Twilight and Electrum had departed, Deathclaw Joe slowly approached Fluttershy, feeling clumsy and uncoordinated as he weaved around the various mats and bedding set up in the hospital lobby.

So many ponies were sick and injured with radiation poisoning, their bodies practically consumed by lesions and rad burns. It was a window back into The Pitt. His stomach clenched, and a larger than comfortable part of himself wanted to leave like a coward and flee from the reminders surrounding him.

But the people here needed something to hope for, and all the help they could get. He could provide at least a little help for his soon-to-be adoptive kingdom. It was the right thing to do.

Despite his large size, horn, and wings, nopony paid him much attention outside of the occasional mutter or two. Deathclaw Joe figured that a male alicorn walking around wasn’t the strangest occurrence to happen to them in the last few days. Most of the ponies in the lobby had survived a close encounter with a nuclear weapon.

He reached Fluttershy, who had her side to him. She didn’t notice his approach as she tilted a bottle of water gently to a mare’s lips, who only had gauze-wrapped stumps in place of her back legs.

He waited patiently, watching Fluttershy take care of another. It reminded him of Samantha when she acted as one of the New Horde’s midwives when she wasn’t the one who was giving birth. Gentle, kind, and better than him at being civilized.

When Fluttershy was done, he politely coughed to catch her attention. The tall, teal-eyed pegasus mare regarded him with a sidelong glance and a scowl. He could already feel the fury radiating from her cold look.

“I don’t want to take much of your time, but is this a good time to talk?” Deathclaw Joe asked as quietly as his deep voice could manage.

Fluttershy’s scowl softened as she turned towards Deathclaw Joe, then walked past him.

“Come on, let’s talk outside,” Fluttershy said with more than a little bit of ire. She didn’t budge her head. She simply prowled testily towards the doors, her body coiled like a spring. He knew she would punch him at a moment’s notice.

Yet he still followed, and once they were through the doors and several paces away from them, he spoke.

“I’m sor—”

SMACK

Fluttershy had suddenly spun around to face him, the back of her gloved forehoof whipping across Deathclaw Joe’s cheek hard enough it stumbled him.

“Owwww,” Deathclaw Joe said, slowly turning his head back to the mare boldly staring up at him. Her glare could only be described as ‘atomic’. “I deserved that.”

“You deserve a lot more,” Fluttershy growled, pulling down her cloth mask with a wing. “You murdered everyone in those tunnels who you deemed unsavable.”

Deathclaw Joe’s features hardened. Of course he had. He had already saved the ones that wanted saving. He told Fluttershy as much. “Listen, I gave every metro raider a chance to walk away from their old lives and join the New Horde. I accepted them as long as they were willing to put down the needle and have some decency. I’m not here to fight you, I just want to talk.”

His requirements for joining the gang weren’t even stringent. She herself had passed and was part of the New Horde in his eyes. Her nose was still in the middle of healing from where he had broken it with a punch that could have easily killed her if he had put a little more force into it.

“Yeah, you think you did the right thing,” Fluttershy said as she ground a hoof against her forehead, scowling again. “You told desperate addicts to quit cold turkey and abandon all of their friends who couldn’t put down the needle like they could—friends they could have run with as part of a gang for years—all for a new group that would throw them out if they relapsed. But I’ve worked with addicts before, and it's not something that most people can just give up with the clap of their hooves, but they aren’t lesser people for having fallen into that position. You had the right idea, but the way you went about it was flawed, and that’s why I’m so pissed off with you.”

She threw her forehooves into the air before she punctuated every other word with a wild gesture, not allowing him a moment to speak.

“And something that Twilight or Celestia doesn’t see is that you are a fucking hypocrite,” Fluttershy seethed, jabbing a hoof painfully into his chest. It still surprised him how strong she was. “Your gang was nice enough to be let into the towns, so you bought and supplied the chems to the junkies you supposedly wanted to stay off the stuff. Your gang directly profited off the addictions of those around you.”

Deathclaw Joe backstepped, tail and ears folding down as the truth cut deeper than the whip marks on his back. Fluttershy was… well, she was right. He hadn’t considered the fact that, maybe, asking addicts to immediately quit because of the New Horde’s strict no-chem policy turned away those that could have been saved if they were weaned off their addictions. Or maybe he had, and just never bothered to change how things were done.

She was also right about the profiteering, but it was more nuanced than that. If the raider gangs around him didn’t get their fix, what lengths would they have gone to get it? It was a way of controlling the more violent gangs while benefiting the New Horde with an income.

That didn’t make it any less wrong, at least to an Equestrain’s eyes. And some humans’, too. Samantha had already brought up the hypocrisy of being anti-drug drug dealers. The New Horde needed to be better. He needed to be better. Setting better examples and working to build a better world was the only way the Capital Wasteland would ever be a place he would want to raise his children.

“You’re right,” Deathclaw Joe said softly. And she was right, for the most part. It was Fluttershy’s turn to backstep, her jaw dropping. Deathclaw Joe wasn’t an unreasonable tyrant. He could admit when he was wrong.

He sat on the ground, then lay on his stomach so his head was closer to being even height with Fluttershy so she didn’t have to crane her neck looking up at him.

“You’re right that I messed up and killed a lot of people that may not have deserved it because they were mixed in with those who absolutely did, and I was too stubborn to make a plan that could have spared more people.” He shook his head slowly. “But I had my reasons. You met Samantha, right? I trusted you to watch over my family.”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said flatly as she nodded. The look in her eyes was hard and analytical, like she was searching for any flaw in what he was about to say. She had a reason to mistrust anything he said. He had trusted her to watch over his family, and as she did so in good faith, he had violated her trust by going through with a plan that he knew from his other Equestrian New Horde members would decimate the spirit of the kindest mare in Equestria.

“Did she ever tell you why I have two wives? Or her relationship with my other wife, Lisa?” Deathclaw Joe asked. Fluttershy shook her head, expression still firm. “Samantha was one of the New Horde’s midwives, even all the way back during our start over fifteen years ago. She loves bringing kids into this world, either helping other mothers or being a mother herself.”

“Ah, that last part I did know,” Fluttershy said politely as her expression softened. “Hades, Odin, and Silver are all hers, and you two have an agreement that you name the boys while she names the girls.” She chuckled. “Your plan for the baby coming up is Horus, while Samantha wants to name her Rosanne, because Samantha doesn’t like the names you’ve read in your old books.”

Deathclaw Joe chuckled mirthfully. Hades had been absolute hell to give birth to. Samantha’s belly had been so swollen before Hades was born, everyone thought that she was due for twins. It took nearly thirteen hours of labor for Hades to come out, and it took several years before Samantha was ready to have more children. Even Samantha’s overabundant love of them didn’t counter her fear of another difficult birth.

Fluttershy had spoken and listened to his people. Truly listened and committed it to memory. That was nice to know, but Deathclaw Joe’s mirth drained faster than a Nuka~Cola down a parched man’s throat.

“Lisa may not seem like the type, but we tried for children,” Deathclaw Joe said, his voice strained. He hated telling the story, but Fluttershy needed to know why he did what he did. “Both times were miscarriages, and the second time we nearly lost Lisa. Samantha was there both times.” Deathclaw Joe paused as Fluttershy gasped, throwing her hooves over her mouth to hide her shock. “Samantha and Lisa have always been friends. She saw how much pain and grief Lisa was suffering through, so she asked Lisa if she could have a baby with me, but give the child to her to raise as her own.”

Samantha’s heart was as big as his entire body. To go through nine months of pregnancy, only to give up her child to another woman. Deathclaw Joe didn’t know if he could have made the choice if he was in Samantha’s shoes.

“Samantha wanted to be a surrogate mother,” Fluttershy said slowly, dropping her hooves away from her face. Shock still lingered in her expression. “I’ve thought about being a surrogate mother once or twice, before I met Discord. Then I started thinking about being an actual mother. What changed it from Samantha being a surrogate to her being your second wife?”

Deathclaw Joe slumped his shoulders with a heavy sigh.

“Lisa didn’t feel that it was right to rob Samantha of a child that Samantha would always love more than her, since it would be biologically hers,” Deathclaw Joe said. “And following my own decrees that I had set down, my heir had to be the child of my wife. If I broke my own rules or changed them so soon after making them, I would have undermined my own legitimacy as a leader. Thankfully, I hadn’t made any laws against polygamy. Celestia isn’t my first marriage of convenience.”

But he had come to deeply love Samantha and all of the kids. He also still loved Lisa, even if she was unable to bear him an heir. His wives weren’t property or factories to make his children. After what Deathclaw Joe had gone through in The Pitt, he would never treat anyone like a slave.

Even the time Lisa had innocently asked to be tied up for sex had been too far.

“So how does this all tie into betraying everyone at the Knock?” Fluttershy asked, though her tone was far softer and less accusatory. She wanted to know why, now that she had the context.

“Because Equestria is a country with modern medicine and magic. Lisa has the best chance of bringing a child to term here, if she still wants to, and with Samantha being so close to having our next child, a real hospital is a lot better than midwives around a fur bed. I wanted to make sure that I could earn my people’s way into Equestria, even if it meant betraying all the other metro gangs.”

Which he had to admit, wasn’t the smartest move. Hey, Princesses, we're totally civilized. Here is a table full of the corpses of your enemies. Do you take severed heads in place of passports? Stupid. Just stupid.

By some miracle it had still worked, but even if it hadn’t, clearing out the other metro gangs had always been one plan out of a handful. There was a precedent for why the pregnant women and children never attended Knocks.

“I still hate what you did, and I’m not going to entirely forgive you for it, I can’t,” Fluttershy said. “But you have a child on the way, I can understand that you’re under pressure.”

That was all Deathclaw Joe was looking for. To at least get things squared away with Fluttershy and tell his side of the story. He was desperate to get his people into Equestria.

Samantha had survived three child births already. She was lucky. Deathclaw Joe had unfortunately overseen funerals for women who didn’t survive their first.

The Grim Reaper only needed to get lucky once.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight had a perfect view of the scarred landscape as she flew high through the sky, pulling a lightly armored royal-guard wagon, with Electrum as her sole passenger.

The lands surrounding the dark mountain holding the Gates of Tartarus were a churned, gravelly mess. Wild and ancient magic had stripped the land unnaturally barren, sterilizing the environment into a state of perpetual lifelessness. The only signs that life had once existed in the Tartaran Badlands were ancient thicketts populated by desiccated, hollow trees with leaves as brown as aged paper, if they had any leaves at all. It was the same story with the bushes at the trees’ bases.

Volcanic vents shrouded a majority of the Badlands in a thin layer of sulfurous smog, which Twilight was thankful she could fly over. The thick rolling banks gave the ghastly ground below a primordial soup-like appearance that was unpleasant to look at. It was most likely worse to be in.

“So I’ve been thinking about our mission,” Electrum said out of the blue, surprising Twilight. She had been silent over most of the trip.

“Do you think SOCOM has something to do with the missing wagon and the outpost not checking in?” Twilight asked as she inclined her head back, trying to balance watching the flight ahead, but keeping an eye on her passenger as well.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Electrum said, shaking her head. “Nuclear weapons are far more controllable than formerly imprisoned megalomaniacs. Springing the prisoners in Tartarus has a large chance to backfire if someone like Tirek gets their way to Earth. Starswirl the Bearded was telling me earlier that there have been strange occurrences out this way. We think the random portals aren’t so random. They’re attracted to places with lots of metal, or lots of magic.”

“Like the Metro Tunnels, or the anomaly in the Everfree?” Twilight asked. Or the wild magic that had stripped the Tartaran Plains barren.

“Exactly,” Electrum said, “but Princess Celestia pulling you back with that spell has thrown a wrench into things. Starswirl needs more time to collect data. He wants to launch an expedition into the Everfree and potentially close the anomaly. If we do that, we might be able to use the teleportation device I stole as a basis for a spell to find where SOCOM is hiding the mobile portal to this world since it uses similar enchantments.”

Twilight had to do a double take. She had failed to talk to Starswirl lately with so much else on her plate. That was incredible news.

“I don’t know what to say,” Twilight said. “If we find their portal we can stop them before they have a chance to bomb more of our cities.”

“I know, right?” Electrum smiled. “And I think Equestria will be ready for it. Have you seen the Cutie Mark Crusaders recently?”.

“I’ve been busy, but I want to,” Twilight said, wondering how the Cutie Mark Crusaders had any relation to Equestrian military readiness. Twilight couldn’t dwell on the thought too hard, her attention split between the conversation, flying, and occasionally glancing at the map held in her magic. The talisman tracking spell was still active from her last casting. The tiny red dot on the paper hadn’t moved an inch. They were getting close. “Why do you ask?”

“You really need to see the vehicle designs that they cooked up,” Electrum said, whistling. “I never expected girls that young to know so much about blueprint drafting and material science. I wouldn’t be surprised if they invented a recipe for composite armor by the time I see them again.”

“They tried a little bit of everything to get their cutie marks,” Twilight chuckled as she looked back at her passenger. Electrum rolled her eyes, and Twilight continued. “Speaking of, have you ever thought about removing the tattoos on your flank to see if you have a real cutie mark underneath?”

Electrum squirmed in her seat, tugging at the collars of her Enclave uniform and trench coat.

“So, are we there yet?” Electrum asked, pitching her voice to sound as fillyish as possible.

Twilight looked back at the map. They were.

<>~<>~<>

Gravel crunched under the wheels of the sky chariot as Twilight landed. Thick, curling volcanic smoke swirled around her, filling her nose with the scent of burning sulfur.

“The lost wagon should be somewhere in that thicket,” Twilight said, unhooking herself from the sky chariot as Electrum jumped out. She had her pistol raised in her copper-colored magic and scanned the treeline for any threats.

“Did you see the crash from above?” Electrum asked.

“Who says it was a crash?” Twilight replied as she, too, drew her pistol. The thick smoke made it hard to see farther than ten hooves in front of her. They had to be careful as they both approached the edge of the desiccated trees and bushes.

“Fair,” Electrum said, sticking close to Twilight’s side. “I don’t see any… wait, ten o’clock.”

Twilight glanced at her PipBoy.

“That’s not right, it’s—” Twilight started, but Electrum facehoofed and telekinetically turned Twilight’s head to face a direction slightly left of their landing site. Narrowing her eyes, Twilight could see that the missing wagon had been pulled into the treeline. “Right, military speak.”

Then Twilight noticed the three blue bars on her compass, just in time for two ponies wearing cobbled-together armor to step out the scraggly underbrush. Their brown leather and rusted spikes had blended in easily with the dead bushes and smoke.

The damage to their mottled, mangy hides and their attire made it clear that they were raiders. They fit right in with the environment. The area around Tartarus was remarkably similar to the Capital Wasteland.

“Well lookie here, another wagon of loot,” the first raider said, a brown unicorn mare with a bruised eye socket swollen shut. Her barding covered so little that it showed her flanks, revealing a cutie mark of a spike impaling a skull. She levitated a hoof-long piece of rebar sharpened to a point at the far end, while the grip was wrapped with duct tape. Dried blood coated the long shiv. “We didn’t even have to lure them in with fake cries for help this time. Dumbasses are just begging for it.”

The second raider, an earth pony stallion, laughed maniacally. He wore raider garb over a poorly-fitting set of battered and dark colored royal guard armor, which Twilight’s stomach rolled as she realized it had been painted ruddy-brown with dirt, gravel dust, and blood. An equestrian 10mm SMG was clenched in his teeth, which he spoke around the mouth grip of. “Drop the weapons and raise your tails.”

Both of the blue compass pips turned red.

Then the third blue bar turned red as a third raider exited the brush. She was so big that Twilight could have easily mistaken the yak’s yellow-green furred body for a mossy rock if she wasn’t stomping towards them through the fog. Then again, most rocks weren’t armed with miniguns. The weapon was fixed to one side, the ammunition backpack on the other, and a long flexible metal belt linked the two over her broad back. The helmeted severed heads of guard ponies hung by ropes like grotesque golden earrings from each of her two massive curved horns.

“Haha, stupid ponies no sneak up on super mutant and friends,” she laughed through her bite on the rein leading to the trigger of her minigun. Her voice was almost as deep as Deathclaw Joe’s.

Teleporting away wasn’t an option. The raiders needed to be stopped, and with the severed heads dangling from the super mutant-yak’s horns, Twilight decided that going lethal was her only option.

Unfortunately, it was three against two, and their opponents had far better weapons.

Twilight needed an edge. Thankfully, she had recently acquired one.

The world slowed to a crawl as she activated VATS with a thought, the targeting system lighting up the yak in a purple outline. Twilight selected the yak’s head, then tried to cue up three more shots for good measure, but couldn't manage all four shots as the Analytical Power bar in the corner of her vision drained with each command.

Twilight hoped three would be enough as the shots rang out. The slowness of VATS let her watch them in detail.

The first shot grazed the yak’s scalp, the pain causing the ex-super mutant to spit out the trigger rein. The second shot put a hole into her right ear, while the third pierced the yak's right eye. The lead slug penetrated through her thin orbital bone and buried into her brain.

The world sped back up before the yak collapsed to the ground as suddenly as a dropped stone. Legs limply folding under her.

"Fu—" the stallion with the SMG started to yell, but the rest of the curse died on his lips as Electrum shot his breastplate twice, failing to penetrate, before her third shot tore open his throat like a coyote biting into carrion.

Rebar mare was quick to recover from the sudden turn of the tables. She lanced her shiv out like a dagger, the pointed tip glancing off Twilight's armored shoulder. Electrum blasted her in the chest and face in the same manner as the last pony.

The brutal fight had only lasted seconds.

“That was some good shooting,” Electrum said, before she quizzically tilted her head to Twilight’s Pip-Boy. “VATS?”

“Y-yeah, Daniel made sure to teach me before we left the hospital,” Twilight said, panting slightly. She checked her compass, but there were no other bars, red or blue, outside of Electrum. “Let’s hurry up and recover the bodies.”

“What bodies?” Electrum asked, before Twilight pointed at the two severed heads hanging from the yak’s horns.

Those heads had to have come from somewhere.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight wiped the vomit off her lips with a foreleg.

The fog-like smoke had miraculously been kept out by the thickly clustered dead bushes, allowing her to see everything in the small raider camp.

One guard pony hung from a nearby tree. He had been stripped of his armor and uniform, decapitated, dewinged, and all of his legs hacked off. They had also castrated him.

The mare had been treated similarly, only her corpse lay on one of the three sleeping bags that surrounded a small fire pit ringed with stones. Charred leg bones lay in the pit, while an entire severed leg was speared through on a spit like a rotisserie. Tin cans and trash from the wagon’s supplies littered the ground.

“Not even radroaches live this dirty,” Electrum growled, kicking an empty tin can that had once held diced peaches. She produced a knife from under her tan greatcoat, and levitated it to the rope holding the stallion. “I’ll cut him down. Are you good to catch him?”

Twilight forced a nod, wiping her mouth again, before she steeled herself and wrapped the body in telekinesis.

<>~<>~<>

It didn’t take long before they were airborne again, only this time it was with the lost supply wagon. The raiders hadn’t left much. It only meant that Twilight could carry what remained by herself when the wagons were normally rated for a team of two when loaded.

Twilight could hear Electrum rummaging through the crates in the back as she looked through the supplies. Twilight didn’t mind her snooping, she would have done the same to distract herself if she had to sit in the back of a wagon with two mutilated corpses shoved into sleeping bags.

“So the sun’s going down again, Princess Celestia must be done looking for the gryphons,” Twilight said, trying to restart a conversation after stepping on the sore subject earlier and to help distract Electrum from the corpses.

“Yeah,” Electrum said without much enthusiasm. “It is. It’s strange seeing a sunset at midnight.”

Twilight checked the time. Electrum was close, it was twelve thirty a.m.

“So, do you know what SOCOM’s endgame for Equestria is?” Twilight asked.

Electrum snorted.

“SOCOM’s great plan is only the purview of the highest of higher ups,” Electrum said bitterly. “Doesn't help that the damn organization is a soup of every federal agency and special forces group the pre-war government could throw into it. The original pre-Enclave SOCOM, JSOC, CIA, DIA, FBI, BADTFL, and other equally tongue-tying acronyms that maybe meant something two centuries ago.”

Twilight only understood one name out of the alphabet soup Electrum had spat out. Or if she had recognized any others outside of the Defense Intelligence Agency, her tired brain didn't register it. She’d been up since six a.m. yesterday, so, over eighteen hours?

It was getting hard to keep track of time, even with a Pip-Boy.

“Wouldn’t an organization based on that many different departments get doctrinally confused?” Twilight asked, yawning. “Even Equestrian history is filled with groups not getting along. If the Enclave threw every group’s ideology into a blender, how does it function with so many competing founding principles?”

“That’s the thing, I think it was supposed to be dysfunctional.” Electrum gave a laugh as dry as the gravelly ground below them. Twilight looked back to see her face was set into a scowl as she continued on, waving a foreleg as she explained. “SOCOM’s byzantine bureaucracy and over compartmentalization keeps us so disorganized that we would never try and plot a coup against the president. It makes us the best secret police to watch the rest of the Enclave because our loyalty is as unquestioning as our lack of ability to function together without higher micromanagement.”

So without President Eden, General Beckett was flailing around with a dysfunctional mess of an agency. Was he acting on pre-existing orders, or ad-libbing to apocalyptic levels?

“How do you get anything done that isn’t spying on your own?” Twilight groaned. The whole system of setting up a self-defeating agency to run internal security was just asinine and wasteful. “I thought that SOCOM built the portals, right?”

Or at least the prototype teleportation device.

“Yes and no,” Electrum replied. “The portals were built pre-war. It was only about five, maybe six years ago that some old automated systems in Virtual Strategic Solutions picked up energy readings coming from the first portal in this world. President Eden sent us the data, and we used the energy readings off that data to learn how to work with magic. The second portal into Equestria had been disenchanted until we fixed it. It took years of studying what President Eden had sent us to do so.”

A large magical event five or six years ago… Twilight had to think a little longer than she would have if she was well-rested before she got it.

“That was around the time when Princess Luna returned,” Twilight said with a jolt. “Could you have detected when my friends and I used the Elements of Harmony for the first time?”

They had cured Princess Luna of Nightmare Moon’s hold over her in the Castle of the Two Sisters. Right in the middle of the Everfree Forest, which meant it was close to the portal cave.

“That lines up with what we cross-referenced from the journal you published,” Electrum said.

Interesting. Twilight scratched her mane, dwelling on what Electrum had said. The secret, movable portal made in response to Princess Celestia finding the first had had to be re-enchanted. Was it for security reasons, or something deeper?

“Do you know why SOCOM’s portal had been disenchanted?”

If it had stayed active, the Enclave, or at least SOCOM, could have run around Equestria for the last two centuries. But that wasn’t the case.

“I’m not sure,” Electrum said, far more serious and heavy. She may have been thinking what Twilight was thinking. Things weren’t adding up. “We only moved into that facility after the destruction of the Poseidon oil rig out west, but before then, no idea.”

“I see,” Twilight said. That line of inquiry had been followed to its conclusion. “So Princess Celestia finally told me the truth about some things.” They had talked for nearly an hour and a half after their spat. “Like the fact that SOCOM’s been infiltrating Equestria for around two years now, and the ESS agents have been running in circles trying to find them.”

The fact that any captured SOCOM agents didn’t know the whereabouts or objectives of other agents was a testament to the fact that they had a valid reason for all of the compartmentalization, which frustrated Twilight. Teams were supposed to work together.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve done it successfully,” Electrum said, letting out a friendly chuckle. “Several field agents had already flipped sides before I decided to join Equestria. Not a hard choice when most of us have had more chances to participate in actual democracy in Equestria than we ever have in the Enclave. The first time I ever voted was for Mayor Mare’s reelection in Ponyville. Before then, my right to vote existed only in Enclave propaganda.”

Princess Celestia had also filled Twilight in on the eight field agents who’d turned themselves into the ESS voluntarily. The betrayal of so many agents had turned the secret war hot as ESS and SOCOM agents fought each other in the shadows, with everything being covered up from the public eye.

And it wasn’t just SOCOM who had loyalty issues. Three ESS agents had been apprehended as they tried contacting SOCOM. The war Twilight hadn’t known about was a whole snake pit of secrets, lies, money, and changing allegiances.

Twilight wished she was back in her room with Daniel. She wanted to curl up in bed with him and ask him about his day and de-stress.

Was a single normal day so much to ask for?

<>~<>~<>

The sun had almost set for the second time, but it allowed Twilight enough light to clearly see the imposing edifice that was the Gates of Tartarus.

Two massive, solid black stone doors etched with glowing magenta and blood red runes. Framing the doors were a spiked crown of conical rocks that vented volcanic steam, shrouding the doors a constant halo of caustic, sulfur-yellow smog.

A tall and extensive palisade had been erected in a horseshoe shape in front of the doors, incorporating the mountain as the backside of the fortification. Three evenly spaced guard towers allowed the golden armored ponies manning them a reprieve from the smoke, and the height advantage to watch far out into the smoggy wasteland.

As Twilight drew closer to the outpost, Twilight balked at the sight of the Equestrian flag hanging upside down on the flagpole. While Twilight wasn’t a military mare, she knew enough to know that it was a sign of distress. However the activity in the camp wasn’t agitated or alarmed.

Then Twilight saw the massive hole in the wall, pushed in from the exterior. The wall had brought down a fourth tower atop two of the ten tents within the outpost’s boundary.

One of the damaged tents had a radio mast outside of it, which was canted and heavily bent.

“I see ponies outside the wall,” Electrum said, leaning over the edge of the wagon to jab a hoof towards the ground.

Twilight spotted the ponies as Electrum pointed them out. She turned the wagon and descended towards them to ask what was going on. As she flew down, she noticed an officer wearing a steel gray uniform that blended in with the fog and gravel was busy overlooking the three royal guards digging large holes near the breach in the wall. The officer spotted the wagon and ran towards their landing spot.

The orange unicorn stallion that greeted them had a sergeant’s triple chevron pinned to the epaulets of his gray dress uniform. It was clean and professional, unlike the armor and uniforms of the sweaty guards who had kept on digging despite the officer leaving the mound of dirt and gravel that he had been standing atop of to watch them.

“Thank Celestia,” the Sergeant said. His nametag read Pepper. “What unit are you—” Sergeant Pepper cut himself off with a choking snort as he noticed Twilight’s horn, then he jittered between deciding on saluting or bowing, only to end up with doing both. “Apologies for the state of the outpost, Princess.”

“What the hay happened here?” Twilight asked urgently.

The stallion rose from his saluting-bow and turned around to glare at the three digging.

“Alright, you three, take a thirty minute break!” The Sergeant barked. “Then I need you back here to fill those holes in and move them five meters to the left of where they are now! Move it, maggots!” The three stallions scrambled out the hole to go take their break while Sergeant Pepper looked back to Twilight, serious and grim.

“Those three idiots were playing a game of keepaway with Cerberus too close to the wall. The dead trees around here make for poor palisade material, so Cerberus went right through it and knocked down a tower in the process. It took out one of the barracks tents and the comms tent, but thankfully there was no one inside, and the tower guard was a pegasus. The tower missed Comms Officer Sine Wave by only two feet when it crashed down onto the radio she was about to use for the daily report.”

“Talk about timing,” Electrum said skeptically as she hopped out the wagon. Her eyes narrowed at the Sergeant, who quickly shifted towards the back of the wagon.

“Yes,” the Sergeant said nonchalantly as he levitated out a crate, passing it to Electrum. “Please take this to the supply tent, ma’am. It’s the tall and wide one towards the middle of camp.”

Electrum frowned as she took the crate and walked away with it, going slower than Twilight knew was normal for her during their trek through the woods near the hospital.

Something was up.

Sergeant Pepper sighed and turned to Twilight.

“So, does the sun coming back up have anything to do with the Princess of Friendship bringing us our supplies so late?” Sergeant Pepper asked as he levitated out one of the sleeping bags… from the wrong side. The mutilated corpse and severed head of the guard stallion landed between him and Twilight.

Sergeant Pepper didn’t flinch, even as the head rolled between his hooves.

“Raiders?” He asked with an almost annoyed sigh.

“About two miles away from here, and the sooner I can report it the better.” Twilight said, narrowing her eyes at Sergeant Pepper. “How badly damaged is your radio?”

“You’d have to talk to Specialist Sine Wave about that, she’s the Comms Officer, so she’d be able to tell you if the radio is salvageable.”

Twilight nodded. Hopefully her repair spell was up to snuff. She had a human infiltrator to report.

“Please do not panic, Princess,” Sergeant Pepper whispered as he swept the corpse back into the sleeping bag with his magic, “but are you aware that the mare you arrived with is a very dangerous human? My real name is Jeremy Phillips, and I know who she really is.”

Or maybe not.

“I do know,” Twilight said. “Are you with SOCOM?”

Phillips started to nod, stopped, then shook his head.

“Not after watching the mushroom clouds.”

<>~<>~<>

The interior of the radio tent wasn’t as bad as Twilight had first thought it would be as she entered the half-collapsed canvas shack.

The fallen tower had ripped through the backside of the tent like a heavy stone through wet parchment. A corner of it had split the radio table in half and knocked the radio onto the dirt floor.

It was about the size of a filing cabinet if it was laying on its side, with an etched metal body covered in gemstones, copper wire, screws, buttons, and carry handles. Several of the screws had sheared apart upon impact to expose the delicate internals of the device. A dozen or so wafer-thin wooden planks lie within, many engraved with runes that had the shallow channels filled in with easily enchantable material like melted gold or exotic alchemical alloys.

In a way, it was Equestria’s version of circuit boards, but for both magic and electric currents. The largest of the boards had a several-inch-long crack running most of the length, almost bisecting it.

Twilight’s ears flicked as Specialist Sine Wave and Electrum entered the tent. Sine Wave was a dark blue unicorn mare with a silver mane and tail, and her cutie mark was a gold colored wave graph.

“And here it is, Princess,” Sine Wave said with a defeated sigh. “I’ve tried repairing it, but my MOS is operating the radio, not repairing this level of catastrophic damage. I was hoping the supply wagon could send the message that we needed a replacement."

Twilight scrunched her face. The radio operator didn't know a repair spell?

“What does MOS mean?” Twilight asked, turning to face Sine Wave, unfamiliar with the military term.

It was Electrum who answered.

“Military Occupation Specialty,” Electrum said heatidly. She quickly joined Twilight’s side. “Okay, so who in this outpost isn’t from SOCOM? I recognized Sergeant Peppers as Jeremy, but I don’t recognize you.”

“Sergeant Pepper is a human?” Sine Wave asked, before shaking her head and glaring daggers at Electrum. “And just call me Sine Wave. I haven’t officially changed to the Equestrian side yet, but I’m certainly not staying with SOCOM. Something’s changed with your father, Valery.”

“I figured that out around the point when he fucking shot me,” Electrum cursed, glaring back at Sine Wave.

Twilight tensed, her horn practically twitching with the anticipation to grab her gun. Any wrong move on Sine Wave’s part, and she was a dead mare.

Sine Wave and Electrum’s glaring contest ended with Sine Wave blinking first and sighing.

“If General Beckett tried to kill his only daughter, then that’s it. Nothing is sacred anymore in SOCOM. I made the right choice to leave.”

Electrum shifted from hoof to hoof, her posture as tense as an angry feline’s.

“Yeah, in his infinite wisdom, he decided to go nuclear. I don’t think General Beckett wants a peaceful resolution,” Electrum said, her voice trembling with rage. “He’s gone genocidal.”

A blood vessel was about to burst in Twilight.

“Okay,” she said in tranquil fury as she looked at Sine Wave, “you may be a major security risk, but we can deal with that later. I’ll let the ESS know about you and Sergeant Pepper and we can get you two officially on Equestria’s side, and more importantly, away from Tartarus. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to have a crack at the radio so we can hurry up and leave. I’ve been up for eighteen or nineteen hours at this point, and it's been a rollercoaster of one hectic event to another.”

Making a list of everything that had happened to her in just eighteen hours would fill multiple scrolls. Twilight was desperate for a break.

Sine Wave and Electrum made no move to stop her, so Twilight aimed her horn at the radio, then tensed as she recalled the last time she had tried to repair a magical device.

Was it going to explode? Well, with how things had been going… probably.

With a heavy sigh, she furrowed her brow and cast her repair spell anyways. The radio was already scrap parts as it was. There was no harm in at least trying to fix it.

To Twilight’s amazement, there was no Equestria-shattering kaboom as she concentrated on mending the cracks in the circuit boards. Then she moved on to resetting gems into the correct position before she ended with placing the knocked-off panel back on, then fusing the snapped screws back together.

Once Twilight had finished the repairs, she stepped back and let out a sigh of relief. All that was left was to see if it worked.

Eager to see if that was the case, Sine Wave levitated over a cable and plugged it into the radio. The gemstones lit up with their dazzling array of colors like Hearth's Warming lights. Once they tested to see if it could transmit, it would be a quick flight back to the castle to hopefully get some sleep before Cadance’s arrival.

After Twilight had another bath with Daniel, of course. Getting into fights was not conducive to her cleanliness.

“Well, it’s got power,” Sine Wave said. “Hopefully the bent antenna outside isn’t too much of an issue.” The radio warbled with static as she manipulated a series of dials. Then Twilight’s ears flicked at an unfamiliar mare’s voice.

“—we are willing to negotiate and are waiting for a reply. Use your normal report channel. Message repeats.” The mare said calmly and professionally. “This is Captain Miranda Tuckett of SOCOM. We have relieved our commanding officer of his duties and have him in our custody. Agent Wave, I know none of us want to die for General Beckett’s pointless war, and many of us who were under his command believe that peace is an option with the Equestrians. Please, if you are hearing this, find a way to contact Princess Twilight Sparkle, we wish to end this war and we are willing to negotiate and are waiting for a reply. Use your normal report channel. Message repeats.”

Twilight listened to the looping message several times, analyzing the words to try and discern if it was some sort of trap.

If it was true that SOCOM wanted a ceasefire, then that changed everything. Maybe she would get a break after all.

<>~<>~<>

General Hoffman had decided that the meeting with Princess Twilight should be discreet, out of the way somewhere in Equestria, and not involve a lot of personnel. Simply turn over former General Clyde Beckett and be done with him as a way to make some progress on reparations with Equestria.

They were in the Marejave desert, which had enough caves to keep relocating their portal for decades if necessary.

General Hoffman squirmed in his uniform as he adjusted it with a hoof. He had lucked out and became a pegasi, and the thoughts of flying lessons with Captain Tuckett were a pleasurable distraction from the tension in the air.

He had spent too long in a bunker. The open desert was making him tense.

The SOCOM delegation consisted of him, Captain Tuckett, the six troopers who had helped storm Beckett’s office, and a heavily bound and gagged Beckett. All ponies as well.

Of course, because Beckett had decided to start a war, the Equestrian delegation consisted of a pissed off sun goddess, her student, and Beckett’s own daughter—who he had shot the last time he’d seen her—teleporting in at least a full company of heavily armed royal guards to the meeting, who quickly surrounded them.

General Hoffman shoved Beckett off the back of the wagon. The bound, gagged, and blindfolded unicorn stallion landed with a solid thud onto the Marejave desert sand.

Princess Celestia, Princess Sparkle, and Electrum all looked down at the squirming former general, their expressions a mix of disgust and anger. So much pain and misery had been caused on both sides because of Beckett’s ego.

Electrum was the first one to look back to Hoffman.

“So, Dad’s been deposed,” Electrum said as Princess Celestia picked up Beckett in her magic and threw him into a waiting cage which had also been teleported to the meeting. “What are you going to do now that you’ve taken his place?”

The over one-hundred royal guards in attendance had expressions which begged him to try and make the wrong move.

“Do better,” General Hoffman said plainly. “I’m going to try and do better.”

President Abigail certainly was trying to do better. President Eden had never shared power, and choosing Colonel Autumn—a man that Hoffman respected—as vice president had been the turning point.

And for many in the Capital Wasteland, the Enclave’s arrival had been a turning point for them as well. According to Galaxy News Radio, the town of Megaton had already joined the New Enclave States. And according to Three Dog, an elderly man had been spotted dancing atop the roof of his house while waving an American flag and singing the national anthem.

The mental image brought a smile to General Hoffman.

The Capital Wasteland was far from perfect, there were still obstacles to deal with like impure water, raiders, Talon Company and agents still loyal to Beckett, the Outcasts rejecting an alliance with the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave, as well as the super mutants. But with General Beckett out of the picture, a full scale war was unlikely.

The Capital Wasteland and Equestria could breathe a little easier, and with any luck, it would last.

But a pessimistic, nagging part of General Hoffman’s mind reminded him of the one universal law that every soldier knew.

Murphy's First Law. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

It was only a matter of where, when, and how much of a clusterfuck it would be.

Chapter 43: A Good Day

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Applejack smiled as she sorted the stack of papers on her office desk. Her day had just started—only a little past six A.M according to her wall clock—but the reports were miraculously more good than bad.

Enclave troops and vertibird fire support in The Mall had helped the Brotherhood of Steel push from their positions at the Washington Monument and retake some old trenches. It had driven the super mutants occupying The Mall all the way back into the Capitol Building, which was both good and bad.

While they had retaken territory from them, the front steps of the Capitol Building created an uphill battle against super mutants hiding behind sandbag walls and piles of rubble. And with how overengineered the Capitol Building was, and symbolic to the Enclave, bombing the position into rubble was not viable.

In the same area of The Mall, a group of former slaves had seized the Lincoln Memorial with the help of mercenaries identifying themselves as ‘Belle’s Butchers’. Vice President Autumn was scheduled to meet them later in the afternoon. It would be after his visits to Big Town and Arefu. Both towns had elected to join the New Enclave States.

The new colonel filling in for her vice president—Colonel Douglas Morhaus—had left comments on the report that Arefu and Big Town were in key positions to pressure the slaver settlement of Paradise Falls.

With Enclave patrols keeping watch over the area and harassing slaver caravans, slavery would grind to a halt.

A knock on the door snapped Applejack out of her reading.

“It’s open,” Applejack said, sitting up in her chair. The overabundance of good news had put a smile on her face, and it only grew once Rainbow Dash walked in. Applejack nodded and tipped her hat. “Howdy, Rachel.”

“President Jacklyn,” Rainbow Dash replied with a smirk as she quickly closed the distance to the desk. “I’ve got good news and bad news that turned out good in the end. What do you want first?”

“Umm, the bad, I guess?” Applejack said, her smile wavering. If it turned out good in the end, wouldn’t that make it good news?

“So get this.” Rainbow leaned her hip against the edge of the desk. “I fly all the way out to the far edge of the Capital Wasteland region while doing some scouting, and I find this little town calling itself the Republic of Dave. Well, I land and ask to talk to Dave, and they immediately declare war on us. Had to use my implant chip to dodge a few bullets.”

Now that Rainbow had mentioned it, Applejack could see the remnants of a bloodstain under her nose.

“I really wish you’d take that darned chip outta your spine,” Applejack said. “Even usin’ it for emergencies is killin’ ya.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, almost in a whisper. “But I only use it for emergencies like getting shot at or protecting you, AJ. Still, I know using it upsets you and that it's a performance enhancer and I can’t keep letting that fly, even if it can push me to the point where I’m fast enough to dodge bullets.” She sighed heavily, before giving Applejack a half-smile. “And now I have a reason to take it out, but I need to tell you how this story with the Republic ends.”

Rainbow took in a breath before speeding through the next part. “Anyways, I’m flying away from town, these farmers are shooting at me, so I call a vertibird over the radio to strafe the dirt in front of the gate. The town put up a white flag and the war was over without anyone getting hurt… well, except for Dave who got kicked out. The Democracy of Rosie now wants to be part of the Enclave.”

Applejack didn’t find the story as amusing as Rainbow Dash had. It sounded like someone in town wanted to stay independent and got roughoused, but Applejack would be a liar if she said that every town that would enter the Enclave would go smoothly.

Still, it was the responsibility of her and every diplomat to make sure that every annexation and addition to the New Enclave States was done so legally and with as few hiccups as possible. Bullying towns into joining would only plant bad seeds that would sprout into weeds that strangled the growth of the burgeoning nation.

“So, why do you have a reason to remove the chip now?” Applejack asked. She hoped it wasn’t for some newer, more secret and powerful upgrade someone found in a storage closet. Her mare-friend had too much metal in her as it was.

“SOCOM is surrendering to us,” Rainbow said, pumping a fist with glee. Applejack stared in shock. “They’ve already turned over General Beckett to Equestria. His replacement, Hoffman, is offering to move their portal wherever we want, and that they’ve already surrendered their portal to Equestria. He’s asking for you to grant them a conditional surrender where SOCOM is integrated back into the Enclave.”

Applejack hadn’t expected SOCOM to capitulate so easily. Liberty Prime wasn’t even ready to stomp its way to their base. Power consumption issues with the giant robot had never been resolved before the Great War, and the Brotherhood of Steel were unable to find a solution. Maybe Liberty Prime would be ready by the time they had to march on the next super-secret underground base they found.

Still, the giant death robot was unnecessary. Even Applejack could see that SOCOM’s position was untenable, and doubted that the intelligence operatives could ignore the obvious. They faced a war on multiple fronts, between the patriotically motivated main Enclave, the experienced Brotherhood of Steel, and an Equestria with a wagonload of animosity towards them. Even if SOCOM inflated their numbers with Talon Company as reports suggested, Colonel Morhaus had not been overly worried. The mercenaries barely had any power armor and no vertibirds, and SOCOM didn’t have an infinite number of caps and supplies to hand out.

“Tell General Hoffman that I want the portal delivered to Adams Air Force Base, but we have to inspect it before delivery,” Applejack said, leaning back in her office chair. With how the portal in the Everfree had exploded, Applejack wasn’t letting one into Raven Rock. Adams AFB had the benefit of not being under a mountain, and would allow Enclave soldiers to have leave time in Equestria. “Oh, and tell Verti-Force One to prepare for a trip to Adams.”

They were going to visit home.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight opened her eyes to daylight streaming through her open balcony doors. It hadn’t been daylight when she had walked into her bedroom.

The last thing Twilight recalled was that the new general of SOCOM had turned over Beckett and offered to move the portal closer to Ponyville. Celestia agreed, and teleported everyone—even the portal which had been in a cave near the meeting spot— to Ponyville.

Twilight couldn’t remember much after walking past her bedroom door.

Regardless, she was in bed, and the teddy bear in a lab coat that Daniel had bought for her was tucked between her forehooves. She was also naked. She couldn’t remember stripping out of her armor, and she still felt dirty, so she hadn’t had a bath.

There was a concerning gap between walking into her room and waking up.

Placing Dr. Teddybear on the pillow next to her, Twilight slipped out from under the covers and softly clopped her hooves onto the magically warmed crystal floor. She approached the open balcony doors, but stopped mid-way at the sight of Daniel leaning against the railing. He was gazing out at the town with his back to her.

He was naked as well, and part of Twilight wanted to stay back from the balcony and admire his body. His clean black mane was perfectly lit in the sunlight, the same went for his light-brown fur. Even his flank caught the light just right, the golden shield inlaid with a silver scalpel was practically shiny as if the mark on his flank were made of actual metal.

A jolt of surprise sent Twilight straightening up as she rapidly came to full consciousness.

“Daniel, you got your cutie mark!” Twilight exclaimed, running to join him. All traces of drowsiness were gone as Daniel jumped with a gasp and spun to face her.

“Yeah,” he said, before holding up a hoof to take a moment to calm himself while smiling in the adorably dorky way that Twilight loved to see. “I got it after casting a healing spell that Doctor Redblood taught me.” Daniel shifted from hoof to hoof. His smile was infectious. “Everything just felt right all of a sudden.” His smile grew even wider, and he shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t really put it into any fancy words other than that to describe how it felt. There was just a tingle on my flank and a feeling that, even with all the chaos around me, I was perfectly suited to help people through it.”

Twilight’s heart fluttered as she shared her lover’s enthusiasm for his accomplishment. Twilight considered extending their stay in Equestria, just long enough for a quick surprise cutie mark party. Pinkie Pie would be the perfect planner on short notice unless she was too busy staying at the hospital. Twilight planned to check up on her friend after asking Princess Celestia how the negotiations with SOCOM were developing.

Even with General Beckett in Equestrian custody, that didn’t automatically end hostilities. There were still many SOCOM agents dispersed throughout Equestria. And as Sergeant Pepper and Sine Wave made clear, they were so cut-off from communications that some of them had accidentally infiltrated the same group unbeknownst to each other.

“Oh, and before I forget,” Daniel said, dragging her out of her thoughts. His horn glowed as silver as his eyes. He levitated two scrolls off of a large gift box sitting in front of the nightstand. “These came for us.”

Twilight took the first of the levitating scrolls. The sun-embossed wax seal of Princess Celestia was already cracked open. Twilight unfurled the letter to read it.

To my faithful student and her darling husband,

Twilight, I wanted to thank you for telling me exactly what I needed to hear to get me out of my self-imposed mental trap. While your words were crude, they were effective at getting through to me and giving me the strength to persevere through everything.

As a thank you, I ask that you and Daniel not stress yourselves today.

I will handle diplomacy with the humans since Luna and I are still the acting rulers of Equestria. I have a feeling that negotiations will go well; Applejack arrived to negotiate with us personally a little after ten A.M. Meanwhile, Luna has departed to assist with Cloudsdale now that the immediate threat of more nuclear strikes has been solved, and Starswirl, along with most of Canterlot’s highest mages, are dealing with the Everfree.

I know how anxiety-inducing it can be to do nothing when you have the power to do so, but you need to take some time to take care of yourself. I’ve seen how injured you are. Do this for me, please. If you still have objections, I shall put it in a vulgar way in the hopes that your own method works against you:

You can’t be a hero if you’re a fucking corpse. (Last time I’m ever using that human word.)

And to Daniel, do not stress about the injured and sick in Ponyville General. Princess Cadance will handle their transfer to hospitals in the Crystal Empire. Additionally, the director of Ponyville General has asked me to grant you an honorary certificate for your selfless voluntary service and quick action in the efforts to save the life of Private Bastion.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia

P.S. Princess Cadance sends her regards, and we all wish you both a happy honeymoon.

Twilight reread the letter several times. Princess Cadance had already arrived, as well as Applejack, and it was clear that Daniel had had his own long night, but thankfully Princess Celestia wanted them both to take a day off. Twilight wanted to see everyone at least once while spending some quality time with Daniel if she could.

If she could.

Yesterday had been a living nightmare of one hectic event after another. The memories flooding back sent Twilight’s jaw clenching shut as her shoulders tensed and wings trembled, ready to spread and take flight at a moment’s notice. She was prepared for the mandatory explosion, gunshot, or the sudden appearance of some wild wasteland creature.

Whatever horror that would send her on another cavalcade of death and destruction. Her stomach coiled into a knot at the thought. She had filled more graves in Equestria than she had in the wasteland.

The thoughts and worry melted away as Daniel kissed her on the cheek. She faced him as he broke away.

“You looked like you were starting to doom spiral,” Daniel said, flashing her a pearly white smile. “I know that there will always be something bad happening either in Equestria or the wasteland, and it's healthy to acknowledge it and be on the lookout for danger, but tearing yourself apart with worry isn’t healthy. Both mentally and physically.” He nodded to her braced leg and broken horn. “As your doctor, friend, and husband, I’m going to recommend that you follow Princess Celestia’s advice to relax.”

Twilight knew that they were both right. She had been so eager for a break, and she was finally told to take one.

She forced a playful smirk.

“And what are you going to do if I don’t?” She asked in a half-joking tone to try and ease her tension. A less than joking part of her wanted to know what he would do if she couldn’t calm down.

There were so many dangers and what-ifs in Equestria now. Like what if raiders had started planting landmines. Would a young colt or filly find what looks like a flying saucer toy laying on the ground? They wouldn’t have the survivability of alicorns.

“I could try tying you up,” Daniel said jokingly as he placed a calming hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, dragging her thoughts away from the deep, dark hole they circled.

Twilight smiled as Daniel only seemed to register what he said a few seconds after he had said it. She felt a little guilty that she enjoyed watching Daniel’s face turn as red as Big Macintosh. He spluttered several times, trying to squeak out an apology through his embarrassment.

Twilight’s face flushed as well, but she wasn’t embarrassed because of his suggestion.

She was embarrassed because she was considering it.

“Right, um… what time is it?” Twilight asked, jittering as she rocketed away from that line of thinking. She was too busy to get tied up. Maybe later. She looked at her foreleg, only to realize that she didn’t have her Pip-Boy.

“Sometime past one P.M.,” Daniel said. “You didn’t get home until early morning, and you collapsed halfway to the bed.”

Twilight balked. She hadn’t overworked herself into collapse in years. She thought that maybe she’d simply forgotten about stripping out of her armor, not Daniel having to do it for her.

She really needed to take a break and leave the missions to well-rested and healthy individuals.

Twilight took the second letter, which was sealed with pink wax in the shape of a heart. It was from Princess Cadance, and it, too, had already been opened. Unlike the first letter that simply smelled of parchment, the next smelled strongly of dark chocolate and fresh roses.

Dear Princess Twilight and Prince Daniel

What wonderful news it is to hear that my favorite foal to sit for has found another love in her life other than books. I do wish we could meet up in person, but by the time you wake it is likely that I have departed back for the Crystal Empire. I would stay if I could, but Flurry Heart is with a sitter and it is imperative that I get these refugees to hospitals in the Crystal Empire as quickly as possible. Lives are very much on the line.

Come visit when you can, please. Flurry Heart misses you, and she has recently learned how to set ice on fire. Pretty please with a cherry on top? I need your help fireproofing ice.

Oh, and before it slips my mind, I’ve left you some gifts for both your bridal shower and honeymoon. Only a few shops in town were open on such short notice, so I’ll bring proper gifts on my next visit back.

With lots of love and hearts,

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza

Twilight smiled and gently rolled both of the letters back up before levitating them over to the nightstand. She then swapped her magic over to the large, heavy, decorative cardboard gift box with hearts printed on it. Something within shifted slightly as Twilight moved it, nearly collapsing her magic since she hadn’t reapplied her horn medicine yet.

“What’s in this thing?” Twilight asked. The fact that her horn wasn’t sparking was a sign that the medicine was already repairing her horn.

“I don’t know, I only opened the letters in case they were important enough to wake you up,” Daniel said as he shook his head. “Sorry for letting you sleep through Cadance coming and going.”

Twilight let out a chuckle.

“It’s fine, hun,” Twilight said as she set the box between them. “The ponies at Ponyville General take priority over anything else, and I hope she has a safe trip back.”

Daniel nodded in agreement.

Smiling, Twilight looked down at the box, and a tremble of anticipation like a filly waking up on Hearth's Warming Day shot through her. Princess Cadance always knew what to get her, even without Twilight asking. Her old foalsitter knew her that well.

“I wonder what’s inside,” Twilight said as she tugged the cloth ribbon bow to undo it.

“Only one way to find out,” Daniel said. “We take the lid off together on three?”

“Of course,” Twilight said with a smile, leaning over the box to nuzzle Daniel’s neck. “It’s a gift for our wedding, after all.”

A quick countdown later and they both sent the lid flying away like a frisbee, revealing a neatly organized care package of multiple unwrapped gifts within. Twilight slowly levitated out each of the items one after the other.

At the top of the box was a large bouquet of roses with a heart shaped box of chocolates under it. They were tied together with a pink ribbon. Under that were other simple items like an empty picture frame with a heart motif and a matching pair of mugs with Twilight and Daniel’s names painted on them. They were simple, innocent items that Twilight expected most newlyweds would receive from their friends.

Deeper down into the box was a new-looking hard-cover book. Twilight’s eyes bulged and she nearly dropped everything else in shock as she read the title.

101 Illustrated Sex Positions, Tips, and Techniques for the Newlywed Mare

As Twilight stared at the book, Daniel looked down into the box, chuckling anxiously as he pulled something out.

“Is Princess Cadance psychic or something? We were just talking about tying you up,” Daniel said, his face flushed beet red as he levitated out a pair of black shackles lined with fuzzy pink material, followed by a black faux leather crop. “And a whip, too.”

Twilight’s heart nearly stopped as thoughts ruder than the ones she had around Deathclaw Joe zipped like fireworks through her head. Twilight wanted to try the cuffs out. Maybe the whip too. But how to cover for herself to make it sound like she was less of a weirdo than she really was?

“I mean… it’s, um… rude to return a gift, right?” Twilight asked, her voice shaking like a paint mixer as her confidence wavered. She was a weirdo sex addict, and she hoped it wouldn’t scare Daniel away.

Daniel’s blush started to fade and he smirked, then suggested with the same level of shaky confidence as her, “Want to use the book like a checklist?”

That wasn’t fair. As if she needed any more incentive to want sex, now there was a checklist involved. Her free time and flanks were doomed… but later. They still had ponies to visit. Twilight considered that while they were out on the town visiting ponies, they could have a nice dinner if any of the restaurants had electricity.

Then again, their first date had been inside a rusting two-century-old aircraft carrier. Twilight was sure that they could manage something for a second date.

<>~<>~<>

Pegasi in hazmat suits and a ghoul rallied around Princess Luna as the horde swarmed them from all angles of the weather factory, even above.

The cacophony of rapid fire weapons filled the air with deafening noise, overpowering the hissing screams of the flying masses of necrotic flesh. As guns went silent when chambers clicked on empty, blades came out and the fight became a whirling melee of flashing steel and chomping teeth.

Even with all of the noise, Princess Luna could still hear her damn geiger counter screaming like a cockatrice from Tartarus. The radiation inside the weather factory was strong enough to heal the ghouls almost as fast as the ponies around her were wounding them.

“Aim for the heads!” Princess Luna yelled, her twinned swords scything out in front of her as she picked a target for each one. She cleanly decapitated one ghoul. The other split the head of a ghoul open like a melon, splatting the once living mare’s brains across another feral ghoul.

The waves of undead around them were endless. A pressing, unending, gnashing mass of hooves and teeth seeking any weakness in their ranks.

A pegasus next to Luna was pulled away from her and into the horde, his terrified screams somehow more distinct than the feral ghouls as he was ripped apart and eaten alive right in front of her.

The mission was a failure, she needed to teleport everypony to safety and get reinforcements.

“I got a plan to save everypony’s flank, Princess!” a pegasus mare on Luna’s other side yelled. Before Luna could ask, the mare sliced into an already bitten part of her foreleg, sending spurts of blood spraying as she nicked something arterial. She took off flying. “Come and get me, freaks! I got fresh meat for you zomponies!”

As if taking her up on her taunt, or smelling the blood, most of the horde immediately lost interest in the crowd around Princess Luna and flew after the self-wounded pegasus mare. A new pegasus joined beside Princess Luna as the pressure of the surrounding horde was alleviated.

“What in the name of Nightmare Moon is she thinking?” The stallion asked, panting. Like the mare who had just flown off, a hole had been ripped into the foreleg of his suit from two or three bites, drawing blood. With all the radiation in the air, the breach would be fatal in minutes.

Princess Luna watched as a feral ghoul tackled the wounded mare from above by diving down on her, sending them both crashing into the floor where the rest of the horde closed in.

The brick of C4 detonating answered the stallion’s question as the mare spent her own life clearing nearly two dozen ferals in a brief, grizzly fireball.

Luna had no time to mourn the mare’s loss as she sent her swords flying out to sweep the heads off of three ghouls in a single swing of her left blade, and one other with her right.

A quick glance for more targets revealed none as a pair of pegasi worked together to ram combat knives into the neck and skull of the last ghoul attacking them.

With the feral ghouls dealt with, at least for now, Princess Luna did a headcount.

It didn’t take long to count to five… they had entered Cloudsdale with thirty.

“Alright, everypony!” Luna called out, “Anypony with explosives start rigging them onto the machines. I’ll teleport everypony out of here when we are done!” She looked around and spotted the only one of their team not wearing a hazmat suit. The stallion was a former maintenance pony who had worked at the plant. “Wing Nut, you know the best places to wreck the machines. Your word is law when it comes to where those explosives go.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the ghoul pegasus said as he gave a salute with a featherless wing. He quickly turned away and directed the two remaining pegasi with saddlebags full of explosives on where to place them.

Princess Luna flew around and helped by using her swords to cut power cables and fluid lines at a safe distance from herself. When her swords wouldn’t cut it, quite literally, she instead smashed it with her telekinesis.

Firing a beam from her horn would puncture or melt through her suit, and Princess Luna was not eager to test to see if alicorns were immune to lethal radiation poisoning.

Her vandalism lasted less than five minutes before all of the human-made C4 and Equestrian-made high-explosives were set and ready. She flew back to the center of the factory floor where everypony else had gathered.

She could see through the faceplate of the hazmat suit a stallion wore that something was wrong.

“Windshear, right?” Princess Luna asked the stallion, who nodded. “Is there a problem?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Windshear replied. He nodded towards the gory crater in the cloud floor where the mare had given her life. Even the insides of a pegasus didn’t fall through clouds. “Brightstar was the only one out of us who made it here with a detonator or fuses. Everyone else with them didn’t make it this far.”

“Damn it, we’re so close to finishing this,” Princess Luna cursed, stomping her hoof. They would have to leave and get a new detonator before coming back. By then, more ferals would be swarming the factory. All of the radiation put off by the machinery was attracting them like moths to a flame.

“I think there is a way,” Windshear said. He nodded again to the crater. “The Equestrian-made high-explosives detonate a lot easier than the C4 bricks, right? I think the instructor said you could light C4 on fire and it wouldn’t go off, but not our stuff. I still have a plasma grenade. It should be hot enough to detonate a satchel-bomb.”

Princess Luna’s eyes widened. There was a chance.

“Give the grenade to me, Windshear,” Princess Luna said sternly. “I have a plan, and if it works, no more Pegasi will have to perish this day.”

“It's a good thing that I’m already dead, then,” Wing Nut said, his hoarse, ghoulish voice rattling like a tin can filled with hornets. “Give me the grenade and tell me how to use it. You and the others can escape, Princess.”

Windshear pulled out the grenade and, rather than hand it to Princess Luna, presented it to Wing Nut.

Princess Luna facehoofed and snatched the grenade up in her magic.

“You all have been reading too many action novels where the hero has to die heroically at the end,” Princess Luna groaned. “I can teleport us all away before the grenade detonates so we all escape the blast.”

“Ohhh…” Windshear said. “Well why didn’t you say so?”

<>~<>~<>

Princess Luna turned her gaze skyward to Cloudsdale as ponies in hazmat suits sprayed her off with water hoses and scrubbed her body with brushes on poles.

The green clouds were breaking up nicely.

It was a sad reality that the Cloudsdale weather factory would never be used again. All of the factory equipment was either destroyed or too irradiated to safely use, even after decontamination. It would take years to reconstruct a weather factory as big and powerful as the one in Cloudsdale, but it could be done with enough time and patience.

Equestria would soldier on and do as it had done for over a thousand years. Take each day as it came and survive however it could to the next. Because ponies were, if not anything, resilient and experienced at coping with disasters.

And if Windshear, Wing Nut, and Brightstar were any indication, ponies were growing past just coping with disaster. They were brave and foolish enough to laugh in the face of death and charge it head on, regardless of their own safety if it meant saving others.

If they worked on thinking on their hooves rather than committing foolhardy acts of heroism, Equestria would be in the best hooves it could possibly be in.

<>~<>~<>

To Applejack, the interior of the castle’s map room held an eerie resemblance to the meeting rooms back in Raven Rock. If all the Equestrians were swapped out for humans, Applejack could have convinced herself she was back in meeting room 3-C.

While Applejack was seated, Rainbow Dash stood beside her, keeping a careful eye on everyone. Spitfire kept glancing at Rainbow Dash through the black mourner’s veil that she wore.

So much pointless loss. At least Beckett was in a dungeon with enough truth spells cast on him to turn his brain into soup. Whatever he had admitted to Princess Celestia had led to painlessly quick peace negotiations. Beckett was at fault for almost everything that SOCOM had done.

After finishing reading the paper on the table in front of her, Applejack broke the silence in the room.

“This looks like a solid plan to me, Princess Celestia,” Applejack said, clopping one hoof onto the map table while tipping her hat with the other. “With Equestrian troops on our side, we have the numbers to not only take areas, but to hold them as well. Especially the metro tunnels. That’ll give us a whole heap of options to start chippin’ away at the mutant and raider problem.”

Princess Celestia and the Equestrian generals in the room nodded.

“It’s been a pleasure and an honor, President Jackyln,” Princess Celestia said as she leaned over the table and extended a hoof. Applejack shook it.

Once Applejack signed the paper, she would be bound by a treaty agreement to destroy most of the Enclave’s nuclear weapons over the next several years, only keeping a few in the horrific event that some other wasteland power had nuclear ordinance that needed deterring.

In return for research agreements, nuclear disarmament, and help unblocking the river upstream of Ponyville, Equestria was going to send military aid as well as wagons of food supplies and barrels of fresh water. Vertibirds or pegasus pulled chariots at Adams Air Force Base could distribute the goods to the new Enclave towns.

While using food and water supplies as an incentive for towns to join the Enclave was morally wrong, it was better than strong-arming towns into submission. Plus having the supply of food and water controlled by the Enclave meant it could be delivered safely to where it needed to be in the right amount since the Enclave would have a census on the number of citizens.

And when Project Purity was turned on, that would mean so much more for the wasteland than clean drinking water. Being able to make concrete without any radioactive gunk in it would make new construction safe and possible.

Talon Company and the Outcasts were too small to be an issue with the Enclave, Brotherhood, and Equestria working together. Even better, with Equestria’s help, the Enclave had the numbers to besiege Vault 81.

Cutting off super mutants from dragging captives back to the labs inside the vault would prevent more mutants from being created. The end of super mutants would only help stabilize the Capital Wasteland even further. And once enough towns and settlements were sufficiently developed and the region was safe, the next stop would be north to deal with Pittsburgh.

An optimistic part of Applejack planned for expeditions to The Pitt to be possible in two or three months, and trips all the way to Boston by Equestrian-made airships within two or three years. And if she wanted to be overly optimistic, Enclave personnel would be back on the West Coast in the same amount of time.

There would be setbacks and stumbling blocks, of course, but all it took to see the many good days ahead was the right mindset.

To use the phrase the Brotherhood of Steel had heavily adopted to celebrate Enclave-Brotherhood cooperation, Ad Victorium.

To victory.

Chapter 44: Party

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Starswirl the Bearded ducked under another bolt of lightning, the near miss blowing up an ancient Everfree oak a dozen paces behind him. The splinters peppered his backside.

More flailing ropes of blue-white electricity arced through the air around the anomaly like the feeding tendrils of an angry elemental jellyfish. It was as if the anomaly hungered for Starswirl and the mages accompanying him; from the reek of ozone and charred flesh, it had already taken bites out of at least one mage who had been too slow with his dodge.

Things were not going well—Starswirl had already lost two mages to raiders they had encountered along the way—but they had reached their destination.

They were close to the ravine near the Castle of the Two Sisters. Starswirl could see the mouth of the cave. The stalactites and stalagmites within were backlit by the anomaly, casting shadows like a pumpkin lantern on Nightmare Night. The anomaly itself had punched a hole upwards through solid stone from where the portal had exploded deep inside the cave.

Ancient Everfree oaks, boulders the size of wagons, and chunks of carved stone from the ruined Castle of the Two Sisters swirled around the area as they were swept up in a raging arcane storm. He could barely hear over the howling wind, which had ripped away his pointy blue hat.

Aiming his horn at the focal point of the disaster, Starswirl narrowed his eyes as he channeled all of his focus on wrestling the primal energy. The complexity of the spell was like trying to lasso every head of an ornery hydra while blindfolded, but Starswirl knew he could do it, even though it felt like his horn was going to rocket off his skull like a firework.

He was a mage from Equestria’s Two Sisters Era, only surpassed in power by Twilight Sparkle over a millenia into the Celestial Era. He was the creator of the spell that allowed Twilight to travel through time, and he was the designer of the original mirror portal.

Carried onwards by his unwavering self-confidence and pride, he flexed his mental muscles. Reality bent against the strength of his immeasurable will.

The first sign of his approaching victory was the calming windstorm. The swirling blender of stones and wood slowed until everything remained suspended in the air, but that did not last as he poured more power into the spell. The floating rocks and trees quickly lost their arcane levitation and fell to the ground in a symphony of meteoric impacts and crashing wood.

Finally, with one more grunt of effort, Starswirl beat the column of blue lightning back into the hole it had sprung out from.

Once the last bolt of blue had disappeared, Starswirl let out a shaky breath, knees wobbling.

He had done it. He’d saved Equestria, just like old times with his five friends.

He started to turn to do a headcount of the mages with him, but the ground shook unnervingly. An earthquake? But they were too far from any fault lines.

Before he had time to think of any other explanation, the anomaly leapt back into existence.

All of his progress was undone in a single moment.

“What!? How!?” Starswirl yelled, stomping a hoof. If he still had his hat, he would have thrown it. “Why are you back!?”

One of the Canterlot mages ran up to him. A young stallion in robes much like his own—though the young stallion’s robes were stained with blood from a gunshot wound from the raiders they’d encountered on the way.

“Maybe we should treat it like an electrical fire,” the wounded mage suggested.

“How do we fight electrical fires?” Starswirl asked as he ducked under a rogue lightning bolt. When dealing with electrical attacks from his rivals, he would usually cast a simple counter-spell. Yet he knew lightning bolts weren’t what the stallion was talking about. He meant fighting fires on the new-fangled electrical devices that were developed during his thousand years of stasis. Starswirl had been trapped inside of a magical gaol with The Pony of Shadows, and Equestria had moved on without him. He was lucky that Twilight Sparkle was fluent in Old Ponish.

“Instead of trying to extinguish the fire,” the stallion said, “we cut off the power feeding it. We need to disenchant the shattered portal.”

Starswirl considered it a moment before he shook his head. The young mage was wise, but the initial explosion had most likely destroyed the portal frame, there would be nothing in Equestria to disenchant. Thankfully, the mirror still had its reflection in the human world.

He needed to tell Princess Sparkle right away.

<>~<>~<>

In Daniel’s opinion the day had been a good one that was made all the better because he had spent it with Twilight. They had a lot more in common than he had first thought, and he was glad for the time to actually get to know her better. Especially in a calmer, less stressful environment.

He patted his stomach, walking sluggishly after the heavy meal that he and Twilight had eaten. She walked beside him as they toured the town. She still had her mane pulled back into a bun.

With her new hairstyle, black dress, and makeup, Twilight looked like what Daniel pictured a librarian would look like. The only thing he thought she would need to complete the look was a pair of reading glasses.

“I have never seen that much food in my life, let alone eaten it,” Daniel said, licking his lips. He still tasted all the exotic sauces and spices from the fancy candle-lit dinner. The variety was unlike anything he had ever had in the vault, and was far better than vault cafeteria meals.

The meal had started with garlic bread and salad as appetizers, followed by a large bowl of steamed broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower drizzled in alfredo sauce. The main course had arrived with the two side dishes; a smaller bowl of scalloped potatoes and an equally-sized plate of fried asparagus.

“Well, I hope you saved room for dessert, we’re almost to Sugarcube Corner,” Twilight said with a chuckle as she pointed out a building they were heading towards.

Even though night was approaching, Daniel didn’t have to strain his eyes to see the building that Twilight pointed out. The large shield over the Everfree Forest and the anomaly within put out enough light. Starswirl the Bearded’s expedition had either failed or not occurred yet. Worrying about it would come tomorrow, or if something immediately serious came up. He was supposed to be taking the day off.

Sugarcube Corner was near the center of Ponyville. The brightly colored building’s sugary motif was extravagant enough to give Daniel cavities just by looking at it. It certainly stood out among the thatched roof residential homes. It was decorated to look like a gingerbread house, icing and all. A two-story tower-like extension jutted out of the center-point of the roof that was decorated like two cupcakes were stacked on top of one another, complete with giant faux candles. The candles had oversized, flame-shaped light bulbs to give the illusion of being lit.

And the bulbs were turned on, as were the lights inside many other homes and businesses like the restaurant they’d had their dinner at. The town was filled with the bassy hum of dozens of generators.

Daniel had been surprised at how prepared Ponyville was, but Twilight had explained that with how often Ponyville was the focus for strange occurrences and monster attacks, combined with the self-reliant mindset of earth ponies, many residents had a prepper mentality. That, and the fact that Ponyville was their home, explained why the town was still so heavily populated despite being next to ground zero for the portal explosion. The Everfree Forest had already been dangerous, even before the anomaly dragged dangers like raiders, radscorpions, and worse from Daniel’s world.

As they neared the sugar-themed bakery, Daniel realized that while Sugarcube Corner had a generator—as evidenced by the bright light bulbs topping the candles—there were no lights on inside Sugarcube Corner. He chalked it up to needing more power to keep the fridges running. Or maybe the lights would come on when a customer arrived to cut down on fuel consumption? Daniel didn’t know, he wasn't a generator expert. The only internal workings he was familiar with were biological, as well as a vague understanding on how to disassemble and clean his firearms.

“The designers went a little overboard with decorations, don’t you think?” Daniel asked.

“Maybe a smidge,” Twilight said, stopping outside the door to hold her hooves barely a centimeter apart. She smiled brightly and swung the door open with her magic before stepping aside for him. “I figured we should end the day on something sweet.”

“Oh, and you aren’t sweet?” Daniel playfully asked, kissing Twilight on the cheek before he passed her and into the building. While he had been taught to let women enter first, she had opened the door for him, so insisting she go in first would be rude.

He made it three paces inside before the lights flashed on. Everyone packed into Sugarcube Corner yelled “SURPRISE” at the same time, and his horn nearly poked a hole into the ceiling. Alongside Princess Celestia, Deathclaw Joe, and Princess Luna using the Royal Canterlot Voice, it was as if he had been hit with a flashbang grenade.

Once his hearing and sight had recovered, Daniel gawked at the room.

The rainbow-colored banner of strung-together letters above the pastry-filled display counter read, ‘Congrats on the Cutie Mark, Daniel’.

He hadn’t suspected a thing when Twilight mentioned cutie mark parties over dinner.

His eyes swept over the guests. Almost everyone he even slightly knew from Equestria or Earth was packed like a can of cram into Sugarcube Corner. The tallest and most prominent of course were the alicorns, but Applejack’s Enclave uniform and greatcoat stood out in the mostly nude crowd of ponies. Rainbow Dash was easy to spot due to her sunglasses and cybernetic spine. The black metal ridges ran from her tailbone, all the way to the nape of her neck.

He didn’t recognize the orange furred, fuschia-maned filly riding Rainbow’s back, but the red-maned yellow filly with a large pink bow next to Applejack had a familial resemblance to both Applejack and a large red stallion wearing a large plow collar around his broad shoulders.

Seeing the family resemblance, he realized it must be Scootaloo and Applebloom of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Still, the people that he knew outnumbered the people that he didn’t as he spotted both Dr. Redblood and Zecora chatting by a bowl of punch. The crimson unicorn stallion had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, and still wore a doctor's coat, while Zecora had nearly a dozen marks on her sides and legs from being stabbed somewhere around seven or eight times. She had volunteered at the hospital after her recovery.

“Surprise,” Twilight said beside him. Despite not looking directly at her, Daniel could hear through her tone of voice that she was smiling.

“You all didn’t have to do this, honestly,” Daniel said as he walked towards the waiting crowd with a smile on his face. He felt like he was a kid again attending his tenth birthday party, which had also been a surprise party. One of his only true friends in the vault, Amata, had planned that one.

Pinkie Pie zipped over to the counter and placed the needle on a gramophone’s record, and it filled the bakery with upbeat party music. Ponyville was a strange place of old and new coexisting or outright blended into something unique. Like modern music on gramophones, and lightbulbs inside thatched roof houses.

Before Daniel could reach the crowd, Pinkie Pie’s front legs shivered and her tail shot straight up. Once she was done spasming, she smiled impossibly wide.

“Ooohwie, some special guests are about to arrive. Come and greet them with me Danny the Hammy,” Pinkie Pie giggled as she grabbed Daniel in a headlock and sped for the door he had just closed with his magic.

They reached the door, and he opened it for her with a tug of telekinesis. On the other side of the door were Electrum, Rarity, and—

“Dad!?” Daniel gasped, staring at the brown-furred, gray haired stallion who he knew he was the spitting image of. Daniel broke out of Pinkie Pie’s headlock and rushed out to hug his father. James was dressed in a vault suit under a lab coat, his new Enclave-issue ID dangled from his breast pocket.

Daniel couldn't believe that his dad had managed to pry himself away from Project Purity. Maybe he had only come to tell Daniel that the GECK wasn’t going to walk itself out of Vault 81. That put a damper on Daniel’s excitement.

“What are you doing here?” Daniel asked warily.

“Electrum came by and offered to take me through the mirrors between worlds,” James said, as he hugged Daniel back. “And I wanted to see you, Son. Project Purity is important, but I can’t let it take every second of the rest of my life. Especially now that being a pony has bought me more time against cancer. How are you?”

Daniel felt his chest tighten. He felt foolish that he had been so hard on his father, but also justified in his suspicion. Daniel took a deep breath, and forced himself to drop the subject. His father had come to the party, so Daniel should enjoy that fact.

“I’m doing great,” he said. It was nice to see his father there and then and not at the damned control station of Project Purity, sternly studying a chalkboard and half-ignoring the world around him.

He led his father inside to show him to the party.

The ear-bleeding shriek of a white unicorn filly as she rocketed towards Rarity told Daniel he wasn’t the only one having a happy reunion.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight couldn’t stop smiling. All of her friends were sitting around a table, enjoying potato chips and soda, just like old times with everyone back together. Twilight could almost ignore the scars covering most of them.

Applejack tipped her hat as she leaned towards the center of the table.

“You know what makes this day right here even better?” Applejack asked with a hearty chuckle. “With the portal now at Adams Air Force Base, any of y’all stayin’ in Equestria can come for a visit anytime you wish. I’m havin’ the Enclave Corps of Engineers build a visitor center to practice buildin’ new public works before we start breakin’ ground on other projects.”

That caught Twilight’s attention. Applejack had taken her new job as President Jacklyn with the same enthusiasm and dedication she put into farm work. From the brief conversation that Twilight had had with Princess Celestia before starting her and Daniel’s second date, Applejack was frighteningly good at negotiations.

“That’s awesome, AJ,” Twilight said. She looked at Fluttershy, who gave a small nod. From the way she creased her brow in thought, Twilight guessed that Fluttershy was strongly considering visiting Earth again.

It would be nice to take group photos on both sides of the portal, just to compare and contrast how they all looked.

“Oh, one more thing for y’all,” Applejack said, nodding to Rainbow Dash. She picked up a briefcase from under the table before setting it down onto it. Once it was open, Applejack retrieved several laminated plastic cards from inside and passed them around.

Twilight took the one offered to her, and saw that it was a New Enclave States identification card, complete with a photo of her as a pony, and a pencil sketch of her earthside-form beside it. The coincidence of seeing a side-by-side photo of herself nearly made Twilight burst out laughing.

“Um, darling,” Rarity asked slowly. “What are these for?”

“Well, y’all have been livin’ in Ponyville, which is on land owned by the United States. It wouldn’t be right to evict the town, so Pinkie Pie is helpin’ me make Enclave IDs for everyone who wants them. Y’all will need them when walkin’ around the air force base.”

“Yeppers, I know everyone in Ponyville down to a tea, or coffee if they prefer,” Pinkie Pie said with a proud grin. The secret cave under Sugarcube Corner was filled with filing cabinets containing every name and birthday that Pinkie Pie had to keep organized, as well as party preferences. The information would be useful to the Enclave to make the IDs. Or the ESS to spy on ponies.

Twilight narrowed her eyes at Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie knew how to make improvised explosive weapons, kept files on everypony in town, could relentlessly track and follow people, and she could somehow afford all of her party supplies on a baker's salary.

“Hey, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight asked, catching her attention. “Are you—”

A flash of magic cut her off. A blue-robed, gray-furred stallion with a long white beard and white mane dusted a leaf off of his robes.

“Starswirl?” Twilight asked. Something was wrong because Starswirl was never without his hat. “What’s going on? Did you lose your hat? I have an exact replica, down to the thread count and stitching if you need one.”

Everypony at the table, as well as Starswirl the Bearded, stared at her with curious glances that Twilight thought summarized everypony thinking to themselves, ‘yes, we expected a Starswirl fanfilly like you to have that’. She shied away from the glances with a blush on her cheeks.

“No, I do not, Princess Twilight,” Starswirl said, shaking his head slowly. “I have a request I must ask of you upon returning to Earth.”

Hearing that Starswirl had a job for her swept away her embarrassment.

“Really? What is it, Starswirl?” Twilight asked with a friendly smile. She would hear him out and decide how important it was. Fanfilly or not, Twilight had planned her next stop to be Vault 81, so whatever the task may be, it had to be more important than clean drinking water for the wasteland to take top priority.

“I need you to find a way to reach the portal that’s connected to the one in the Everfree Forest and disenchant it,” Starswirl said. “It’s the only way to stop feeding power into the anomaly. If my calculations are correct, it won’t stop the random portals completely due to the elapsed time and damage Celestia caused, but it will reduce them significantly.”

After finding a super mutant in Equestria, reducing the number of rogue portals needed addressing as soon as possible.

“I can do that,” Twilight said with a determined nod. She already knew that the portal was in the Virtual Strategic Solutions building. She needed to go there anyway to get parts for Dr. Braun’s damaged simulation.

First thing tomorrow morning, it would be back to Earth for another adventure. With the nice relaxing day she had, Twilight was prepared to face the challenge ahead.

<>~<>~<>

The ruins and rubble Defender Morrill patrolled were illuminated in the sickly green of his night vision optics. He was on perimeter duty, same as the previous night, and the night before.

He had to be. The Outcast’s outpost was deep behind enemy lines in super mutant territory. Every day and night, an intruder violated the perimeter.

Tonight was no different as Morrill saw the muzzle flash in the same moment a bullet pinged off of his power helmet. The super mutant leaned far out of a third-story window to get an angle on him.

Morrill leveled his minigun and sprayed the window with a hailstorm of 5mm rounds, shredding the neck and face of the super mutant. The abomination paid for the hubris of attacking a real example of what the Brotherhood stood for. It fell limply from the window and impacted head-first with the ground, destroying what had been left of its head. Not that the mutie had been using it to begin with.

Placing a finger against his helmet, Morrill radioed his superior officer.

“Protector McGraw, this is Defender Morill, over,” Morrill said, continuing his patrol through the ruined buildings surrounding their outpost in the Virtual Strategic Solutions office.

“I’m hearing you loud and clear, Defender,” McGraw said. “What’s your sweep status, over?”

“Made contact with and eliminated one Frankenstein. That’s another tally on the board,” Morrill said as he walked over the super mutant’s corpse. The weight of his power armor crushed the already dead mutant’s spine with a satisfying crunch. “No Equestrians on this sweep.”

“Understood. I need you to maintain the perimeter until zero-hour, then I’ll have Defender Campbell relieve you. Protector McGraw, out.”

The conversation ended there, and Morrill sighed.

Protector McGraw was slipping up. Making mistakes. The outpost didn’t have enough defenses to keep weathering the super mutant attacks, light as they were. It was only a matter of time until the freaks organized and made a serious push. Then they would be in danger of being overrun.

With all the uncertainty as of late, they needed reinforcements.

Morrill checked the time. Only thirty more minutes until his watch was over. Good. He could tell Protector McGraw in person that it was high time to make the call back to Fort Independence for an additional support detachment. They should have made the call a week ago. The raid into Vault 108 hadn’t gotten them any closer to opening the VSS’s armory door.

The fact that Virtual Strategic Solutions needed an armory was telling. Old, heavily redacted documents had hinted that a major asset was behind those doors. It had been important enough to make the doors too thick and strong to cut through. And blasting their way through would either damage whatever was inside the armory, or take the whole bunker out. There were no conventional locks to pick, either.

Whatever mad genius had designed the armory door had tied the Anchorage liberation campaign simulator to the locking mechanism. Meaning that someone had to enter a simulation that had all of the safeties disabled. Safeties they couldn’t re-enable.

They needed someone expendable, but more competent than regular wastelander filth. There was no telling if there was a number of tries they could burn through, otherwise they would have already thrown wastelanders at the problem with the promise of a reward if they succeeded. Unfortunately the man they had snatched from Vault 108 was mentally handicapped, and could only say his name. Defender Grayson had gotten so fed up with hearing ‘Gary’ over and over again that he had snapped his neck to dispose of the useless dolt.

Maybe a helpful, naive Equestrian from the royal guards would stop by who didn’t know about the one that they had back in Fort Independence.

One could hope.

Chapter 45: Outcasts

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The sun hadn’t risen yet when Twilight, Daniel, and Electrum were ready to leave for Earth. Electrum had already taken James and Rarity back to Rivet City after the party the night before. Meanwhile, Deathclaw Joe had gone back to his kingdom with Princess Celestia to start transferring his people to Equestria.

Twilight approached SOCOM’s portal and gave it a quick look-over. She had been too tired to take in the details when General Hoffman had surrendered it over to Princess Celestia.

Unlike the portal in the cave, which was a silver arch framing a mirror, SOCOM’s portal was like a door frame made of copper. It was bracketed down onto an inch-thick steel base plate by finger-thick bolts. There were as many carry-handles as there were runes and gemstones, covering both the frame itself and the base plate. Whatever was contained within the portal frame was not a mirror. It instead had the distinct look of a still-wet oil painting with the colors running across one another.

Twilight studied the morass of blending colors. She could make out patterns and shadowing within its details. Just enough for her to see on the other side of the portal. The image was smeared, but she was sure two Enclave guards stood on the other side. Applejack had mentioned that she’d set the portal up somewhere on Adam’s Air Force Base.

With the new security, Twilight made sure to check and see if she had everything packed for the trip back, especially her new ID. A delay over something as petty as verifying her identification would waste time she didn’t have. The anomaly needed to be closed as soon as possible.

Closing her saddle bag with a satisfied nod, Twilight touched the painting-like surface.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight stalked down a rubble-strewn street towards a door set into a concrete wall. The door lay close to a metro station blocked by heaps of old concrete fallen from the buildings on the terrace above. It was the maintenance entrance to the blocked metro, which would take her to Bailey’s Crossroads. The VSS building was somewhere in that area, but teleporting straight to it was ill-advised.

There had been a complication with their plan of simply walking in and out of the VSS building. The Enclave—as well as her Pip-Boy with Enclave software upgrades—had received a distress signal originating from Bailey’s Crossroads. Twilight had listened to the looping message enough times to remember the message verbatim.

“This is Defender Morrill, any Outcasts listening on this frequency report to sector 7-B, Bailey's Crossroads. This is a high-priority message, backup is needed at our location. Any personnel listening on this frequency please report at once.”

With the Outcasts needing help, Applejack wanted to take the opportunity to lend aid and for Twilight to act as the Enclave’s ambassador to the Outcasts. However, sending vertibirds and power armor would be like using a sledgehammer to chop firewood.

It could be misinterpreted as an attack.

To hopefully make the meeting run smoother, Twilight had taken one of Dr. Braun’s serums to turn herself fully human. SOCOM had produced stockpiles of them, so there was no danger of running out. She had another serum in her satchel bag ready to go in case she needed to quickly turn back into an alicorn, though it wouldn’t be fast enough for an emergency teleport escape.

Electrum had that covered. She was following Twilight by teleporting from rooftop to rooftop, staying out of sight. Daniel was with her, and they would teleport in if the situation escalated.

Twilight reached the door to the metro’s maintenance entrance and decided to test her new earbud. She activated the enchanted bead with a finger press.

“Testing, can you hear me?” Twilight whispered.

“I hear you, Twilight,” Electrum responded. “I’ve scouted ahead, and the super mutants and Outcasts are already in a shooting match. If you cut through the metro quick enough, you’ll meet right with a squad of Outcasts. Good luck, friend.”

Twilight smiled.

She hoped she hadn’t burned all her good fortune with her peaceful day in Equestria.

Only one way to find out.

<>~<>~<>

The only accessible part of the metro station through the maintenance door had been a small mezzanine with a short section of track and platform down below. While it was a small area, it wasn’t unused.

Giant bird cages filled with human skeletons hung from the upper walkways, discarded jet inhalers and psycho syringes riddled the floor, and the clawing stench of rotting meat had Twilight grimace. She knew the place had formerly been a raider camp until someone—likely the Outcasts—had cleared it out.

The raiders in question were all curled up dead in front of a barricade on the platform below the mezzanine. They had been lined up to face it before being shot. Ropes just as decayed as the raiders’ corpses kept their hands tied behind their backs. From the close-together pattern of bullet holes in the barricade, and the brass casings on the floor, the executioners used fully automatic weapons and sprayed them into the backside of the helpless victims.

Left to rot in an obscure corner of the wasteland. Whoever had killed them hadn’t even burned the bodies.

Twilight pursed her lips. She couldn’t dwell on it. She pressed onwards towards the exit on the opposite end of the mezzanine. As she approached, Twilight could hear shooting echo down the curving tunnel that led to the exit.

Drawing her pistol, Twilight picked up the pace down the exit tunnel. She could see the scissor gates at the end, and reached them in only a few paces.

Her vision adjusted to the light once she was on the other side. Ahead of her was a narrow escalator leading up a tall ramp. An Outcast in black and red painted T-45d power armor stood at the top of the escalator with a minigun. The eye slits of their helmet bore down at her. It was as though they were waiting.

Did they know that she was coming? Maybe she had tripped some sort of hidden alarm in the metro? Regardless of why the Outcast stood there, if they had wanted her dead, they would have opened fire the moment she had stepped out of the metro.

The shouts of another Outcast rang somewhere past the one before her, and the loud yells of super mutants. Twilight slowly ascended the unpowered escalator, not wanting to provoke the one at the top of the escalator into opening fire on her.

She reached the last step as the waiting Outcast lurched forward, startling her.

“You got a death wish? You’re walking into a warzone,” the man warned as a round sparked off his pauldron. The sharp crack and ping of incoming fire had Twilight duck back a few steps down. She at least recognized the voice as Defender Morrill from the radio. “Listen, local, if you want to be of use, help us clear the mutants between here and our base camp. If not, stay the hell out of our way.”

Defender Morrill swung around without letting Twilight get a word in edgewise and charged towards a group of other black-and-red painted Outcasts taking cover behind a pile of rubble. They were deep in a firefight with super mutants who were hiding behind a massive fountain in the courtyard of the only building in Bailey’s Crossroads that had survived with most of its floors intact.

“Gee, glad to meet you, too,” Twilight grumbled as she tried to keep up. Her enchanted Equestrian-made leg brace helped more than her original, but it still squealed in protest from her sudden burst of speed. As she ran, she quickly scanned the area.

The mix of half-fallen and completely destroyed buildings surrounding the area formed Bailey’s Crossroads into an isolated bowl. An artificial crater. The crossroads the area was named after were barely visible under the thick layer of rubble and dirt.

She was nearly halfway to the Outcasts when a super mutant wearing what looked like a black flight cap charged out of cover to intercept her. It was bigger than the others, and wielded a small engine welded onto the end of a bundle of rebar like an oversized sledge. Lawnmower blades had been welded to the engine, turning the weapon into a cruel implement of destruction that would smash blade-first into whatever the mutant hit.

The world slowed as Twilight entered VATS. At the range she was shooting, it was hard to miss, especially as each second of slowed time allowed the super mutant to close the gap between them. The calculated hit percentage climbed with each step the mutant took.

Twilight’s first shot tore a hole into its cheek, breaking teeth and jaw alike. The second turned its nose into a bloody crater. The third obliterated what was left of its jaw. Despite the three face wounds, the juggernaut kept charging without missing a step.

“Yeeeahahaha!” The super mutant howled in a terrifyingly gleeful rage. Its cries of exaltation were distorted by the bloody froth erupting from its destroyed face and mouth.

Electrum teleported behind the super mutant and shot it in the back of both knees. Momentum carried the mutant onwards for a few feet until its massive weight worked against its ruined limbs. They gave out with a sickening tear that sent bile creeping into the back of Twilight’s throat.

Twilight herself had experienced pain similar to the super mutant not too long ago. She knew what it was like to have her knee shattered like a glass plate. Twilight’s next bullet flew into the mutant’s screaming mouth, blowing a fist-sized hole out the back of the mutant’s head.

Twilight put two more bullets into it for good measure. If it got up after all of that, Twilight was going to go back to Equestria and quit the wasteland for good.

She quickly checked the area for more super mutants, and spotted Daniel, who must have appeared with Electrum. He’d taken up the defensive position with the Outcasts to fire his assault carbine at the last super mutant behind the fountain.

A lucky shot sent the super mutant’s head jerking back. There was no violent eruption of gore, but Twilight knew in the back of her mind that the mutant was dead. It had collapsed as suddenly and disorderly as a falling house of cards. From animated to unanimated in the blink of an eye.

She turned towards Daniel and the Outcasts. Defender Morrill was the only one still at the barrier. The other two Outcasts had run off to charge up a nearby hill of rubble. They were heading towards the second story window of a building missing its roof.

“We’re going to have to talk after this,” Defender Morrill said with a tone of impetuous annoyance, like he’d just realized he’d stepped in something smelly and hard to clean off.

Talking was exactly what Twilight had come to do.

<>~<>~<>

The running battle with the rest of the super mutants had been painfully one-sided in their and the Outcast’s favor. Power armor and miniguns—as well as Twilight, Electrum, and Daniel helping as best as they could—made short work of the mutants in the ruined office building.

No more mutants were left to fight as they reached the exit to the building, and Twilight was able to get a clear view of the VSS building. Or at least where it would be. The VSS building was a skeleton of I-beams surrounded by a chain-link fence. The I-beams stuck out from a large pit lined with concrete. A ramp led down towards what would have been the future basement of the unfinished building. The nearby crane and pallets of two-century old construction material would never be used to finish the job.

The great war had trapped the VSS building in limbo as effectively as amber trapped a fly. Started but never finished.

“So, now that that’s over with,” Defender Morrill grunted as he turned towards Twilight and her friends. “Do you mind telling me what the hell you three Equestrians are doing here?”

“We heard your distress signal and we came to help,” Twilight said. While it wasn’t the whole truth, they had helped after arriving.

“We’re not using normal frequencies. How did—” He caught sight of the Pip-Boy on Twilight’s wrist. “Right, Pip-Boys. I guess you’re with the Enclave. Figures. I suppose I should send you to see Protector McGraw if you’re all so willing to help. I’ll radio ahead. Just take the elevator.”

Twilight nodded and passed by Defender Morrill as he pressed finger to his power helmet. She heard Defender Morrill report in as she descended the ramp into the basement pit.

“Morrill speaking. I’ve got three Equestrians up here that I’m sending down. One of them is a woman flying Enclave colors, the other woman is dressed like a royal guard, and the guy looks like a local who got lost through a portal.”

“Friendly bunch,” Electrum whispered as she followed along beside Twilight.

“Very,” Twilight replied before sighing. “I don’t like this. The plan is already falling apart. Thanks for saving my flank back there.”

“Someone had to, because they sure as shit weren’t,” Electrum said bitterly as she glanced back at Defender Morrill.

“Do you think they’ll be willing to ally with us if we help them out?” Daniel asked. They were far enough away that he didn’t bother to whisper.

Twilight considered every adventure and friendship problem she had been on and solved in the past.

“I’ve worked with some pretty sour people before,” Twilight said. “We’ll find a way to open up a path to friendship between everyone.”

While the Brotherhood Outcasts were a minor faction compared to the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave, they were still people. Twilight knew people. It was her job as the Princess of Friendship to make as many friends as possible. She could do this.

Reaching the bottom of the ramp they rounded a corner. The elevator lay in the center of the pit. They walked under the iron bones of the unfinished building, sunlight dancing through the I-beams, shrouding the group in strange shadows.

The elevator was bare. A red-painted scaffold of I-beams held up the cable-spool and motor for the platform, which was little more than a metal gazebo with handrails. It had no floor selection panel, only a simple green push button with a large red emergency-stop button below it. They clamored into the elevator.

“Everyone ready?” Twilight asked.

After Electrum and Daniel nodded, Twilight pushed the button and they descended down the concrete shaft.

<>~<>~<>

The elevator went down and down, never stopping at the doors to other floors. Just as Twilight wondered if the elevator ride would ever end, the platform slowed, and Twilight heard someone on the other side of the door that would likely be their stop.

“I don’t understand why we need three of those fucking animals down here. We should ice two of them and force the third one to obey,” a man said, crackling from speaking through a power helmet.

As Twilight suspected, the elevator shuddered to a halt at the door where the voice had come through.

“McGraw gave orders, it's that simple,” a gruff-sounding man replied. From how hoarse his voice was, Twilight suspected he was a ghoul, and it lacked the crackly distortion of being spoken through a power helmet.

“Come on, man. How long are you going to let McGraw screw us over like this? He’s going as soft as Lyons. Next thing you know, we’re going to be taking orders from the Enclave to do their dirty work for them.”

The conversation quickly cut off as the extra wide metal door in front of Twilight, Daniel, and Electrum squealed open. The Outcast wearing their power helmet quickly turned and walked away as if they hadn’t been in a conversation with the black-skinned man in power armor, sans helmet. He turned out to be human instead of a ghoul. It was made all the clearer when he turned to the group with a sneer.

“Alright, you three,” he said, voice as rough as 1-grit sandpaper. “Keep your weapons holstered, horns and hands to yourself, and your mouths shut. Follow me.”

The man marched off deeper into the bunker.

The three shared glances between each other before Twilight slowly shook her head. She leaned close to Electrum and very, very quietly whispered, “Can you teleport us?”

Elctrum’s nod was enough for Twilight to set off with a confident step. The man led them into a bare concrete antechamber with gun turrets on the ceiling. Twilight only realized they were there because of the rhythmic beeping of their scanners and the subtle whine of their motors as the two machine guns tracked them across the room. There were open side doors in the antechamber, but they led to dead ends filled with rubble.

Twilight wanted to break the ice, but she had been told to stay quiet. A growl escaped her, and she focused on their surroundings instead. Some way to get a better idea of the place. They were led into a T-shaped hallway which was mostly painted white, with a wide strip of yellow paint marking the middle of the floor. Conduits and power cables snaked like gray creeper vines over the floor, and Twilight had to try and not trip over several of them. Overhead more conduits ran alongside metal pipes and silvery flexible air ducts.

They passed the Outcast who had spoken to the one leading them. He was talking to another Outcast fully enshrouded in power armor.

“Just hear me out, Tina,” the Outcast said, “imagine what Talon Company can do with the two of us. We’d be the only ones with power armor.”

“Damnit, Grayson, not this again,” the female Outcast replied. “I’ve already told you I’m sticking this out.”

Every Outcast that Twilight had met so far sounded like they were a single mild annoyance away from a bloodbath. She did not want to be in the bunker when the thin veneer of comradery snapped.

“Morale issues?” Electrum asked after they had passed the two talking about deserting.

“I said keep quiet, we’re almost to the command room,” their guide said as he took a right at the end of the hall.

Electrum rolled her eyes as they slipped into an open door in the hallway. The room would have looked more like a storage depot than a command headquarters were it not for the occasional terminal and electronic console shoved among all the shelves and counter tops. Most of the shelves were stocked with spare mechanical or electronic parts, but Twilight could see the odd ammo crate or medical kit here and there.

The man standing at the back of the room next to a table with a radio set gave off an air of authority, and like their guide, he did not wear a helmet. He was white-skinned, with buzzcut light brown hair, a well-maintained goatee, and with brown eyes glaring at them.

“Here they are, Protector,” their irate guide spat when they reached him. “Like you asked.”

“Thank you, Defender Sibley,” Protector McGraw said. His accent was a light southern drawl, similar to Colonel Autumn or Applejack’s. “Give us a moment, please.”

“Sir, I’m going to say again that I don’t like this idea.”

“Noted, Defender,” Protector McGraw said evenly. “That’ll be all. You can listen in on our meeting if you’d like.”

“Yessir,” Defender Sibley grunted. He stomped to the other side of the room with his power armor fists clenched.

“So, you three are the ones Morrill sent down,” Protector McGraw asked. “I’ll be completely honest and say that unlike my colleagues, I would trust a wastelander with shining my power armor, but that would be pushing it. So I’m going to have a real hard time trusting you three. But all of you look vaguely military, so you may be useful to us after all. You have something I want, and you are all here for a reason. Tell me what it is, and we might be able to cut a deal.”

Twilight forced a smile. Protector McGraw at least put up the affectation of not holding them in utter scorn. That was a start at the very least.

“There is an armory here that I need to access,” Twilight said. “There is a decent chance that inside of it is a damaged portal to my world. I want to turn it off so it will reduce the number of rogue portals linking our worlds. I’d also like to have some very specific supercomputer parts. Any weapons or armor inside the armory will be yours to take. I would also like to speak with your leader at Fort Independence, Protector Casdin, if I’m correct, right?”

“Yes,” Protector McGraw said, crossing his arms. “But if you’re looking for an alliance, it won’t work. Protector Casdin is a hardliner for the Codex, who wants to reestablish contact with the West Coast Brotherhood. He thinks that Elder Lyons should be put in front of a firing squad and hates the Enclave even more. He fought you guys back West. I can try and set up a meeting at the very least, but he’s already rejected President Jackyln’s offer to meet. As for the armory, I can accept your terms.”

“So,” Daniel said, “we told you what we need from you. What is it you need from us before we seal this deal?”

“We know from our records that some important tech is in the armory behind a blast door. Your earth pony friend telling us about the portal only confirms that. However, the only way to get the code to open it is to complete the Anchorage Liberation simulation. According to our tech expert, Specialist Olin, it’ll be heavy fighting against the Communist Chinese. We’re unable to engage the safety protocols. If you die in the simulation, you’ll go into heavy cardiac arrest. That's why we haven’t tried it yet.”

Twilight grit her teeth. So, go into the simulation and try not to die. She doubted it would be that simple.

“You seem to know a lot about Equestrians,” Electrum said. Twilight didn’t know what Electrum was accusing Protector McGraw of, but her tone was clear that she was accusing him of something. Twilight had picked up that Protector McGraw knew that earth ponies looked like humans. Twilight’s hair and eye colors were a dead giveaway to the observant.

“Yes, I do,” Protector McGraw said. “We have a prisoner at Fort Independence. A stallion named Feather Fletcher.”

Twilight had heard the name before. He competed in Royal Guard archery competitions and had appeared in a few magazines. She frowned. The Outcasts acted as the aggressors. Keeping a pony prisoner without informing Equestria until they were confronted could be considered justification for a war. The conflict against SOCOM had only just ended—and with an unexpected peace deal no less, rather than beating SOCOM into submission for two destroyed cities. There were still a lot of angry ponies ready to fire a rifle at anything that gave them cause to do so.

Deathclaw Joe didn’t have to do much to convince two guard ponies to slaughter a room full of raiders. Equestrians could be as violent as humans when provoked.

“Will his release be part of our deal?” Twilight asked. She tensed up, ready to draw her pistol at the first sign of hostility and make both of the Outcasts in the room regret not wearing helmets.

“Naturally,” Protector McGraw said. “Now, if that’s all, please follow Defender Sibley to the simulator.”

“That’s not all,” Twilight said, taking a deep breath to calm her rapidly fraying nerves. While they may have struck a deal, there were still problems going on at the Outcast outpost. “Defender Sibley, could you come here, please?”

“What? Why the fuck would I—” Defender Sibley started, but Protector McGraw shut him up with a glare, and he stalked over. “What is it?”

Twilight put on her best, friendliest smile. She hoped to break the ice.

“I can tell that you’re stressed and angry,” Twilight said. “I just wanted to tell you that I hope you have a nice day and things work out well for you soon. We’re not here to cause you problems, and we genuinely want to help unlock that armory for everyone’s benefit.”

Defender Sibley’s expression transcended past ‘I’ve bitten into something sour’ to some sort of indescribable nirvana of bitterness.

“Okay,” he grunted with an eye twitch. He inhaled, held his breath, then let it out. “Thanks… I guess.”

“You’re welcome,” Twilight said genuinely. “Lead the way, please.”

Defender Sibley grunted something under his breath and led the way. Twilight realized she would have been able to hear it if she was an alicorn.

Her shoulders tensed as, for the first time in a while, Twilight realized just how much danger she was in. She would be going into a dangerous combat simulator as a fragile human. No alicorn resilience to protect her.

<>~<>~<>

Server banks dominated both sides of the room that Twilight had followed Defender Sibley into. Cables snaked off of them, running underfoot into a familiar egg-shaped pod in the center of the room. The back wall framed all of it with a massive control console.

A woman studied a server bank near the pod and took notes on a clipboard. She had coiffed blond hair worthy of Rarity’s envy, and wore a dark black set of robes. Defender Sibly laughed, making Specialist Olin jump and whip around to face him with a scowl.

“Knock knock, Olin,” Defender Sibley sneered. “I got you a gaggle of new best friends. The human-lookalike should fit the pod. Try and treat her better than the last guy, hehe.”

“Go to hell, Sibley,” Specialist Olin said, extending her middle finger up in a rude gesture. “Defender Grayson was responsible for that, not me.”

“Watever, they’re all yours,” Defender Sibley said. “Just make some progress so we can leave this shit post.”

“I will if you’ll let me do my job, so get out, asshole,” Specialist Olin snapped with crossed arms. She set her sights on Twilight as Defender Sibley left. “So, you’re here to help? Fine, I have a suit you need to wear. Strip down and put it on, and no, I don’t give a deathclaw’s testical about your privacy. When you’re done, get in the chair, and we’ll run the simulation. Your friends can watch.”

Twilight took a step back at the sudden redirection of the woman’s frustration onto her.

“Heyyy,” Twilight said slowly. “I’m on your side, just here to help. I think we’re starting out on the wrong foot. My name is North Star.”

Twilight was not letting them know she was a princess. She didn’t want to be the subject of a hostage situation.

Specialist Olin shook her head, shoulders relaxing slightly. “Sorry, things have been tense here and it's been getting to me. I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. Do you need anything?”

Twilight was surprised at the turn of personality.

“Maybe it's not what I need, but what your group needs,” Twilight said, taking a cautious step closer. “Everyone here is at each other’s throat. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“So, the reports were true, you Equestrians do try and make friends with everyone,” Specialist Olin said through a chuckle, a small smile creasing her lips. “Sure, just keep being a friendly example to the people around here. We need it.”

Twilight smiled. “Maybe while I’m going through the simulation, Electrum and Daniel can help around here? Make things easier on you all?”

Twilight could easily picture a magical map of the DC area with Daniel and Eelctrum’s cutie marks spinning over the Outcast Outpost, directing them to a friendship quest. The people here needed help. Twilight had encountered cacti that were less prickly than the Outcasts.

“They’ll have to check in with McGraw on that one,” Specialist Olin said. “Now, let’s get you suited up. I see you have a Pip-Boy. The simulator has a connection port in it for anyone wearing one, but it can be used without it. Might help if you plug yours in.”

It might let her use VATS in the combat simulation. Twilight would use every advantage she could get.

“Are you sure about this, Twilight?” Daniel asked. “I… just want to make sure. A cardiac arrest is what killed my mother. I don’t want to lose you.”

Twilight hugged him.

“I’ll be okay,” she said, nuzzling his fuzzy cheek with her nose. She enjoyed the tickle of his fur on her skin. “I’ve gotten a lot better at shooting, and I might have VATS if I plug in my Pip-Boy.”

Out of the corner of her vision, Twilight saw Specialist Olin retrieve a white suit and hood covered in plugs and sockets from a metal crate. The suit was exactly like the ones in Vault 112.

“Okay, Twi, just stay safe in there,” Daniel said. He leaned over and kissed her. It was brief, but it left a warm sensation over her face, even when they pulled away.

“I’ll do my best,” Twilight said with a smile. She broke away from their embrace and walked over to Specialist Olin to get her suit.

<>~<>~<>

Less than five minutes later Twilight was inside the pod. She struggled to settle into a more comfortable position among the padding and prongs of the lounge chair-like apparatus within the egg-shaped device.

Her Pip-Boy had the connector cable slotted into a port inside the machine. Because of how tied down she was by all the restraints on the chair, she couldn’t read whatever was on the screen. Something about ‘Enclave’ and ‘special access’. She couldn’t make out enough to follow along with the scrolling text.

“Ready?” Specialist Olin asked.

“I think so,” Twilight replied. She turned her head as much as she could to look at Daniel.

“Hey, Daniel, can you see what my Pip—” The pod closed around her, sealing her in darkness. The curved screens within activated one by one. It had her mind swim, and her vision blurred.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight blinked.

It took her a moment to realize that she was standing inside of an olive drab canvas tent. There were several desks and empty tables wrapping around the walls of the large tent, and the ground below had been covered by rubber matting.

The only other occupant of the tent was in the center of the room, leaning over the largest table. He had a few inches over Twilight, and wore an Enclave-style olive drab greatcoat. His hair was light gray with a military buzz cut so it was taller on the top of his head than the sides. His intense green eyes were locked onto the map. From the four stars on each of his greatcoat’s epaulets, Twilight knew he was a high-ranking general.

She approached, but quickly halted when she read his nametag. Chase, C.

Constantine Chase, the same General whose pharmaceutical company developed psycho. He was also the one who tried to kill Dr. Braun and the ponies. With how everyone in Vault 112 was trapped as electronic copies of themselves in the simulation, General Chase had succeeded.

Twilight needed to get a better handle of herself before she spoke with him. She took the moment to study herself to see if the simulation had altered her. She was wearing a greatcoat over a US army military uniform, as well as her Pip-Boy. She also had a 10mm pistol in a holster, and a large combat knife. Her hair was cut short in a buzz cut like Fluttershy’s had been.

Rather than try and approach the table and look at the map on it in case that caught General Chase’s attention, Twilight checked her Pip-Boy.

The text from before was still on the screen.

//Enclave milspec software detected
//Colonel rank authorization codes detected
//Command level special access granted
//Simulation set to alternate parameters
//Beginning Operation Starfall

Twilight raised a brow. The simulation had switched to another operation because it thought she was Enclave? Pressing random buttons didn’t clear the screen.

With no other hint as to what to do for the simulation, Twilight stepped up to General Chase, who snapped away from the map.

“Colonel Sparkle,” he said kindly as he picked up a nearby open cigar box and offered her one of the horn-thick rolls of tobacco. She was close enough to catch the reek of the General’s burning cigar. Twilight shook her head to decline the offer, and General Chase nodded. “Not a smoker. Good, don’t start. It’s a nasty habit.”

He had reacted naturally to her decline. Was he a ghost in the machine like Dr. Braun and the ponies?

“General Chase, sir?” Twilight asked, trying to fake as formal a military accent as possible. He didn’t like ponies, and her life was literally on the line if something went wrong. “Is there a reason why I’m here?”

General Chase nodded.

“I don’t know how to sugarcoat it, but things have gone tits up, and we need a senior officer to take direct command in the field. Take a look at this.”

He tapped the map with his finger, and Twilight looked down at it.

Her heart dropped into her stomach.

Two centuries of changes may have gone by, but there was no mistaking the layout of a city hanging off the side of a mountain…

She was about to invade Canterlot.

Chapter 46: Operation Starfall pt.1

View Online

Operation Starfall.

A sense of dread sunk into Twilight and locked her attention to the map on General Chase’s desk. The operation name said it all. If she was attacking Canterlot, Princess Celestia had to be the falling star. Of course the humans would simulate a war against Equestria. Twilight wanted no part of this insanity. While she may have had disagreements with Princess Celestia, Twilight couldn’t imagine ever harming her friend, teacher, and practically her second mother. Even if it was all within a simulation, the false reality surrounding Twilight felt all too real.

A puff of General Chase’s reeking cigar smoke drifted over Canterlot like a cloud of smog. An updraft blew it into Twilight’s face. Her cough was enough to wrench her thoughts away from the grim assignment.

"Why are we at war with Equestria?" Twilight asked, waving away the smoke. “Is it too late to ask for the Alaskan Liberation simulation?”

"What year are you stuck in, Colonel Sparkle? Anchorage’s been back under our control for over a decade now," General Chase scoffed, wagging his cigar at her. “You’ll have plenty of time to catch up on your history on your way to Forward Operating Base Manticore. It’s about an hour trip straight down the road. There should be a staff car and driver available in the garage to take you to the FOB. Once you arrive, your troops will muster shortly after.”

Twilight worked her jaw for several moments, weighing what to say. General Chase treated everything like they were actually occurring, and with the safeties disabled, if she asked the wrong question or let it slip that she was actually an Equestrian and didn’t know a thing about being a military officer, would he shoot her on the grounds of enemy espionage?

There was no other option but to play along and figure things out as she went.

"Understood, sir," Twilight said, forcing through an air of confidence she didn’t feel. “What are my orders?”

If she was a Colonel, and he was a General, then by what she understood of military ranks, he was her boss.

“Once your troops arrive and gear up, you are to formulate a plan at your discretion to take the city of Canterlot,” General Chase said, tapping on the map. Twilight didn’t understand the symbols liberally decorating the mattress-sized piece of paper. Without a map key, they were as insightful as a manuscript written in a dead language. “However, your main objective will be to capture Princess Celestia and force a surrender. Do not kill her. We’re not here to turn off the day-night cycle.”

Twilight straightened her posture and paid more attention to General Chase. The discretion towards Princess Celestia was surprising. She wondered how far the clemency extended.

“What about civilians?” Twilight asked.

“An evacuation and humanitarian corridor has already been established. However, the city is not a free-fire zone. There may be noncombatants who ignored the order. This means artillery support and air strikes will be limited.”

“What kind of resistance are my troops going to face?” Twilight asked. She fought back a grim smile as she realized that this wouldn’t be her first time invading Canterlot. Only, this was to take it over rather than liberate it from The Storm King.

“You may have heard stories of the incompetence of the Equestrian Royal Guards, but those are just old jokes that have stuck around. The truth is, for the last ten years, the soldiers of the Royal Equestrian Army have worked their tattooed asses off to prove their worth. Many of them have even been trained by US Army soldiers and supplied by Uncle Sam. This won’t be a cake walk. You’ll be facing a determined and well-equipped foe in their home territory.”

“Understood, when do I leave for Manticore?” Twilight asked, saluting the General. It was one of the only military formalities that Twilight knew how to perform accurately

“As soon as you’re ready,” General Chase said. “You are dismissed.”

As Twilight dropped the salute, she heard a warbling, staticy sound behind her like someone had cast a spell. General Chase had focused back on the map, and she took the opportunity to check the noise. A terminal occupied the table next to the exit that hadn’t been there when she had first looked around the tent.

Curiosity drew her towards the glowing screen of the machine. Maybe it had something important on it? Some hints left by whoever made the simulation? The terminal was unlocked, and contained a message history.

Dawson_T: Hey, Mike, got a second?

Crane_M: Sure, man, I’m just finishing up the General’s tent in Fort Horseshoe. I’ll need to brainstorm with you and the other developers over the finer mission details later, but if we’re recycling 90% of the code, scripts, and textures from Operation Anchorage and its cut content, we can most likely use the missions as a basis for this simulation. Not like we have any actual battles against Equestrians to draw inspiration from. So, what’s on your mind?

The messages were from the developers. Twilight’s intuition had been correct. Even if there were no blatant hints, learning about the development of Operation Starfall or picking the brains of the creators may be a hint itself. Like her favorite books. If she understood the author’s preferred tropes, she could usually tell where one of their stories was heading. Twilight eagerly absorbed the information like a sponge tossed into water.

Dawson_T: Yeah, about that. Do you know why General Chase has us making a simulated invasion of Equestria? I mean, for any reason other than his hurt pride? Sure, Princess Celestia beat Operation Anchorage twice, but what’s the big deal? The simulation was devoid of all reality because of his constant micromanagement. He was the one who wanted us to put the health kits and ammunition dispensers everywhere. Hell, we’re programmers and WE beat Operation Anchorage.

Crane_M: I think it’s specifically because he had his way with that project at every turn that he’s mad that a magical alien princess could beat it on the first try. It’s HIS baby, not ours… you know, the programmers and artists who made the assets and code to satisfy his vanity and implemented every ‘great idea’ that he suggested. I can’t imagine a scenario where we would ever have to invade the squishy fuzz-faces. Princess Celestia is trading with the US and bending over backwards to keep on America’s good side. Still, better to be prepared than not, I guess.

Dawson_T: Yeah. Stranger things have happened, like that DIA spook flipping sides, or Dr. Braun and the General having a falling out. Did you hear about that by the way? Apparently, after Princess Celestia’s second run through, the General and Dr. Braun nearly came to blows. Braun has gone to live in his Vault, and Princess Celestia is sending a load of Equestrians to visit next month.

Crane_M: Really? Damn. I was wondering why Braun wasn’t around to christen the new installation, just those creepy Big Mountain techno-wizards. Anyways, before anyone reads these messages over my shoulder and sees that I'm not working, I guess we should decide how much effort we want to put into this.

Dawson_T: Well, the General IS staying hands off for this project, so let’s make the best product we can. Maybe use the freedom to test out some new technology like the dynamic mission generation, and creating NPC personalities using data from past users. It should make for more natural responses from NPCs and vary them up a bit. Maybe we can also spring for the remote-network connection test. I know some guys in the DoD who can rush out some field modifications. We can hash out the details at my apartment over the next session of Fortresses and Freaks with the rest of the dev team.

Crane_M: Sounds like a plan. Hope my d20 rolls above a 7 for once this session.

The banter between friends put a smile on Twilight’s face and helped ease her worry.

While the messages didn’t contain much in the way of hints, it was enough to know that the developers were familiar with Equestria, the portals, and Dr. Braun. The Equestria she was about to enter was going to be something based off the real Equestria, but not an exact copy, if the developers were cludging it together from recycled and spare parts from the Operation Anchorage simulation.

With no other entries on the terminal, Twilight left it behind. She reached out to push aside the tent flap, but the world went black as soon as she touched it.

<>~<>~<>

When Twilight’s vision cleared, she was almost blinded by sunlight reflecting off the snow-covered ground. It was everywhere and so deep that it reached a foot-high in most places, except for the roads which had been plowed clear.

On the horizon, Canterlot hung off the mountainside, maybe a hundred miles or so away. Twilight knew she must have been teleported to FOB Manticore, as she had appeared in front of a chain-link gate facing a large military camp.

Dirt-filled gabion cubes that were stacked like children’s blocks formed high walls around nearly a dozen gargantuan olive-drab tents, a few prefabricated structures, and one large single story brick building. Butting up against the walls were guard towers holding either soldiers or automated turrets. Most of the turrets were large-caliber machine guns or small cannons, but Twilight also spotted a few missile launcher turrets aiming skyward.

With how large the tents were, and how many of them there were, there had to be close to a thousand people or more at FOB Manticore. The tire ruts in the dirt roads at least showed there was a lot of traffic going back and forth.

Despite the snow and her uncovered head of buzz cut hair, Twilight didn’t feel cold as she walked deeper into the base. The few soldiers outside were bundled up in thick winter clothing, and every exhale Twilight let out nearly blinded her with a cloud of steam. She checked her Pip-Boy to see if it had a thermometer, but the screen still wasn’t clear of text. The text itself, however, had changed.

//Thank you for choosing the Officer Improvement Simulation. This fictional scenario is designed to provide officers of any level challenging scenarios to improve their relevant skills. Please be patient. This is a beta test and does not reflect the final product. Unintended glitches and defects will be present; please log any errors found on your simulation-integrated RobCo™ Personal-Information-Processors model 2000 or above.

//Commander teleport to FOB Manticore successful
//Dynamic mission list generated
//Mission list:
//[Required] Request reinforcements to continue simulation
//[Optional] Obtain weapons, armor, and warmer clothing from Quartermaster Brinks
//[Optional] Socialize with arriving soldiers in Chow Hall 3
//Call Reinforcements: {Yes}

There was no option to cancel or decline, but from what Twilight could tell, it was the way to continue her simulation. Her finger hovered over the button to accept. But then there were the optional tasks. Maybe it would be a good idea to familiarize herself with the FOB before calling her troops.

She stepped further into the base in the direction of the one brick building. It might have been a large garage if the four roll-up bay doors were any hint, but all of the doors were shuttered. There was a small office attached to the garage like a polyp, and based on the glow from the windows, it was occupied.

Twilight noted how oddly quiet everything was. There were a few soldiers wandering around outside, but many stood rigidly in place or strolled like they were on pre-set routes. One soldier was defying all logic and continuously walking into a street sign, oblivious to it obstructing their path.

If the ponies defending Canterlot were as brain-dead as the walking soldier, Twilight guessed she could take Canterlot by herself. However, she knew that line of thinking would lead to her downfall. The simulation operated off of rules that Twilight didn’t know. Overestimating herself and getting cocky would open her up to be blindsided by something unexpected.

Like the temperature. The optional instruction to get warm clothing was an ominous warning that Twilight would take seriously. She may not feel the cold now, but as soon as she pressed the accept button for reinforcements on her Pip-Boy, the rules the simulation ran on could change.

She reached the garage and entered the door on the smaller attached office building. Even though the office was separated from the garage by a brick wall, Twilight could still hear the power tools of the mechanics, and the smell of grease and oil was thick in the air.

Her boots tramped onto a dingy checker-pattern tile floor. A large countertop across from her divided most of the room between customer and employee areas. An archway partitioned off a waiting area with two drink machines and a couple of chairs. Twilight trailed her gaze across the room until it landed on a pegasus stallion with a buzzcut mane, glasses, and a US army uniform sitting behind the front counter.

The pegasus waved at her and smiled.

Twilight waved back and approached, but the title of the paper pinned to a cork-board on the wall beside her gave her pause. She had barely noticed it out of the corner of her eye, but the bold alliteration had caught her attention.

More Mares Missing, Vigilanties Vow Vengeance.

Despite being a clipping from an Equestria Daily newspaper, it used the human calendar and was dated for July 16, 2088. Below the title was a color wedding photograph of two mares hugging one another under a wedding arch. Surrounding the newspaper clipping like orbiting satellites were more excerpts. The oldest was dated January 14th, 2087. There was a month or two gap between each dated clipping, and all of the papers were of missing mares. Several later reports claimed a few mares had been found dead.

“You’ve been keeping up with the news, Colonel?” the pegasus asked. If Twilight understood what the two chevrons on his epaulets meant, he was a corporal. His name tag read ‘Glittershear’.

“I unfortunately haven’t, but I want to,” Twilight said, turning to face the stallion as she jerked a thumb towards the wall. “I’m new and familiarizing myself with the base. Can you tell me what’s going on?”

“To make a long and complicated story short,” Glittershear said, brow tensing, “some sick bastard has kidnapped and killed at least eight mares so far. Assaulted them before and after death.” He growled and clopped a hoof onto the counter. “They caught a guy they thought was doing it, but he got acquitted because there ‘wasn’t enough evidence’, but everyone knows he walked free because he had connections from being a cop and a war veteran.”

From how Corporal Glittershear had phased it, there damn well was enough evidence. Anger ignited in Twilight’s breast like a raging furnace. She clenched her teeth and fists, then slackened as she realized she was getting worked up over a simulated narrative. Unfortunately, it sounded plausible enough.

“From the way you put it, they had enough evidence, didn’t they?” Twilight asked, taking a deep breath to keep herself calm while mentally reminding herself everything she was experiencing was made up. The simulation was meant to improve military officers, so throwing things at them to make them angry was likely part of the training to see how they responded.

A morbidly curious part of her wanted a report card to check her grade when the training sim was over with. Just to see if she made for a good officer.

“Evidence doesn’t matter because of two simple words, corruption and lawyers,” Corporal Glitterhoof spat. “I’ve been a US citizen for a few years now and I can’t even begin to explain how backwards their justice system is. In my opinion, there was enough evidence to prove his guilt, so why should he walk? But I’m also of the opinion that the Equestrian response was too drastic. A posse of vigilante ponies stormed into the town of Everfree around Fort Horseshoe and lynched him. Threw his corpse off the Eisenhower Dam, right in full view of the town and military base.”

So, in this alternate history, there was a town like Ponyville built by the humans, complete with a dam, Twilight thought. The simulation was going off the agreement between Princess Celestia and the US government. The basis of it was an Equestrian mob had entered United States territory and killed a citizen who had been cleared of criminal charges. Of course it would provoke some kind of response, but to start an armed conflict over it?

“How long has the war been going on?” Twilight asked.

“Close to seven months now, with no sign of stopping since both sides think they’re justified in what they did, and too many people have been lost on both sides to give up. FOB Manticore is as far as we got towards Canterlot before having to dig in.”

Twilight nodded. “General Chase sent me to help break the stalemate. Can you direct me to the quartermaster? I need some armor, weapons, and winter clothes.”

“Certainly, Colonel, right this way, please,” the stallion said as he stood from his desk.

Nearly seven months of a wasteful, senseless war over a problem that should have been solved diplomatically. Twilight shook her head. The simulation certainly knew how to get under her skin.

<>~<>~<>

Thirty minutes or so later, Twilight was far heavier than when she had entered the quartermaster’s office. She had a set of combat armor on underneath her greatcoat, rather than the simple cloth officer uniform. The balaclava and snow goggles to accompany her metal helmet were tucked in a pouch on her hip. She had asked the quartermaster for ‘everything a soldier in the field would need’. Everything turned out to be around sixty or more pounds of gear spread over her body, crammed into various pouches or her new rucksack.

Twilight departed the quartermaster for the mess hall to complete her second optional objective.

Chow Hall 3 was one of the larger tents at FOB Manticore, easily picked out from the score of other tents from its smokestacks and the smell of bacon hanging around it. Despite not being the biggest fan of eating meat, her mouth watered and her stomach grumbled.

She slipped into the tent expecting soldiers digging into their meals, only to see six cooks at the back of an otherwise empty tent. The cooks were all huddled around their stoves, and a nearby buffet bar was stocked and ready for the arrival of hungry troops. From a quick guess at the number of folding tables and metal chairs, the chow hall seated somewhere between two or three hundred people.

Twilight approached the group of cooks, five were human, but the last was a female gryphon, and all of them wore olive drab US Army uniforms. Twilight politely coughed to catch the gryphon’s attention, who had a single chevron rank pin.

“Excuse me, Private,” Twilight asked as the gryphon set down the spatula she’d been using to flip sausage patties on a grill and turned to face her. “When will the other troops arrive for food?”

“I’m not sure, Colonel,” the gryphon replied and nodded with respect, before pointing to the Pip-Boy. “Maybe their schedule is somewhere on your fancy wrist watch?”

Twilight smiled sheepishly and checked the objective list. The objective was to socialize with arriving soldiers. She had to call them first. Hovering her finger over the button to call reinforcements one more time, Twilight weighed the pros and cons. It would get things moving, but she still had most of FOB Manticore left to explore. But, then again, if the designers hadn’t expected her to travel the whole of the base then the base wouldn’t be fully modeled. Like the plywood scene dressing for a play. Just put up to set the stage.

Twilight pressed the accept button, and new text appeared.

//Connection established to external devices
//Please wait while reinforcements arrive

The screen finally cleared to its original appearance, and Twilight’s compass and AP meter were joined by another bar labeled HP. Before Twilight could investigate what it meant, the air shimmered close to Twilight and a woman in an army uniform appeared. Her black hair was pulled back into a bun rather than a buzzcut like Twilight’s. She had some sort of metal gauntlet over one arm that went nearly up to her elbow that hissed and vented steam.

“What the hell?” the woman asked as she spun around in a blind panic before fixating on her clothing. “Watkins, if you can hear me, get Taggart to abort the simulation! Something’s gone wrong!”

A pit dropped into Twilight’s stomach, and she opened her mouth to call out to the panicking woman. The air next to the woman shimmered, cutting both Twilight and the newcomer off. Three more people appeared.

The first was an older white-haired woman wearing a flight helmet and jacket over her army uniform, and the next was Dr. Braun, who had arrived with her hair in a bun as well. The last one was so strange he overshadowed even Dr. Braun’s arrival. Even the others balked at him.

The person drawing everyone’s attention had skin that was close to caucasian, but the pigment was off making him more ruddy white than tan, and the skin appeared rubbery. Large strips had been torn away to reveal a metal skeleton and wires underneath around the side of the head and a large portion of his neck.

“Either I’m encountering some very suppressed memories, or I’m no longer in the Memory Den,” the robot man said coolly. He glanced around quickly, glowing yellow eyes flitting back and forth. They were the quick eyes of someone who was experienced at noticing things. Like Twilight’s nametag and rank pins before he locked eyes with her. “So, Colonel Sparkle, care to explain why I’m here?”

He reached into his army uniform and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He deftly shook a cigarette out of the pack and brought it to his lips with a metal hand bare of any synthetic skin.

“I-I’m just as confused as you are,” Twilight said, the shock of the situation overwhelming her. “I’ll explain everything I know when people stop appearing.”

Two things that she did know were that her reinforcements were real people… and that the safeguards were off.

A soldier dying here was a real death she would be responsible for.

Chapter 47: Operation Starfall pt.2

View Online

Nick Valentine held a mug of coffee in his exposed-metal hand. Sure, he was a synth and didn’t need to eat, but it was nice to have a cup of joe and another smoke as he listened to one of the wildest tales he had ever heard.

Colonel Sparkle’s explanation would have been unbelievable were it not for the simulation having a mythical Greek monster in the back of the mess tent cooking bacon and eggs. If that hadn’t been enough evidence, Dr. Braun and Sergeant Dornan corroborating Colonel Sparkle’s statements about the existence of Equestria were enough.

Sergeant Dornan had been the last person to appear, and had done so in a suit of power armor rather than army greens. Besides confirming the existence of Equestria, she had also confirmed the pre-war rumors of the ‘Enclave’ were true.

“And that’s when you all started to appear,” Colonel Sparkle said, finishing her explanation before scarfing down a few bites of scrambled eggs.

Introductions had already been made. Colonel Sparkle wasn’t a Colonel at all, but she looked more like a Colonel than she did a Princess. Thin body, gaunt face with slightly sunken eyes, but not lacking in energy. Despite being on the wrong end of some bad business—leg brace on her right leg, a shortened finger on her left hand—the dame was all smiles and friendliness.

“So, I guess we’re stuck here until we finish this, huh?” Veronica Santiago asked sarcastically through a mouthful of grits and bacon. She had refused to take off her power fist, so she ate entirely with her left hand. She wiped her lips with the sleeve of her uniform. “If I’m going to help you take the city, then there is something about me you need to know. I’m from the Mojave Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel.”

Nick Valentine caught the glare from Sergeant Dornan. He may not have been able to see the woman’s face through her dented and dinged-up power helmet, but her posture and body language were clear tells.

“How are they doing?” Twilight asked, leaning in. “Here in The Capital Wasteland, things weren’t going too good for a time.”

“Well,” Veronica sighed, “Whatever’s going down on the East Coast sounds about as wild as the last few years we’ve had with the New California Republic moving into the area. At least the East Coast chapter is still doing something. We’re hiding in a bunker with our tails between our legs after… nevermind.”

Veronica shook her head and went back into digging into her food. Nick recognized it as a clear sign of avoidance. Something bad had happened, and Veronica didn’t want to talk about it. Nick wondered what it was, but wouldn’t pry. She wasn’t a client for his detective agency, or a subject of investigation. He wasn’t going to go rooting through her life with inappropriately personal questions like Piper would have. Any day now that journalist was going to have her mouth run faster than her wits.

The speaker in Sergent Dornan’s power helmet crackled as she mocked spitting. “I don't know which is worse. That my leave is interrupted by this shit, the NCR hasn’t collapsed in on itself yet, or I’m going to be working with the Brotherhood of Steel.”

“You don’t hear me complaining about working with a genocidal goon,” Veronica muttered under her breath before attacking a piece of toast like a rabid dog.

Sergeant Dornan glared at Veronica and growled a low, bassy note before shooting to her feet, the damaged power armor creaking. “I think I’d be offended if I knew what that meant. Should I?”

Veronica made to stand, but Twilight slammed her hand down onto the table hard enough it rattled everyone’s cafeteria trays.

“Hey!” Twilight snapped. “We’re going to have to work together to get out of this. The safeties are turned off, so if we die here, our real bodies go into cardiac arrest. No fighting each other, please.”

Sergeant Dornan kept her visor locked on Veronica, before finally relenting and sitting back down.

“Fine,” she grumbled. “But some of us don’t have a heart to stop—” Sergeant Dornan gestured to Nick, who frowned. He knew what was coming next. “—like some people here.”

“This ‘some people’ has a name, and it’s Nick Valentine,” Nick said, unphased by Dornan’s brutishness. He was used to people staring by now. He sipped on his cup of coffee. "If we're being more open with each other, then I'll tell you exactly what I am. I’m a prototype synth from the Commonwealth. The Institute shoved the recorded memories of a pre-war detective into me before tossing me out in the trash.”

Nick chuckled mirthlessly. Waking up in a ditch in the Commonwealth two-hundred years after the real Nick Valentine had died with a brand new face had been a nightmare for the first few months. But Nick had eventually adapted.

“And if I die here, I’m honestly not sure if it would kill me or not," Nick said, shrugging. "Technology can be temperamental, so I’d rather not risk it.”

“Nor vould I,” Dr. Braun said. Everyone with knowledge from before the war knew of Dr. Braun, one of the heads of Vault Tec. Sure, she wasn’t a household name like Robert House of RobCo, but with the war looming on the horizon, Vault Tec had been on everyone's mind.

It was only after the bombs fell that people realized the Vaults that Dr. Braun had helped design were giant death-traps.

“I've vorked vith simulations before, and as Herr Nick stated, it is a temperamental technology, especially vith the enchanted parts ve vere adding into the simulations here. It could delete me upon death.” She then looked at Nick and smiled. It was a genuine smile, not the look of a narcissistic sociopath like he’d expected after all of the rumors. “I vould like to ask, are there any synths with blank memory banks? Perhaps there is a way out for myself and my vault’s residents.”

Nick caught Twilight perking up and paying more attention to them than her food.

“I don’t know. The Institute isn’t keen on sharing,” Nick said, scratching his chin before taking another sip of coffee. He didn’t need it to stay awake, and actually couldn't even taste it. It was just an old habit left over from the man whose memories Nick had swirling around in his head.

“So,” Veronica started, “taking an entire city is going to be one hell of a challenge with only six of us.”

“You’d be surprised how much can get done in Equestria with only six people,” Twilight said with sheer confidence and enthusiasm that Nick didn’t feel. He had to agree with Veronica. Taking a whole city with so few people would be a tall order.

“Just one pilot and their wingman can change a battle,” Pearl—the white-haired older woman—agreed with a grandmotherly smile.

“You’re a pilot?” Nick asked, arching an eyebrow. “I thought pilots were an extinct species after the bombs.”

“They were, but the Boomers want to bring back the tradition,” Pearl said. “I’m one of their leaders. We’re from Vault 34, originally, but now we’re in Nellis Air Force Base. I was in a flight simulator when I was pulled here.”

So, not all of the Vaults were deathtraps after all.

“Fascinating,” Dr. Braun said. “I think I remember the plans for your Vault. It vas home to a massive armory, and everyone in the Vault could own a veapon, correct?”

The Vaults were ineffective deathtraps.

“Yes,” Mother Pearl said, both nodding and frowning. “But the damn Overseer wouldn’t let us keep our guns, which is why most of us left. Haven’t heard a word from the old place in years. It doesn’t help that we fire artillery at anything that so much as steps a toe within a mile of our perimeter.”

“As a scout that’s been on the receiving end once, your people have one hell of a gated community,” Veronica said with a shake of her head.

“As much as I enjoy conversation, and I hate to be a stick in the mud,” Nick said, setting down his now-empty mug. “But with how unreliable technology is, maybe the sooner we get at this, the better? I’d hate to meet my maker because some two-century old server crapped out on us. Do you have a plan to get us out of this jam, Miss Sparkle?”

The four others around the table looked at her expectantly.

“I do, Mr. Valentine, and Twilight will do just fine,” she said with a smile as she turned to Dr. Braun. “Did you notice that we’re all humans in Equestria?”

“Now that you mention it, ve should be ponies if we’re on this side of the portal,” Dr. Braun replied, scratching the back of her head. “But if this is a vork of speculative fiction set in 2088, then the programmers assumed the formula for my serums vould be perfected, allowing full humans in Equestria or Ponies on Earth.”

“So you’re suggesting we take some medicine and turn into things like the cat-bird over there?” Pearl asked, pointing to the gryphon cook. “Will it work on Nick? He doesn't exactly look biological.”

"Who knows?” Nick said, "When I'm hurt, I reach for a toolbox rather than a Stimpak, but we’re inside of a simulation and literal magic is involved. I give it a fifty-fifty shot. Dr. Braun, you worked with simulations before, what do you think?"

“Magic is very adaptive,” Dr. Braun said. “I’m curious as to vhat the simulation vill decide to turn you into since the program is likely based off DNA samples from my first contact vith Equestria. If it goes off vhat it thinks ve should be, I’ll turn into a gryphon.”

“I guess I’ll have to take your word on it, Doc,” Nick said.

“So, what are we doing, ultimately?" Sergeant Dornan grumbled. “Turn into a bunch of ponies and walk into Canterlot?”

“Something like that,” Twilight answered with a smile.

<>~<>~<>

It was a short walk to the medical tent. Twilight took the lead, following instructions given to her by one of the cooks.

The interior of the tent smelled of antiseptic and heavy cleaning chemicals. It was exactly what Twilight expected a hospital to smell like. Partitions blocked sightlines around most of the tent, separating the single large room of the tent into dozens of tiny rooms for individual sickbeds.

A human woman wearing an army uniform and doctor’s coat greeted them. Twilight didn’t know what their gold bar rank pin meant.

“Hello, Colonel Sparkle,” Mirian said. At least that was her name according to her tag which Twilight glanced at as Mirian saluted her. “What brings you to my medical tent?”

“Do you have transformation serums?” Twilight asked as she returned the salute and quickly dropped it. Mirian dropped her salute as well. “I need my team and I to be ponies for an important mission.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mirian snapped off in a crisp reply. “I’ll go get them right away.”

Twilight smiled warmly and shook Mirian's hand, thanking her.

As the doctor stepped away, Twilight heard Veronica chuckle.

“Well that was easy,” she said.

"Being polite can open many doors," Twilight said, smiling. The plan was coming together nicely. She turned to face Sergeant Dornan, and braced herself for what she was about to ask. “Could you get out of your power armor, please?”

“I’m not leaving my father’s power armor behind,” Sergeant Dornan said heatedly. Twilight knew the relic was personal to her, even in a simulation. According to Sergeant Dornan, her father had died wearing that same suit. It was dented and banged up, and creaked as she walked. Not good for a stealth mission.

Twilight was about to make a counterpoint as to why it was important to leave it behind, but Sergeant Dornan said something that Twilight had never expected to hear from the aggressive soldier.

“Please?” she whispered. "It's all I have left of him."

Twilight worked her jaw several times as her brain processed what had transpired. Then Veronica only added to the confusion as she joined Sergeant Dornan’s side and faced Twilight.

“I mean,” Veronica said slowly, waving her powerfist around. “We could use some heavy armor if things go wrong. If we’re taking a vehicle to Canterlot, we can just throw her under a sheet, right? The transformation potions transform the clothes we’re wearing, don’t they? Or am I going to have to get naked around strangers?”

“They do transform most clothes,” Dr. Braun said. “But ve’ve never tested it vith power armor… then again, the power armor ve sent through the portal vorked fine.” She cupped her chin and hummed. “It vould be a risk, but the benefits may outveigh the danger.”

With most of the group on Sergeant Dornan’s side with the issue, Twilight relented. They had made some good points. She had considered going without the armor under her greatcoat so she could blend in, but if the Equestrian army was supplied with human equipment, then maybe they would be able to slip by dressed as soldiers regardless. She would have to check with the quartermaster to see if there were any Equestrian Army uniforms in stock for a disguise.

“So, how confident are you with this stealth mission of yours?” Nick asked.

“Have any of you ever heard of Fortresses and Freaks?” Twilight asked.

“Ooh, I love zhat game,” Dr. Braun said so excitedly that her voice briefly slipped back to male. She blushed and shook her head, and her voice returned to female. “Sorry… but yes, I love F and F. I vas a guest for a few sessions vith the dev team that likely made this simulation. I played Vagner, the flying lizard vizard.”

It was sounding more and more like what Spike had described to her when she had asked him once what he, Discord, and Big Macintosh got up to on the weekends.

“If the developers of the simulation made this anything like Ogres and Oubliettes, then the developers likely left us multiple paths,” Twilight said. General Chase had said that formulating the plan for taking the city would be ‘at her discretion’. The nod from Dr. Braun redoubled Twilight’s confidence in the mission she’d planned.

Twilight could hear the footsteps of the doctor growing louder as she made her way back to them. It was time to put all their theories to the test.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight watched the snow-covered Equestria below as she rode through the sky in the back of a large wagon pulled by Pearl and Dr. Braun. Pearl had been overjoyed to be a pegasus, and Twilight occasionally heard a giggle or an ‘oh my god I can’t believe this’ from her every few minutes. Additionally, Dr. Braun had been correct in her assessment that the simulation would turn her into a gryphon rather than a unicorn.

Veronica sat on Twilight’s left, idly calibrating her powerfist with a screwdriver while humming a tune that Twilight couldn’t follow. The melody kept changing like a radio playlist set to randomly shuffle. Nick was on Twilight’s other side, adjusting the boots hiding his metal and plastic legs. Veronica, Nick, and Twilight rode on one side to offset the weight of Sergeant Dornan, who lay on the floor of the other side of the cart. A sheet had been draped over the armored bulk of the sergeant to conceal their stash of weapons and combat armor, Veronica’s powerfist the sole exception.

"Your country is beautiful," Nick said, finished with his boots. Like Twilight, he had turned into a unicorn, though his body had remained a mix of plastic and metal. The off-white, almost beige color to his skin and his lack of hair made him look like a ponyquin come to life. That look had been Twilight’s inspiration to accessorize him during her second visit to the quartermaster.

Snow boots, a winter jacket, scarf, sunglasses, and black stetson hat helped hide his robotic appearance. The quartermaster had said the hat was only supposed to be issued to cavalry scouts. Twilight’s Colonel rank and Sergeant Dornan yelling at the corporal had been enough to break protocol.

"It's so strange seeing how much the developers got right," Twilight replied, admiring the towers and buildings populating the mountainside. Canterlot and the mountain range were almost perfectly recreated, and they would arrive there within an hour or less of flying by Twilight’s best guess. Or at least, underneath it, looking for a sewer entrance. Everyone had to do their business, even royalty like Princess Celestia.

“Um, Frau Sparkle.” The concerned undertones in Dr. Braun’s voice snapped Twilight’s attention away from the city and to her, but quickly redirected to where Dr. Braun pointed. “Do you see two pegasi, too? I don’t see any armor on them, but I think they’re in uniforms.”

With her normal unicorn eyes, Twilight could only make out the fact there were two small dots growing closer and closer.

“Okay, everypony, act natural,” Twilight blurted. “Does everyone remember the words I taught you when speaking to ponies?”

“Yes, men are stallions, mares are women, and it's everypony instead of everyone,” Veronica said, shoving her powerfist and tools under the cover with Sergeant Dornan and the rest of their gear.

They trundled through the air in silence, until the two pegasi stallions wearing olive drab uniforms ordered Pearl and Braun to stop the cart as they reached them. One hung back as the other closed the last of the distance. It gave Twilight a good look at his uniform. Rather than U.S. Army patches, he had an R.E. Army patch below an Equestrian flag on his right sleeves. From what Twilight could tell, the two pegasi were nearly identical, and both only carried pistols and batons. They had armbands on their forelegs marked ‘MP’ in bold black letters.

“Your group needs to turn back now,” the stallion said firmly through a frown. His narrowed eyes trailed over everyone. “Canterlot is under lockdown, we can’t let you any closer to the city. The humans told us to evacuate so we’re expecting a big attack soon.”

“Hello, officers,” Twilight said, forcing a smile as she patted Sergeant Dornan’s armor. A signal to get ready to fight, though it may not be necessary. They weren’t even wearing combat armor. But how could Twilight discreetly convey that to Dornan?

“We really need to get to Canterlot to deliver some important supplies,” Twilight said, then her smile turned genuine. “How dangerous can things be if you two are flying all the way out here with only pistols and no armor?”

Sergeant Dornan shifted ever so slightly under the sheet. She was ready.

“Supplies?” The officer hanging out in the back asked. “Ask them, ‘what kind’, Dustcloud.”

Before Twilight could answer the pegasus in the back, Dustcloud asked, “What kind of supplies?”

Twilight tensed up as he leaned over the railing and reached for the covers, only for Sergeant Dornan to leap up. Pearl and Dr. Braun yelped as the cart shifted at the armored mare’s sudden movement.

“YOU ARE OUT OF UNIFORM, SOLDIER, WHERE IS YOUR COMBAT ARMOR!” Sergeant Dornan screamed. Dustcloud back-flapped his wings like the words had hit him as physically as a cannon blast.

“I d-don’t—”

“DON’T HAVE ANY!? YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT, MAGGOT!?” Sergeant Dornan continued to scream as she leaned over the cart railing, her voice echoing off the mountains. Three mountains over from Canterlot, an avalanche erupted. “TRUTH IS, YOU’VE LOST A PIECE OF ARMY ISSUE EQUIPMENT. THAT SUIT IS COMING OUT OF YOUR PAY, AND YOU WILL REMAIN IN THIS MARE’S ARMY UNTIL YOU ARE FIVE-HUNDRED AND TEN YEARS OLD, WHICH IS HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE YOU TO REPLACE THE EQUIPMENT WHICH YOU HAVE LOST!” Sergeant Dornan slammed a hoof into the wagon’s railing, causing it to crack. She pointed at Canterlot with a swing of her foreleg so fierce that Twilight swore it should have dislocated her own shoulder with the move. “NOW FLY BACK TO THE ARMORY AND DON’T GO BACK ON PATROL UNTIL YOU ARE PROPERLY EQUIPPED FOR COMBAT, SOLDIER!”

“Wha—”

“DISSSS-MISSED!”

The speed at which the pair turned tail would have made Rainbow Dash green with envy. Seconds after the pair were out of earshot, everyone in the cart burst out laughing.

Veronica was the first to recover enough to speak.

“Hahah, where did you learn that tirade, girl?” Veronica asked, holding up a hoof for the power-armored soldier to bump, which Sergeant Dornan did only after a moment of staring at it.

“My father was legendary around Navarro for catching anyone out of uniform,” Sergeant Dornan said, rubbing at her throat. From the tremor in her voice, Twilight swore that Dornan was crying under the helmet. “Hope I made him proud.”

“I’m sure you did,” Veronica said. Then Twilight heard her muttering a second later. “Hope I can make Elijah as proud of me as your father would be of you, wherever he is.”

From how Veronica spoke of Elijah, Twilight knew he must have been very important to her. A father figure, perhaps?

“Alright, everypony,” Pearl joked, “we’ve had a laugh. Let’s get moving. My old bones aren’t too keen to keep pulling everyone, much as I love flying.”

And with that, the giggles and snickers of everypony in the cart died down.

<>~<>~<>

Behind one of the many waterfalls cascading off of Canterlot was a metal grate with a lock. A lock so simple that Nick Valentine was sure that he could pick it with just a look.

Which was good, because he was just looking at it… while concentrating on using a bobby pin and screwdriver. Focusing on manipulating an object without physically touching it was harder than it looked. Colonel Sparkle had made moving things with her mind seem easy.

With the waterfall blocking sight of them, and the cart parked on a rocky shelf, the opportunity to practice his new telekinesis presented itself as everyone else collected their Royal Equestrian Army uniforms and weapons.

Veronica and Pearl were going to stay behind and guard the cart as everyone else snuck through the sewers, hopefully finding a way into the palace, or at least a ‘ponyhole’ exit nearby

With one last twist, the lock popped open, and Nick swung the grate on its squealing, rusty hinge.

“How did you know this was here?” Sergeant Dornan asked Colonel Sparkle as she took the lead of the group. “Like, would the developers have accurate knowledge of Canterlot’s sewer systems?”

“Canterlot has an extensive and well documented sewer system,” Twilight replied. “All the developers needed to do was check out the ‘Municipal Architecture of Canterlot’ from the library.”

“And zey are F&F players,” Dr. Braun added. “There are alvays sewers. Be on the lookout. Zey could have populated the tunnels vith who knows what.”

<>~<>~<>

“SCHEISSE!” Dr. Braun screamed on Twilight’s left, clutching her smoking talons. The black slime that Dr. Braun had cut into with her talons was acidic. Worse, it had split into two separate—but still living—slimes.

Twilight leapt over the third, still whole slime and blasted it with a bolt of magic from her horn. Nick Valentine scooped up the wounded slime with his magic and shoved it into the canal of sewer water.

“You okay, Braun?” Twilight asked, reaching Dr. Braun and flinging the two slimes away from the gryphon. She’d flown ahead of the group to scout.

“Nein, verdammt neue Ausgaben,” Dr. Braun muttered, massaging her talons. The smoking digits had cracked, and were dripping blood like a leaky faucet. Twilight removed a stimpak from her saddlebags and injected it into Dr. Braun, who's pained expression slackened. “Danke, Frau Sparkle.”

“You’re welcome,” Twilight said with a smile. There was a ladder leading up to a ponyhole cover. Twilight climbed the ladder, looking back to the others. “Come on, by my guess we should be close to the palace by now.”

Besides the slimes, which were slow and light enough that they could easily be picked up and thrown away with magic, there hadn’t been anything blocking their path.

Twilight pushed the ponyhole cover away and poked her head out of the sewer.

The barrel of an assault rifle pressed into the back of her head.

“Turn around, slowly,” A stallion ordered. A stallion whose voice she recognized.

Turning her head, Twilight saw Dustcloud wearing full combat armor.

He chuckled.

“I’ll admit, it took me a moment to remember that we don’t have that style of power armor in our inventory,” Dustcloud said, shaking his head. “Either way, one suit won’t stop the platoon coming up behind you. We’ve already caught your friends, so just lay down your weapons and come with me to the dungeon.”

Well… shit.

Chapter 48: Operation Starfall pt.3

View Online

Daniel shifted in the office chair, but its original cushioning had been lost over the last two centuries. Specialist Olin sat in her own equally-uncomfortable chair beside him, watching the same terminal screen that he was. Twilight had been inside the pod for only twenty minutes, but Daniel's worry over her safety, the heat from the running servers, and the unbearable chairs made it feel like decades had passed.

"What's going on in there?" Daniel muttered, face underlit by the lambent glow of the screen. The information it offered was the only link they had to Twilight while she was in the pod, scant as the information was. The time elapsed outside the simulation, the time experienced within it, and Twilight's pulse and respiration rate, among other medical details.

Twilight's heart rate had temporarily spiked again before leveling out. If only the terminal would tell him exactly what was going on in the simulation, or even better, a screen to see from Twilight's point of view.

Specialist Olin tsked and shook her head, face creasing.

"I don't know, but these numbers don't add up," she said. The memory usage was in the terabytes, and the CPU heat should have melted plastic by now. "She's experiencing time in the simulation faster than us outside of it. Speed that fast shouldn't be possible, even with the best pre-war supercomputers. But what’s most concerning is the storage space. It’s almost full, like there are far more files shoved into the servers than there should be. Hang on a second."

Specialist Olin pursed her lips and skittered her fingers across the keys in a complex dance of dexterous movement. She navigated through menus and submenus with missile-like speed. Daniel sat up higher in his chair to try to learn as much as she could.

She opened the command prompt and typed a string of inputs, and Daniel turned away to squint at the faded, open copy of Programmer's Digest propped up on the console the terminal sat upon. It was like working out the metro tunnel map, and Specialist Olin was too fast for him to keep up.

"I'm going to see if I can get the system information after overclocking the CPU fans to try and cool the servers down," Specialist Olin said before he had even thought to ask what she was doing. “The room’s about to get even worse for us.”

“Good,” Daniel said. “Maybe you can see why the pod closed early on Twilight while you're at it.”

Behind them, the servers let out an ominous groan as the exhaust fans kicked into overdrive. The temperature in the pod room instantly climbed to toasty levels as the server banks shed more heat directly into the room; a clear design flaw with putting all the servers so close together. At least the door leading into the pod room was open, allowing fresh air in, though it wasn't enough to stop Daniel tugging at his already sweaty shirt collar.

He regretted it as his furred fingers came back damp, which he tried to wipe off on his pants, but they too were soaked through.

Specialist Olin jerked.

"Holy shit."

Specialist Olin's shock hit him with the force of a super mutant behemoth. Before he’d recovered enough to enquire what was going on, she spun the terminal screen to face him. On it was a system log detailing more information than the basic diagnostics. Her command prompts had worked.

Daniel's eyes flitted over the information as fast as a shooting star as he scanned for whatever had startled Specialist Olin so badly.

He found it, and his blood ran cold while the fur on the back of his neck stood on end.

"How could you miss something like that before we sent her in!?"

<>~<>~<>

“—and when the countess sat down, her chair was missing, and Princess Celestia got kicked out of the bar again!”

The two guards down the hall exploded in raucous laughter that was so infectious and hearty that Twilight almost joined them… almost.

Being locked in the dungeon under Canterlot Palace had put a damper on her mood. But there was a bright side. The group was even closer to their objective than when they had emerged from the sewers. If only they could escape.

“Vell, they are awfully chatty,” Dr. Braun quietly remarked from her seated position in front of Twilight, who was busy using Dr. Braun’s talons like scribing tools on the stone floor.

Was it two lefts and a right… or three lefts and two rights? Twilight couldn't recall the route they had taken into the dungeon after interrogation. The end result of her attempts at a map were more like a game of drunken tic-tac-toe than an escape route.

"Princess Celestia is a notorious prankster," Twilight stated, scrunching her face and releasing her telekinetic grip on Dr. Braun's talons. Twilight wasn't giving up, but she needed a break after the last ten minutes of scratching at the floor. "She once gave my friends and I tickets to a stuffy formal ball knowing we'd find some way to liven up the night."

Twilight cringed as just mentioning that night dredged up old memories. The Grand Galloping Gala had been a train wreck hauling dumpster fires.

“So, did you?” Veronica asked. She was reclining with her hooves behind her head in the bottom bunk of a bunk-bed, one of three in their cell.

“The fact I sometimes try to forget that night should tell you a lot,” Twilight said sheepishly as she got up, catching sight of Sergeant Dornan as she paced back and forth around the cell. Outside of her power armor, the earth pony mare had a coat the color of a toasted marshmallow, a jet-black mane, and hazel-colored eyes.

“Gah!” Sergeant Dornan snapped. “This was a stupid plan. I’m not going to die like a dog in a cage. I want to go down fighting for my country with a rifle in my hands!” She did a double take as she stared down at her forelegs. “Hooves… fuck! Not even a human.”

“Calm down, I don’t think they want to kill us,” Nick Valentine said, moving a chess piece. He and Pearl were playing a game at a table in the back of the cell. Although the latter was too busy staring longingly out of the cell window at the wide open Equestrian sky to move her pieces. “Our lockup here is far nicer than any I’ve seen.”

“And you’ve seen many?” Princess Celestia asked curiously.

All heads whipped around to the front of the cell, and Twilight’s jaw practically unhinged with how fast it dropped.

Princess Celestia was flawlessly recreated, from her clean alabaster-white coat, to her radiant and regal golden regalia, her stern yet motherly smile, and all the way to the distinct ethereal wind perpetually blowing her liquid-like watercolor-rainbow mane.

Before Twilight could stop herself, she bowed to her.

“It is a strange notion that my enemy bows to me,” Princess Celestia chuckled mirthfully, but there was a stern and powerful undercurrent to her jovial mood. There was something about Princess Celestia’s accent that Twilight could tell was… off. “Rise and look me eye to eye. I wish to judge your countenance and culpability, not your abasement.”

The answer came to Twilight quickly. The accent was not off, but outdated. The way Ponish was spoken had shifted ever so-slightly in the two hundred years since the programmers had a reference to build this Celestia off of. Twilight had to remind herself that this wasn’t the real Princess Celestia as she rose to meet the judging, critical eyes of her second mother.

The false Princess Celestia eyed Twilight with the same intensity as the real one, scanning over her, before she shifted to look upon everyone else in the cell. She lingered on Dr. Braun the longest, the only non-pony in the cell.

“Do you wish me harm, Twilight Sparkle?” Princess Celestia asked, returning her piercing gaze to Twilight.

“N-No, Princess Celestia!” Twilight blurted, backstepping at the sudden use of her name by the Princess. Sure, Twilight knew she had given her name to the guards during questioning, but something about Princess Celestia using it caught her flat-hoofed. “Never. I wanted to ask you to surrender peacefully. This war has been going on far too long. There is a peaceful way out.”

Princess Celestia’s soft, caring smile faltered.

“Peace enforced by the barrel of a gun is no peace at all,” Princess Celestia said, horn glowing. The cell door unlocked and swung open with a glimmer of sunlight-gold magic. She stepped back and motioned with her head to follow. “What history shall be forged when that gunbarrel lowers away, and the rage of the subjugated can be unleashed?”

Twilight had to take a moment to unscramble the meaning behind the archaic phrasing, before catching herself idling and obeyed Princess Celestia's suggestion, exiting the cell. The meaning behind the Princess's words was that forcing a peaceful resolution through the use of violent coercion was only opening the door for further violence later.

Sergeant Dornan scoffed from behind as she, too, followed Twilight out of the cell with the others in tow. Princess Celestia made no move to stop them.

“And what if the gun never lowers?” Sergeant Dornan asked, surprising Twilight. She didn’t take the Sergeant as someone pushing for a debate.

“You are Sergeant Dornan, correct?” Princess Celestia asked, prompting Sergeant Dornan to nod. “With that being a valid question on your lips, then you know why I cannot surrender my subjects to subjugation. A life under the unmoving and uncaring boot of another is no life at all. Your country tore itself away from the British empire for much the same reason.”

Twilight caught Sergeant Dornan, Nick Valentine, and Dr. Braun react with subtle facial expressions like squints or eye blinks as comprehension dawned on them. Twilight didn’t have the historical context to make the same connections they likely were, not exactly, but Princess Celestia did bring up a good argument.

“I read that this whole war started after a lynching,” Twilight said as Princess Celestia turned away from the cell, presenting her backside to the group as she walked down the hall. Twilight could still read the tense body language coming from Princess Celestia. Especially after she added, “One carried out by ponies.”

“While I do not condone vigilante justice,” Princess Celestia’s voice was stern, but tinged with sorrow. “I also do not condone murderers and rapists freely preying on my citizens. I tried negotiating with America after the lynching, but the first domino had fallen. The murder of a single US citizen was justification enough to cry for war.”

Twilight didn’t know how to respond, and simply fell silent as she followed Princess Celestia.

Past the cells and down the hall, the group neared where the chatty guards were stationed. They made to fall-in to flank Princess Celestia, but she bade them away with a hoof wave. If it was anyone else, Twilight would have thought it irresponsible or overly cocky to turn their back to the enemy on top of sending the guards away, but after seeing Princess Celestia blow a power-armored gryphon apart in the real Equestria, Twilight knew that the guards were mostly for show anyways.

They had nearly made it to a set of stairs before Princess Celestia suddenly stopped, took three steps back, then knocked her hoof on a brick in the wall low to the floor six times in a small tune.

“Fish whistle,” Princess Celestia muttered. A crack split the wall and the bricks folded backwards to reveal a wooden platform at the bottom of a long brick shaft. Princess Celestia wasted no time getting on. The platform was big enough for everyone, and then some.

“Why ‘fish whistle’?” Pearl asked with a giggle. “Sounds like a funny code word.”

Princess Celestia chortled. “When escaping prison, would you shout ‘fish whistle’ at the walls looking for the secret elevator?”

She had a point, Twilight thought as they approached the elevator and stepped on.

Pearl spun around in place then looked straight up the elevator shaft. A grin spread across her elderly features. “Princess Celestia, may I fly up the elevator shaft?”

“I don’t see why not,” Princess Celestia replied. “A soldier of advanced years such as you is no threat to my guards if you wander off.”

Pearl either didn’t care Princess Celestia called her old or didn’t hear as she took off up the elevator shaft, giggling like a filly on Hearth’s Warming Eve who was just given a wrapped book heavy enough to be the textbook she had asked all year for.

Twilight pursed her lips as Princess Celestia’s horn glowed and the elevator rose. The analogy would probably fit better if it was toys instead of textbooks. Twilight didn’t know of any other fillies who begged their parents for ‘Advanced Alchemy 101’. Regardless if the analogy worked or not, Pearl was ecstatic, circling the rising elevator with fillyish squeals of delight.

Princess Celestia watched the older mare with a soft smile.

The elevator neared the top of the shaft before it stopped at a ledge jutting out into the elevator shaft from a hallway. Everyone stepped into the hall, and Twilight relaxed her muscles. She hadn’t realized she had tensed up in the first place, but it was warranted. Neither the elevator or the ledge leading into the hallway had guardrails.

“Where are we going?” Twilight finally thought to ask. If this Princess Celestia was being so amicable and kind to prisoners, then maybe she would answer.

“My throne room,” Princess Celestia replied as they reached a not-so-dead-end in the hall. Princess Celestia pressed a brick and the wall split open like the one at the bottom of the shaft.

Beyond the threshold was an immaculate polished-marble-floored room with a single large throne on a golden dais at the back beneath a stained glass window. Floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows were spaced evenly around the circular curving walls.

Twilight instantly recognized Princess Celestia’s old throne room. The one she’d had before it was remodeled after Princess Luna’s return. Curiously, Sergeant Dornan’s power armor was standing open and ready for an occupant next to the dias, surrounded by the rest of the group’s confiscated gear laying on a sheet, including their guns.

Why would Princess Celestia leave their guns out in the open like that? Twilight could just grab one with her telekinesis. Or Nick. Something was… wrong. Twilight didn’t know what it was. Princess Celestia ascended the dias and sat on her throne, facing the group. She had a scowl on her face.

“You came here in disguise,” she said, shaking her head like a disapproving teacher, “dressed in the uniform of my soldiers, armed with lethal weapons, and skulking through the sewers on the way to my palace. Yet you claim you came here for peace. You are here to prove that might makes right.”

Twilight’s ears folded back. It had been a stupid plan that could easily be misinterpreted as an assassination attempt.

“I know how it seems,” Twilight said, stumbling over an explanation to deescalate the situation. She glanced at the weapons on the floor and thought back to the earlier debate between Sergeant Dornan and Princess Celestia. Twilight knew that she was coming for a peaceful resolution, but how to get the point across to this archaic version of Princess Celestia? A Celestia that would have never known her. Maybe if Twilight phrased her counterpoint correctly?

Twilight had her answer, and she puffed out her chest.

Twilight proclaimed as theatrically as she could, “If might makes right, and the pen is mightier than the sword, may blood and blade need not be used when ink and quill offer superior substitutes?"

Silence hung in the air like a lurking predator, Princess Celestia glared down from her throne. She leaned back, grinned, then let out a short and happy laugh.

“Well spoken, Twilight Sparkle. Tell me, how is the real Equestria fairing?” Princess Celestia asked. Twilight and the others jerked back. “I know this isn’t real. You are far too young to be a United States Colonel, Dr. Braun has disguised himself but gave over his name during interrogation, and both he and Pearl are past retirement age. Veronica and Sergeant Dornan are the only two I wouldn’t be suspicious of.” She turned and nodded to Nick. “As for you, Nick, well met, kindred spirit.”

Nick studied her with a critical eye, squinting, and asking in a half-mutter, “Someone mind filling me in on what the heck is going on here?”

“Uhm,” Dr. Braun stammered, shifting uneasily as Princess Celestia focused on her. “Vell, it seems General Chase may have stolen brain scans of Princess Celestia during her two trips through Operation Anchorage. Like you and I, Nick, she’s a copy of memories in a machine.”

“You’re a brain scan, too, Dr. Braun?” Princess Celestia asked politely. “I was aware that some time has passed, but I’m not sure how long I have been like—” she pointed a hoof to herself, then gestured vaguely around the room, “—this.”

“I am indeed a copy of Dr. Braun’s memories,” Dr. Braun said, scratching the back of her head. “A lot has changed since you last saw me. Vould you mind referring to me as female, please? It’s been two centuries.”

Princess Celestia’s posture stiffened, like she was bracing herself against a physical blow. Learning that she had missed out on two centuries was a lot to take in, so Twilight chose that point to interject and hopefully soften the blow.

“Equestria, as well as the original version of you, is still alive and well.” More or less, but Twilight didn’t want to overburden Princess Celestia with the knowledge that Equestria had lost Canterlot and Cloudsdale to nuclear attacks. “Also, Princess Luna has recently returned and was freed of Nightmare Moon’s control with the Elements of Harmony by my friends and I.”

Princess Celestia’s mood brightened tenfold, and she rose from her seat with a cheer, “Marvelous, it’s nice to know the Elements found new bearers. Tell me, how is America fairing? This simulation has to be ancient by human standards if two centuries have passed.”

Princess Celestia’s horn glowed, and all of the discarded equipment laying on the floor was wrapped in a golden telekinetic glow. It flew over to the group, and combat armor began to click back into place, weapons slid into holsters, and helmets were placed back over heads.

Princess Celestia was playing along with the simulation if Twilight had to guess.

“America still exists,” Sergeant Dornan said, quickly jumping back into her power armor. It sealed around her with a clatter and hiss. The minigun on the side gave a test spin as the armor systems booted up.

“But there is a nuance to it,” Veronica added sheepishly, scratching the back of her head with the metal plate on her power-fist.

Twilight could tell from the way Princess Celestia winced that she knew what that nuance was.

“Not all is lost,” Twilight interjected. “There is stable travel between the worlds, and Equestria is going to help America rebuild. A big step in that process is disenchanting the original mirror portal to this world, which was damaged by the nuclear bombs, but it’s locked behind an armored door that needs me to finish a simulation to unlock. I’m only in this simulation rather than Operation Anchorage because of some sort of Enclave code on my Pip-Boy.”

“I see,” Princess Celestia said with a sigh, her shoulders slumping. “If there is a real-world need for my surrender, then there is no sense dragging this game out as long as we can to truly have some fun with it. At least I thought to rearm and re-armor you.” She sat on her haunches and raised both hooves. “For the good of all, I surrender.”

Twilight smiled and started approaching Princess Celestia while flanked by her companions. Thoughts of getting out and returning to Daniel was on her mind, but also a sense of sadness weighing her hooves. She slowed and looked at the people accompanying her. Sure, she didn’t know most of them for long, but she liked to think of them as friends after their brief experience together.

Pearl, a happy, carefree pilot with a love of the open skies. Nick, the epitome of the hard-boiled detective with a robotic twist. Sergeant Dornan, a soldier with a love of her country and a desire to make her father proud… Veronica she knew the least about, but had a good opinion of her after she stood up for Sergeant Dornan. And lastly, Dr. Braun, who… suddenly lunged at Princess Celestia, tackling her as a bolt of white lightning shot over them.

Snapped out of her temporary reverie, Twilight shot her gaze to the source of the bolt and cried out in shock. Nightmare Moon?

No, the onyx black alicorn standing on the dias of Princess Celestia’s throne was a stallion with deep ruby red eyes, and a cutie mark of an ‘E’ surrounded by stars.

“If you want something done right, you have to roll up your sleeves and do it yourself,” The stallion growled. Twilight knew his voice. A voice she had heard weeks ago coming from an eyebot’s radio.

Lightning danced across President Eden’s horn, and he pointed it right at Twilight.

“I think it’s time for you to die, mutant.”

Twilight poured everything she could into a shield around the group, the lightning blast meant for them bouncing off the curved surface like a mirror and blasting a parking-lot sized hole in the ceiling.

Masonry and rubble the size of wagons fell into the throne room as the domed ceiling of the throne room collapsed in on itself. It took everything Twilight had to keep her shield up as blow after blow came. Princess Celestia joined her side, horn glowing as she joined Twilight in holding back the tide of rubble. After several long, tense moments, the tide subsided.

But that was only one problem dealt with. Twilight couldn’t see Eden through the thick clouds of dust kicked up by the collapsing roof. The dust rolled around the room like fog banks, obscuring anything past a few hooves outside of their shield dome.

“What the fuck was that!?” Veronica yelled, taking a defensive stance back to back with Sergeant Dornan.

“That sounded like President Eden,” Sergeant Dornan replied, doubt clear in her voice.

That shouldn’t be possible… Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Colonel Autumn had betrayed President Eden and blew his mainframe to scrap. Unless… Electrum had said that SOCOM got all of its portal information from President Eden. He had fled to the one place with enough servers and memory to store an AI like him.

“It has to be,” Twilight said, shaking her head. She squinted, trying to peer through the thick dust clouds. They were starting to settle, but it was still too thick to see through.

“So why is he a pega-corn?” Sergeant Dornan snarled, shifting her entire body to aim her side-mounted minigun. “Seems hypocritical of him to be a ‘mutant’ when Humans can exist here.”

A white flash inside the shield stunned Twilight long enough to send spots dancing across her vision. It was enough of a distraction that she didn’t see the glimmer of cold steel before it punched right through her armor and warmed up inside her chest.

She spit blood and wheezed as the knife twisted, grinding on ribs.

“To think like my enemy, I became my enemy,” Eden said, before flash-teleporting away, the knife leaving with him.

Twilight fell forward, vomiting a mix of bile and blood. The HP bar in her vision had shrunk by three quarters and was losing pips by the millisecond.

“Frau Sparkle!” Dr. Braun yelled, pulling out a stimpack and jamming it into Twilight’s flank. As soon as the needle slipped in, a quarter of the HP bar returned, and Twilight felt like she could breathe again.

She sprung to her hooves, eyes darting high and low in search of their adversary to no avail. Too many places and still too much dust.

“We’re—” Twilight coughed a few times and wiped away the last of the bloody phlegm that had come up from her mending lung, “—too exposed here. We need to leave.”

“I hate to break it to you, kid,” Nick said, a large-caliber snub-nosed revolver in his telekinetic grip. “But where can we go that he can’t just teleport to us? He appeared right in the middle of us to personally give you an Alcatraz Acupuncture right to the ribs. Something about that felt personal. Does this perp have beef with you?”

“It’s a long story,” Twilight said. She let out a sigh of relief as Dr. Braun gave her another stimpak, and her HP was almost full once more. “From what my friend Applejack said, Eden was under the notion that my friends and I are living weapons of mass destruction.”

“You accursed witches are a threat to America.” President Eden’s voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once, bouncing off the walls, the floor, and what remained of the ceiling. “There is no telling what power those artifacts hold. I will not allow my nation, my people, to become enthralled by eldritch sorcery. Equestria’s resources will help rebuild America. I have no need for its people. Even if you defeat me here, General Beckett has—”

“Already fucked around and found out!” Sergeant Dornan yelled, cutting him off.

Twilight turned to Princess Celestia, who had remained in the center of the shield, holding it up. Yes, Eden could teleport through it, but Twilight knew that the shield was the only thing keeping them from being blasted apart at range.

She also knew that President Eden leapt in and got out quickly. He wasn’t a melee fighter. And from how big of a blast his horn created, he couldn’t teleport into the shield to shoot them without catching himself in his own blast.

“Where should we go, Princess?” Twilight asked. “We can’t stay here where he has too many angles on us with too many places for him to hide.”

Princess Celestia scrunched her face, visibly running over a mental list of places. Her eyes widened.

The world flashed sunlight gold, but it wasn’t painful to her eyes like the harsh white light of President Eden’s magic. Twilight’s sight cleared quickly as she looked around.

They had appeared in a cobblestone plaza with a central fountain surrounded by stone buildings. Humans and ponies hurried back and forth between the buildings, with many stopping to gawk at their arrival. Twilight tracked one group—an even mix of humans and ponies—as they fled into the largest of the stone buildings in the plaza. A patch of grass out front held a flagstone half-wall with decorative bold metal letters spelling out Everfree Public Library. The building itself had a familiar shape, and it took Twilight several moments to realize that the library she was looking at was built on the foundations of the Castle of the Two Sisters.

The fountain in the center of the plaza was the orrery that held the Elements of Harmony.

Princess Celestia’s eyes flashed and her voice boomed with the Royal Canterlot Tone, “Everyone flee this place, you are in mortal peril.”

She then cast a shield over the group just in time to deflect a lightning bolt from above.

“Didn’t take him long to catch up!” Veronica groused.

Twilight growled. He was likely cheating. Somehow.

The dark black alicorn landed in the plaza and sneered at a human who had picked up a pony and ran with her over his shoulders. The unicorn had a bright gold ring over her horn, matched with a gold ring on his ring finger.

“Is this how you see humanity’s future?” President Eden growled, stopping the pair in their tracks. The man backpedaled and tried to spin around. “Kowtowing and cavorting with… with beasts?”

Eden’s horn crackled with lightning.

Twilight watched as if it were slow motion, the lightning discharge from his horn and snake through the air towards the married couple. So much like herself and Daniel. The pair were young, and had a long future ahead of them. Or would…

The lightning crawled through the air in jittering waves, jumping and redirecting from point to point like a drunkard stumbling through the streets.

The lightning slammed into Sergeant Dornan’s power armor as she jumped between the bolts and the married couple. Lightning dancing across the metal plates and illuminating the pony within in a radioactive-blue flash. The sound of the impact was like a cannon loaded with brass bells, and Sergeant Dornan flew away from President Eden in a shower of destroyed armor plates, sailing over the couple who ducked under the Enclave-soldier-turned-missile.

Sergeant Dornan’s flying arc ended with her crashing into the fountain. The stones perched on the arms of the orrery pitched off from their mounts and smashed into the ground, shattering like the Sergeant’s armor.

“Dornan!” Veronica yelled, rushing out of the shield and to the fallen soldier. Twilight charged right after, praying under her breath with each hoof fall that somehow the Sergeant was okay. Twilight was already levitating out stimpaks from everyone's supplies.

“Hehehehe… pathetic,” President Eden gloated. “Go ahead, run, group up together. It’ll make disposing of you weak mutants easier.”

Twilight ground her teeth. President Eden was a villain. She hated him. Hated him because he hated her and all of Equestria. She needed to stop him… she needed—

She skidded to a halt as the mare in smoking, busted armor shifted and stood with jerky, pained movements and a loud groan. Water sloshed off her ruined armor, and the power-pack on the backside sparked dangerously. It was likely Sergeant Dornan was only moving the armor out of raw earth pony strength and sheer will alone.

“Pathetic!?” Dornan yelled in defiance, forcing a grinding step forward out of the fountain in her creaking, unpowered armor, helmet muffling her but her natural furious volume punching her words through the dead helmet so all could hear. “I AM SERGEANT ASHLEY DORNAN, AND I WILL DIE DEFENDING MY COUNTRYMEN, NO MATTER THEIR RACE, CREED, COLOR, OR FUCKING SPECIES! NO MATTER WHAT SHAPE THEY COME IN, I WILL DEFEND AMERICANS.”

Twilight would have cheered if she was on the sidelines and not actively part of the battle. That was true loyalty right there. Rainbow Dash would have been proud.

“And how are you going to stop me?” President Eden belittled her with a dismissive eye roll and pointed his horn at the gaping hole in her armor. “You took one blast. I doubt you will survive another.”

Twilight rushed to join Sergeant Dornan’s side.

“She won’t have to take another, because she isn’t fighting this alone!” Twilight yelled, feeling a familiar stirring in her breast. Her horn glowed, and the shards around the fountain began to glow and rise, along with Twilight, Sergeant Dornan, and the four others in her group. “She has friends!”

“What!?” Eden yelled, firing a lightning blast, but Princess Celestia deflected it with a wall of golden light.

A shard flew towards Sergeant Dornan’s destroyed armor, the gaping hole mending as the armor reforged itself anew, most of the armor turning olive green while the pauldrons repainted themselves with red and white stripes and a field of blue covered in silver stars.

“Sergeant Dornan,” Twilight said, the magic flowing in the air giving her far more insight than she once had. “Loyal to the true ideals of freedom and democracy you yourself had shouted over the radio but never meant, willing to put her own life on the line to protect others, and that idea represents the Element of Loyalty.”

“No! It can’t end like this!” Eden yelled, realizing what was happening. Twilight knew he had read her journal.

There was a noise in the air, the sound of magic beginning to build as the stone pebbles, leaves, and dust began to swirl around the area. A second shard floated to Pearl, transmuting into the shape of a pair of gold wings sprouting off a gold smiley-face. It pinned itself to her chest like a military medal.

“Pearl, with a happy heart soaring through the sky, enjoying the freedom with a smile on her face, represents the Element of Laughter.”

Another shard, this one to Veronica, turned into a fine black silk cocktail dress that slipped like liquid under her armor, replacing the uniform she’d been wearing.

“Veronica, who was able to relate to a sworn enemy of her faction over common ground and confide in that enemy represents the Element of Kindness.”

“I have no idea what’s going on but this is so cool!” Veronica yelled over the sound of building up magical energy in the air. It was growing to a fever pitch now.

A fourth shard, to Nick, turned into a golden police badge.

“Nick Valentine, the Boston detective, always on the case and unwaveringly honest, not stopping until he gets the crook, represents the Element of Honesty.”

“I always said it was my best policy,” Nick chuckled as the star pinned itself to the military armor he wore.

The last of the small shards floated to Dr. Braun, turning into a simple golden hair-comb that settled into her mane.

“And lastly, Dr. Braun, who, um… took in ponies from Equestria into her personal vault, allowing them to survive earth’s destruction. She represents the Element of Generosity.”

“If you really knew me two centuries ago you’d say this is a big stretch,” Dr. Braun said dismissively.

“Just roll with it, girl,” Veronica said with a laugh.

The last shard floated over Twilight’s head.

“I may not have known many of these people for long, but I care for them, and when this simulation ends I will miss them. We have formed an unbreakable bond that can not be defeated by your hatred and fearmongering. We are friends, and we share a magic stronger than any other… the magic of friendship!”

A familiar tiara settled over Twilight’s head, and like a dam bursting, the magical energy surged out from all of the elements in a prismatic spray of rainbow light, slamming into President Eden like a tidal wave of raw, undiluted power.

The alicorn threw up a shield that only served to prolong the inevitable as he strained to hold back the energy. The shield cracked. The cracks spread with the sound of splintering twigs and tinkle of falling glass. Then the shield shattered.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” President Eden yelled. Then the magic overtook him. His black fur flew away, revealing that there was only a skeleton made of glowing-green code strings underneath. Then the code began to crack and shatter like glass, letters and numbers disappearing in clouds of pixels like spraying seafoam thrown up by a wave hitting a rock.

In moments, Eden was gone, and nothing remained.

Twilight stared at where Eden had been for several long moments before Veronica let out a whooping cheer and practically tackled Sergeant Dornan with a hug. Her new friends congratulated and cheered each other on. The ponies and humans who had watched the fight or emerging from the buildings around the plaza began to cheer. Pearl took to the sky in a victory lap.

“Wonderful work,” Princess Celestia said, smiling. “I took a leap of faith bringing you here, but I was confident that if you'd used the elements once, you would be able to again.”

Twilight beamed with joy, a bright smile emerging. It didn’t last, though, faltering to confusion as she played the events back in her head.

“How was this possible, though?” Twilight asked. “The developers would have never known about the Elements of Harmony.” She turned to Dr. Braun, who had approached them. “Dr. Braun, you worked with simulations before. How is any of what we just did possible? The simulation feels way too real.”

Dr. Braun scratched the back of her head.

“I’m not sure… ve vere experimenting vith exotic gemstones and materials from your country, using them in computer parts,” Dr. Braun said, shrugging. “It is vy I asked you to collect parts specifically from the VSS bunker. Magitech computer parts are not something you vill find in any ROBCO retailer.”

Twilight simply nodded. It didn’t matter, ultimately, regardless of why or how it was possible, they had come together as a group and defeated a foe. But with Eden defeated, there was nothing stopping them from ending the simulation in peace. It would mean losing contact with her new friends.

Twilight sighed.

It was time for some goodbyes.

<>~<>~<>

“They did it!” Specialist Olin yelled, making Daniel jump.

Daniel spun around to face the pod as it cracked and hissed open. He rushed over, heart racing in his chest.

“Twilight!” Daniel yelled, embracing her.

“Hey, Daniel,” Twilight said through a choking cough, then she wiped her eyes with the back of a hand as she cried a single happy-sounding sob. Like she’d just had a heartfelt goodbye rather than a life or death fight with a rogue AI.

“What happened in there?” Daniel asked worriedly.

“I made some new friends,” Twilight said as she dried the rest of her tears and climbed out the pod. “I can’t wait to tell you about them later. Come on, let’s get what we started here over with and leave.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Daniel said, hugging Twilight again, hoping to comfort her. He decided to lighten things up with a joke. “Electrum’s probably bored out of her mind organizing inventory by now.”

Twilight chuckled and he let go of her. Together, along with Specialist Olin, they made their way to the armory doors, Twilight leaning on Daniel to support her shaky legs. She felt a phantom pain in her chest, the remnant of being stabbed by Eden.

Along the way, Specialist Olin called out into the rooms they passed so everyone could gather to watch the armory unlock. Electrum emerged from a side room with Protector McGraw close behind.

Twilight picked up the pace as they neared the doors, eager to discover what was behind the doors she had gone through an entire simulation for. Plugging her Pip-Boy into a terminal on the wall near the massive slab of metal that was the armory door, Twilight saw codes flash across the terminal screen before the option to open the door appeared.

She pressed the enter key, and the armored doors slowly ground open with the sound of a rusty metal sliding on rusty metal.

The Outcasts that had gathered gave Twilight and her friends space. Once the door had finally opened and Twilight was able to look inside, she gasped.

Beyond the doorway was a large room with a low ceiling that was completely overgrown with twisting, dark blue, almost black crystalline tendrils. They almost looked like the roots of a tree.

Rushing into the room, Twilight found the origin point for the spread. A large server bank, larger than all of the others in the pod room. It was the size of a garden shed, the metal casing buckled and bent outwards as the crystal roots spilled out and into the room beyond.

Jutting out of the metal was a small, dark blue crystalline tree that was more of a sapling with an overabundant root system than a true tree. The crystal ‘bark’ looked chipped and weathered, giving the sapling the appearance of a dying plant, yet the pencil-thin branches near the top glittered with multicolored buds the size and shape of small diamonds.

Then Twilight noticed the engraving on the trunk. A suit of power armor, a winged smiley-face, a badge, a dress, and a comb all surrounding a tiara.

It was a Tree of Harmony.

“How is this here?” Twilight asked. Was one of the gemstones Dr. Braun had taken from Equestria actually a seed for something like the Tree of Harmony?

“Something from your world?” Defender Sibly asked as he navigated over the roots towards a shelf near the wall stocked with ammo boxes. A root had pushed several laser rifles off one of the shelves and onto the floor. Electrum helped pick up the fallen rifles with her magic, joined by Daniel. More Outcasts were filing into the room to pilfer the weapons cache.

“I think so,” Twilight said noncommittally as she busied herself with tracking the roots filling the room. They led to a mirror against the wall, her objective for disenchantment. It was spiderwebbed with cracks as multiple roots pierced the glass. Not coming out of the glass, but trying to reach through it to the other side.

She narrowed her eyes at the mirror, then the Tree of Harmony sapling. Had it influenced where she and her friends ended up? None of them had ended up trapped in a place with no possible exits. Had her last several weeks, including starving alone in the middle of a minefield, all been part of some test?

No, not a test. The Tree of Harmony she was familiar with was a living thing, and not malicious. Staring at the chipped crystal bark and the overy-dark roots, Twilight guessed that the sapling was starving, alone and trapped in a hostile world with very little friendship. According to Electrum, President Eden had detected the Elements of Harmony when they were used to free Princess Luna. The sapling had simply spread out roots in search of nourishment.

The fresh growths on the tree were obviously from using the power of friendship and harmony inside the simulation.

“You are just one big bundle of weird, old magic,” Twilight said wistfully. The sapling gave her hope.

Even though it was starving in the dark on a world alien to it, the Sapling of Harmony had clung to life and persevered, stretching its roots out towards the mirror where it could sense love and friendship. The light at the end of the tunnel.

Even in Twilight’s darkest, bleakest of times, friends, or her thoughts of them, had always been there for her.

Looking again at the fresh buds on the tree, Twilight took it as a sign. It was time to give the Wasteland a breath of fresh air… or more accurately, a clean glass of water.

Once she was done here, her next stop was Vault 81. Project Purity would be finished.

Chapter 49: Paradise Fallen

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“You have five minutes to change my mind, President Jacklyn,” Protector Casdin said. His scowling features were framed by the rectangular edges of the terminal screen.

The conversation so far had the brusque bluntness that Applejack was told to expect from the aggressive and outwardly hostile Brotherhood Outcasts.

“I’m only giving you more than one because Protector McGraw spoke highly of you, and that your field agent helped break into an armory.”

AJ shifted in her seat. She already knew about Twilight’s adventure from both Sergeant Dornan and Twilight herself. Both of them had left hours ago with Rainbow Dash on a mission that would take them all one step closer to cracking Vault 87. It would take an army to get through all the super mutants guarding the GECK, fortunately Applejack had a plan, but it would take some time to prepare. The Outcasts could help with that.

“She’s not my field agent, she’s an independent ally workin' with the Enclave,” Applejack replied. She shuffled some papers on her office desk, simple busywork to occupy her hands. A stack of letters to the family of deceased soldiers. Talon Company was proving to be a nuisance. “I’m eager to change how things was to how they should be. The slaver haven of Paradise Falls is about to be a thing of the past.”

Protector Casdin remained neutral and unspeaking, his posture as rigid as a mountain.

“Tell me, Protector Casdin, what is the Brotherhood Outcasts opinion on slavery?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It is a barbaric practice that the locals partake in,” Protector Casdin said through a scowl. “They’re too lazy to work for a better tomorrow for themselves. The Brotherhood's primary goal is the recovery of technology to keep it out of the hands of savages like them. A goal that Elder Lyons lost sight of playing the hero to the hopeless.”

Applejack stifled a huff. She respected Protector Casdin’s faith in tradition, but his attitude towards those outside of the Outcasts drove her up the wall.

“And would your task be easier if the Capital Wasteland was mutant, slaver, and raider free?” Applejack leaned back and tipped her hat. “Workin’ together has already advanced your goals. Or was Twilight not the one that done helped ya get into that armory?”

Letting them keep those weapons was a risk, but a calculated one. Elder Lyons had said the Outcasts were a radically fundamentalist splinter-group that broke away from the Brotherhood of Steel, who were almost all exclusively members of his original expeditionary force. A fraction of a fraction. The Outcasts die-hard faith in the Brotherhood Codex meant that it was taboo to recruit outsiders, unless they had proved themselves on a near-suicidal mission. Even with an armory full of weapons, the Outcasts were practically irrelevant without hands to hold them.

“She did,” Protector Casdin said through clenched teeth. “But I will have to reject any offer of alliance. The Brotherhood was founded as a response to the mismanagement and horrors created by the United States. A government that you are trying to rebuild.” He pointed an accusing finger. “The Codex demands that you be stopped.”

Casdin reached for the button Applejack knew would end the call.

“Wait!” Applejack jumped forward, holding up a hand. Protector Casdin thankfully stopped, giving Applejack a second to calm her excitement. “Do you know of Vault 87?”

“Yes,” Protector Casdin grumbled, settling back, “it is the den where the super mutants drag their captives to make more. We’ve left it alone. It’s a literal bunker.”

“Well, it’s a good thing that the Brotherhood of Steel is sittin’ on the biggest bunker-bustin’ machine in the Washington D.C. region,” Applejack countered. Protector Casdin furrowed his brow in doubt. “Your order wants to safeguard technology in keepin’ to the Brotherhood of Steel’s traditional goals. What better way to make sure Liberty Prime ain’t bein’ misused than bein’ on the same side as the people usin’ em?”

Protector Casdin’s face creased, glancing side to side as if his choices were physical objects to look at and judge.

Finangling an argument like Applejack did wasn’t ideal, especially having to treat the Outcasts differently from the towns wanting to keep their independence. The likelihood they would go along with their blossoming alliance dwindled. And if they were against it, they were a threat to regional security, small as they may be.

A terse sigh escaped Protector Casdin.

“You have my attention,” he said, though his tone was anything but attentive. “In the interest of safeguarding technology from misuse, I will agree to a temporary and provisional truce. We will not trade any of our technology or offer any soldiers to fight for you. Our role will be to make sure that you, the Brotherhood, or the Equestrians are not misusing technology.”

“Thank you, Protector Casdin,” Applejack said genially. “That’s acceptable.”

Protector Casdin cut the call without saying a word, and Applejack frowned at the lack of manners. She didn't claim to be the best judge of character or motive, but in her opinion, hanging up like that was just outright rude, and intentionally so. Whatever deal had just been struck was a tenuous one.

Sighing heavily, Applejack leaned over and pressed an intercom button on her office desk. She had needed Twilight and Daniel for a favor.

“Miss Jenkins,” Applejack called for her secretary. “Any word from Sergeant Dornan, Rainbow Dash, or Twilight on their mission to Paradise Falls yet?”

Applejack checked the clock on the wall. It was nightfall. They should be done soon.

<>~<>~<>

Douglas tilted his head towards the sounds of partying and revelry coming from the barracks. He was going to have to talk to Forty about how many nights in a row he was getting assigned to guard duty.

Like, what the fuck? He was supposed to just stand in a guard tower looking over the slave pens with nothing happening, while the rest of the slavers drink and fuck themselves stupid. What a joke, a sick stupid joke that the world conspired to play on him—or Forty was just a prick—both were valid options.

With nothing to do but his job, Douglas idly aimed his sniper rifle at the slave pens, checking them over to see that, yet again, absolutely jack and shit was going on. The slaves were inside the two little buildings connected to the cages to give the merchandise some reprieve from the elements. They were likely sleeping or whining about being slaves, as usual.

Pathetic, there wasn’t even a straggler he could shoot and claim they were trying a late night escape attempt. Douglas slung his sniper rifle over his shoulder and groaned. He paced around the little metal platform that acted as his watch tower to keep his legs from getting sore from the monotony.

Why did it have to be him on guard duty tonight?

At least he wasn’t alone in his misery, there were a few other guards, but still, there was no one to talk to at his station. It fucking sucked.

But if most of the other slavers were busy partying in the barracks or sleeping, what stopped him from finding his own fun? What Eulogy and Forty didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Maybe Rebecca was feeling just as bored. Douglas could think of a few ways they could pass the time together.

Douglas made up his mind. He took the ramp down from his guard post and walked towards the back of Paradise Falls where the slave pens were kept. Rebecca was on foot patrol in that area, so unless she had the same idea he had to shirk her duties, he would find her somewhere near them.

It didn’t take long to reach the back of the camp, and even less time to spot Rebecca. She was in an alley between two buildings, slouching against the wall. Of course she was sleeping on the job.

Rolling his eyes, Douglas closed the distance and tapped on her shoulder.

“Oi, bitch, wake the fu—”

He came to a spluttering stop. Fresh blood oozed from a thumb-thick hole punched into her neck. Some fucker with a death wish had shot her in the throat, and no one had heard it. He whipped around to run for the barracks, only for what felt like a fist to slam into his back, sending him sprawling onto the ground.

Rolling onto his side, a shaft of purple light had punched through him from behind, going through his right shoulder blade and exiting his stomach. It took him a moment to realize through the blinding pain that an arrow had shot from above.

Fighting through the searing pain, Douglas rolled onto his side and craned his neck skyward.

He tried to scream.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight landed in the alley next to the second slaver she had killed, scowling in contempt. He had nearly raised the alarm, but thankfully her spellbow was fast enough to end him, and the loud sounds of partying coming from the slaver barracks towards the front of town meant that, even if he did yell, he likely would have been drowned out. It still wasn’t worth the risk. The mission was too important.

Rainbow Dash landed outside of the alley, the wagon she pulled far too large to land in the narrow gap. She spotted the slaver by Twilight’s hooves and chuckled.

“Nice shot,” Rainbow Dash complimented her. Twilight started to smile, but it faltered. She didn’t want to take pride in killing people, even slavers.

“Thanks,” Twilight said half-heartedly, focusing more on keeping an eye out for any more guards as Sergeant Dornan and Electrum leapt out of the wagon. The former joined Twilight’s side as the latter teleported into the first of the two slave pens.

They had to fly in with a wagon because power armor was too much mass for Twilight to teleport with her broken horn. One suit was equivalent in weight and bulk to two or three more individuals, and to make things more complicated, something with the radiation shielding in power armor required more energy to teleport a suit. It left Electrum unable to do so despite having a fully functioning horn and the correct spells.

Twilight turned to Sergeant Dornan as the power-armor-clad woman retrieved a bulky, spiked-barreled energy weapon out of the cart. The same one she had used when they first met.

“Do you think they modified the collar locks?” Twilight asked.

“I doubt it,” Sergeant Dornan replied as she swept the barrel of her plasma caster from point to point. Twilight mimicked the movements with her spellbow. “They’re pre-war designs. It should be the same standardized lock, like a pair of handcuffs.” She grunted, lowering her weapon a tad. “Do you think people who kidnap others to work for them would keep up with individual keys?”

Sergeant Dornan had a good point, so the keys Applejack had given them should work. Twilight shook her head just in time for Sergeant Dornan to growl.

“Slavers are parasites,” Sergeant Dornan said through audibly clenched teeth, matching her death grip on the handles of her plasma caster. “Agitators and malcontents, leeching off of America. I’d line every one of them up for summary execution.”

Twilight knew who had put that phrasing into Sergeant Dornan’s head. They may have killed President Eden, but his propaganda still had its claws in the Enclave troops, even if they didn’t know it.

“Yeah,” Twilight said, not challenging Sergeant Dornan’s prejudices. At least the Sergeant’s anger was directed at those who deserve it, which was an improvement. Just a few days ago, Twilight had been a 'mutie’ to Sergeant Dornan, but now they considered each other friends, or at least good acquaintances. “As soon as Electrum teleports all the slaves to Daniel, we’ll go loud, but not a moment before unless absolutely necessary.”

Twilight wished Daniel could be with her, but the mission was to minimize any potential danger to the slaves, and moving everyone from where a firefight could break out was the safer option rather than attempting treatment in an active warzone. Many of the slaves would have suffered in captivity, and he was ready with supplies to treat them.

“Good,” Sergeant Dornan said, and the conversation died off from there.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Sergeant Dornan stayed in position, waiting for what felt like forever with their weapons clenched in their hands. Twilight sifted in place, agonizing over every second. Electrum was taking too long. Had something happened? Twilight wanted to leave her post and go check, but as she turned away, Electrum teleported in front of her face.

Twilight jumped back and drew her bow, nearly shooting her on reflex.

“We’ve got a problem,” Electrum said testily, ignoring the bow in her face, which Twilight quickly dispelled. Her brow was furrowed and teeth clenched. Twilight didn’t know if it was anger or frustration, and Electrum spoke up before she had the chance to ask. “The second slave pen is full of children, and one of them refuses to leave until we rescue her friend from ‘The Box’.”

Electrum took hold of Twilight’s shoulder and pointed across the courtyard from the slave pens. There was a metal cylinder the size of an outhouse several dozen steps away from the pens. A Pulowski Personal Preservation Shelter. Twilight had seen them before. Hopefully there wasn’t a skeleton in there like many of the other ones Daniel had opened before.

“Okay,” Twilight said with a nod, “you get as many of the kids out as you can, and tell the girl I’ll rescue her friend.”

She spread her wings, but Electrum stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Hang on, if you can’t unlock The Box, the girl said that Eulogy Jones has the key.” Electrum motioned to the old cinema building close to the slave pens. A dividing wall made of junk separated the slave pens from the rest of town, but the wall was low enough that Twilight could see the decorated marquee from where she stood, which also served as a balcony.

The key lay right in the house of the ruler of Paradise Falls.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Twilight said, spreading her wings once more.

She flew over to ‘The Box’ and inspected the Pulowski Shelter. The coin slot normally on the survival shelters had been replaced with a small push-button, and the door had a latch welded to it with a lock holding it shut.

Fishing out her lockpicks from her backpack, Twilight set to work.

The lock was flimsy, only marginally tougher than the practice lock that came with her lockpick set. Once the lock fell off, she pressed the button. The door retracted inwards before rotating inside the metal tube. A filthy man with messy hair sat on the floor. He wore soiled clothing and a slave collar, and looked up as the door opened. Twilight guessed that he was in his thirties.

“Oh my gosh,” he said, sitting up. He blinked several times and squinted. Twilight knew she was just a dark silhouette to him, at least until his eyes adjusted to the moonlight. He suddenly shifted onto his knees and grabbed her pants’s legs, and his voice came out as a strained, begging sob of hurt. “Please, please, please, I promise to be good, just don’t keep me in the box, please.”

Twilight stared down at the man for longer than she’d liked, trying to form words as the man broke down begging to not be abused. Even in The Box they still had him wearing a bomb collar. It made his cries strained and choked.

What monsters would treat others like this? She felt no guilt for killing the slavers now.

“H-hey,” Twilight stuttered, leaning down. She risked lighting up her horn to illuminate both of them. “I’m not a slaver, I’m here to rescue everyone.”

“Oh,” the man gasped once the ball of light appeared. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he pulled himself up by the shelter’s doorframe. “Did you get Penny out before me? That little girl is too innocent to be trapped in a place like this.”

“We tried, but she’s refusing to leave until we rescue you,” Twilight said, taking the man’s hand and guiding him towards the slave pens. “Tell me when your eyes are adjusted enough to see.”

She didn’t want to be rude, but it smelled like he’d been in The Box for days.

A claustrophobic, windowless space, with no food or water.

Twilight’s stomach twisted into a knot and the hair on the back of her neck stood on-end. But everything was fine, she wasn’t alone, she had her friends here with her.

“Hey, you okay?” the man asked.

“Wha—oh, yes,” Twilight spluttered sheepishly, dragged out of her flash of a nightmare. Things were fine. She was safe. “What was your answer?”

“I can see now,” the man said. It was a bit of a moot point. They had nearly walked the entire way to the pens together. She let go of him regardless and instructed him to wait with Sergeant Dornan.

She took a few moments to stand alone, pressing a hand to her chest to breathe, and get her bearings. Her eyes drifted to the marquee leering over the wall. Twilight scowled and stomped towards Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, Rainbow,” Twilight grumbled, cracking her knuckles and flaring her horn, “can you give me a reason not to go off on my own right now?”

“Um… suuuuure?” Rainbow Dash said, brow furrowed. “You look pissed. What are you planning?”

“I want to make sure Eulogy Jones can’t escape,” Twilight said, as she shifted from hoof to hoof. She wanted to punch something. Specifically Eulogy. Rainbow, meanwhile, screwed up her face.

“Ehhh, I dunno,” Rainbow Dash said, shrugging. “Keeping the brains of this operation from setting up somewhere else sounds like a good idea to me. Do you need me to come with you, or should I stick to the plan?”

Twilight winced. That was the opposite of what Twilight wanted, but Rainbow was right. Twilight knew going alone would be stupid and dangerous, but if things went wrong, Rainbow Dash was Sergeant Dornan’s way out. Even though Twilight knew her motives weren’t entirely logical, she wanted to put a stop to the evil running Paradise Falls.

Even if it meant going lethal to keep the horrors of slavery from being spread elsewhere.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight slowly pushed the door shut with telekinesis, using her magic to soften the door’s movements as she crouch-walked into the room beyond the balcony. Although the music blaring from somewhere inside the building would have made the noise hard to hear.

The room Twilight entered was almost completely empty and unlit, with all of the light coming up through a wrap-around bannister overlooking the first floor, the source of the overly-loud radio. It was teeth-clenchingly loud, but the racket kept her movements unheard.

Not wanting to squander the painful good fortune, Twilight crept to the bannister to scope out the floor below.

There was a countertop that once held the theater's cash register, but it was gone, and stools had been placed around it to turn it into a dining table. The radio sat atop it, and almost right next to the radio was a woman in a pink dress eating off a metal plate.

She had snow white hair that was shaved away on one side, almost mane-like, and the very visible bulk of a slave collar around her neck.

Twilight wanted to slap herself. How could they have not considered that Eulogy Jones might keep personal slaves? Twilight had a copy of the collar key, same as everyone else in the group. The woman wouldn’t be a slave for long.

Vaulting the bannister, Twilight spread her wings to slow her descent to the first floor and landed just behind the woman. The blaring radio drowned out the soft clop of her hooves and flap of her wings.

Standing behind the woman in the dress, Twilight pulled out the collar key at the same time as she reached out and tapped the woman’s shoulder. The woman didn’t wince. Instead, she calmly reached a hand out to turn the radio down before she spun the stool, a grin on her face.

“Ye—,” she cut herself off with an alarmed jerk. “Oh, you’re not Mr. Eulogy.” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Why are you here, Princess?”

With the radio turned down, Twilight could hear two people in the next room. A man aggressively grunting, a woman’s muffled sobs into a pillow, and the slap of flesh-on-flesh.

Rape. A slave in the next room was being raped. Twilight had to hurry. Twilight kept her focus on the door leading into the next room as she telekinetically pushed the key into the slave woman’s collar and turned it. The clasp loosened and allowed Twilight to see the heat-rash around the woman’s throat, like she had worn the collar for days or weeks on end.

“I’m here to rescue you. What’s your name? Are you a pony?” Twilight asked, setting the collar next to the plate of food. The white hair and the fact that the woman knew Twilight was a princess were leading Twilight to think so.

“My name’s Clover, and no, not a pony,” she said, rubbing her neck as she frowned. “And neither is Crimson. She’s the one in the next room with Eulogy.” Clover scowled. “You can rush him while he’s distracted with her.”

It confirmed Twilight’s assumptions at the goings on in the next room, at least. If Eulogy was naked, that meant he was unarmed. She could easily take him prisoner instead of killing him. He could pay for his crimes for a long time.

“Good idea,” Twilight said, fully facing Clover once more.

The twin barrels of a sawed-off-shotgun poked her in the nose. The demonically sadistic grin on Clover’s face sent chills down Twilight’s spine as she took a step back, raising her hands.

Clover lowered the shotgun and tilted her head to one side, giggling. “Had ya for a second there, didn’t I, boss?”

“What the fuck?” Twilight muttered, seeing that Clover had a leg holster just barely hidden by her pink dress. “Why do you have a gun?”

“Maybe because I’m Eulogy’s bodyguard,” Clover said, looking at the slave collar Twilight had set beside her plate of food. She rubbed at her neck and grinned, fixing Twilight with a smile that sent the hairs on the back of Twilight’s neck standing on-end. “But you stole me from him fair and square. You got my collar off, so I’m yours now to do whatever you want with.”

Twilight almost swallowed her tongue fumbling over her response to that. Clover’s collar was off, but she wanted to be a slave? Twilight had no clue why Clover would want that, but as insensitive as the label was, all Twilight could guess was that Clover was crazy and needed serious psychological help. But Twilight could worry about that later. A woman was being assaulted in the next room.

And Twilight could no longer hear the two of them.

“Clover!” a man, Twilight guessed it was Eulogy, hollered from the next room. She heard the shift of mattress springs and the rustle of clothes. Eulogy was out of bed. “Is someone at the door?”

“Yes, daddy,” Clover called back with a flirtatious giggle. Bile crept into the back of Twilight’s throat hearing that phrase. “But don’t you worry about it, I got it.”

“Don’t you tell me what to or what not to worry about!” Eulogy growled. “Don’t make me lose my cool with you. You don’t like it when you make me lose my cool, do you? I hate it when you make me punish you.”

Rage lit a fire in Twilight, burning away the confusion and fear Twilight had felt when facing Clover. She drew her pistol, too furious to worry whether the action would get a reaction from Clover.

Twilight was after Eulogy and would end him if it came to it. Abusing people was bad. Gaslighting them into thinking it was their fault for the abuse was a level of villainy that went beyond even Sombra or Chrysalis, whose magic could break. If Clover had suffered months or years of abuse, what kind of thoughts had Eulogy put into her head about her own self worth? She was broken and loyal enough to be trusted with a loaded shotgun so long as she had her collar on.

Clover’s smile faltered. “No, I don’t, Mr. Eulogy. But she’s just a slaver who wandered in from the party.”

Eulogy grunted in annoyance. Twilight’s ears flicked as she focused on the sounds. The woman still let out muffled sobs, but had quieted. Bare footsteps on the hard floor rapidly approached. Eulogy was coming. She was ready to arrest him. He would face justice.

A dark-skinned middle-aged man stormed into the room. He wore red silk pants and a silk shirt that was as purple as Twilight’s fur. He stared at Twilight for a split second before glancing to Clover, who stepped towards him.

His eyes went wide.

“You took her coll—”

Clover’s shotgun sent Twilight’s ears ringing as Eulogy’s head disappeared in a spray of meat and bone. What didn’t fly into the next room painted the door frame red with gore. Eulogy’s corpse fell to the floor, twitching, and Clover reared her head back in laughter that Twilight didn't hear, but rather saw as Clover’s pearl-white teeth glittered in the light of the room.

“—found a new master to be the favorite of.” Twilight’s recovering hearing caught Clover saying to the corpse through bouts of manic giggling. “Can’t sell me now that you’re D-E-A-D, dead without a head!” Clover scurried over and kicked Eulogy in the ribs.

“C-Clover!” Twilight half-stuttered, half-shouted, just to hear herself over her ringing ears. “Give me your shotgun.” She put more force behind her words. “Now.”

Clover twirled on her heels like a dancer, blood coating her face and hair. She obediently held her shotgun out towards Twilight by the barrel.

“Here you go, lover,” Clover said with a cheerful calm that put Twilight on edge. Clover had blown a man’s head off and was smiling. And what was with the ‘lover’ comment? Twilight pushed the thought aside and took the shotgun. She’d worry about Clover later, there was at least one other slave in the next room.

Twilight forced her way past Clover and over the headless corpse of Eulogy.

The next room was far smaller than Twilight would have expected from a theater, and the floor was flat rather than in tiers. All the theater bench seats had been pushed aside to make space for a massive heart-shaped bed in the middle of the room which was illuminated by standing work-lights.

A dark skinned woman lay atop the covers, curled up and crying. She only wore a slave collar. Twilight approached slowly with Clover following behind, and Twilight cautiously checked around the room to see if there were any more slaves. She saw no one else, but there was a terminal on a wall between a metal safe and a table. The table was stocked with bottles of alcohol and cartons of cigarettes.

The projector lit up a screen on the back wall, and casted a white light over a skeleton hanging upside-down from the ceiling by its ankles.

It was a sickening, grotesque display. Twilight’s anger at Clover faded. Eulogy was a monster.

She reached Crimson, who gazed up at Twilight and forced a smile.

“Hey, Crimson, you’re safe now,” Twilight said gently, telekinetically draping a blanket over Crimson. Twilight turned to Clover, who was rubbing at her raw neck again. “Can you find her some clothes?”

“Y-yeah, sure,” Clover said.

<>~<>~<>

It took several minutes to help Crimson get dressed and out of the theater, but once she was ready to leave, Twilight escorted Clover and Crimson to the slave pens where Electrum, Rainbow Dash, and Sergeant Dornan waited. So far, no other guards had seen them.

Once everyone had reunited, Twilight let the others know what had happened, and that Eulogy wouldn’t be a problem anymore before coaxing Crimson to go with Electrum.

“Clover,” Twilight said, turning to the woman. She had stayed at most ten steps behind Twilight, and at least, far too close for comfort. The ex-slave smiled and gave Twilight her undivided attention. “I’m going to need you to go with Electrum and Crimson.”

“Nope,” Clover said, shaking her head. “I ain’t letting you out of my sight, lover.”

Twilight cringed. The affection Clover gave her left an icky, sick feeling that lingered in the back of Twilight’s mind. She didn’t want to exploit Clover for her own benefit, even by accident.

“Could you just call me Twilight, please. I’m not your master, or your marefriend. You’re a free woman now, Clover.”

Clover rubbed at the raw spot on her neck, frowning.

“I don’t think so.”

Twilight didn’t know what to say to that. She wasn’t a psychologist, but Twilight knew from experience that trying to distract from your trauma could lead to some bad decisions. Her whirlwind romance with Daniel had worked out well, but it was still sudden and forced, a way to cope with stress.

What would Clover do if Twilight pushed her away?

“Okay,” Twilight said, sighing heavily. “I won’t lie to you and say that I’m comfortable with all of this, but I’m not going to force you to do anything against your will. If it's your choice to follow me, it’s your choice. In return, I want you to respect my wishes and stop it with the ‘lover’ talk. Deal?”

“Deal,” Clover said, smiling.

Twilight smiled back, only having to force it half-way. Clover was unpredictable, and there were far better people who could help her, but to get Clover the help she needed, Twilight wanted to earn her trust first.

With that dealt with, Twilight walked over to Sergeant Dornan, who had watched the entire exchange.

“I don’t see her as my slave,” Twilight said hastily. She didn’t want to ruin whatever she had with Sergeant Dornan by becoming a slaver in the woman’s eyes.

“Never said you were,” Sergeant Dornan said. “I think you handled it well. She’s in better hands now than she was before, at the very least.”

There was some solace in that.

Twilight heard the snap of Electrum teleporting away with Crimson. All the slaves were safe. Twilight nodded to Sergeant Dornan.

“Level this place like you’re a nuke,” Twilight said, telekinetically handing Clover back her shotgun before drawing her own pistol.

Sergeant Dornan’s plasma caster hummed to life as she thumbed a safety button.

“With pleasure.”

She would only offer slavers the chance to surrender once. Any that did, did. Any that didn't would realize too late that they had made a fatal mistake.

Chapter 50: Clover

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Forty’s leg gave out the moment he stepped through the back door of the barracks. His bloody shoulder slammed into the dirt. He winced in pain, stunned for so long that he was sure he was done for. The orgy of carnage behind him was still in full swing. A cacophony of assault rifles and energy weapons exchanging fire with each other. He recognized some of the screams. His friends and fellow slavers were dying in droves, but what could he do?

Searching for an answer, there was a stack of crates across the muddy street. They would have to do. Inch-by-inch, he dragged himself with one hand and pushed with one foot like his life depended on it. He could barely feel his bleeding shoulder or thigh through the whiskey. If it was alcohol or blood loss that numbed his pain, he did not know or have the luxury to care. The sound of combat died away with each slaver lost… or were they giving up? Either way, they would get to him soon.

He reached the crates, gripped one of the boxes with a hand, then hauled himself upright, adrenaline and alcohol working in tandem. If he was going to die, it would be on his feet screaming defiance.

Leaning on the crates, huffing, Forty rolled himself over to face the barracks he had fled. His left hand fumbled with the pistol strapped to his right side, muddy fingers uselessly scrabbling for purchase on the leather flap that kept his weapon secured in place.

A flash of purple nearly blinded him, and the princess appeared only five steps away. She was a gaunt woman on the taller side, and about as thin as the bow of light she held. It was taller than her, and despite her thin frame, her stance was firm.

“If you value your life, take your hand off that holster,” she sternly warned.

“And if I don’t?” Forty asked through a cocky grin. He knew ponies. He'd interrogated enough of them. They were pushovers, suicidally averse to actually defending themselves, like they were some sort of comic book heroes with a moral code or something. Perfect slave material. “You going to shoot me?”

She wouldn't do it. He could see it in her eyes.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight sighed, dispelling her bow as Forty hit the ground with a new hole through his skull. She had warned him, and after the crazed Equestrian in the Jefferson Memorial, she wouldn’t take any chances before defending herself.

Still… could she have talked him down? He was wounded and not thinking straight. Acting like a cornered rat. Was there—

Twilight’s ears twitched as Clover ran up, skidding to a stop a few feet away before resting her hands on her knees. Twilight shook her head as she turned away from the body. She couldn’t keep tearing herself apart every time she had to take a life.

“He-hey, I’m your bodyguard, sugar,” Clover said, trying to sound sultry despite being out of breath. Twilight sighed. Clover had found a new word to use in place of lover, it seemed. “Don’t wander off.”

Twilight swore she saw Clover’s eyes widen in fear, but it could have just been a trick of the moonlight. Then again, Twilight had her own issues with being alone.

“Sorry,” Twilight said softly, waving a hand towards Forty’s corpse. “I saw him flee out the back and thought maybe he would surrender like the others." She had seen three surrender before she chased after Forty. She pointed at the corpse. "He was Eulogy’s second in command, right? We could have interrogated him.”

“For what?” Clover asked, standing upright despite still wheezing. She crossed her arms. “Forty was a dumbass. Knowing him, he looked you right in the eyes and dared you to shoot him.”

That was more or less exactly what had happened. It got a bitter laugh from Twilight, who muttered a curse at herself under her breath. She had started to break herself up over nothing. Forty wasn’t going to surrender. If Twilight had let her guard down or hesitated for a second…

“Thank you,” Twilight said through a sigh, relaxing the tension in her shoulders. “As true as that is, he would have known where any other slaves were sold off to.”

They needed rescuing. It was the least the Enclave-Brotherhood-Equestrian alliance could do to make up for ignoring Paradise Falls’ operations for so long. Only a third of the alliance had the excuse of not being part of the wasteland until recently.

Clover ran her fingers through her hair and hummed, lips pursed as if thinking about something. Her dirty hands smeared so much blood into her white locks that her hair turned pink. Twilight cringed just thinking about how dirty blood caked into her mane would feel.

“Wait,” Clover said, gasping. “I think I can help you, sugar.” She closed the distance between them in a few bounds and stopped close enough to Twilight that they were almost kissing. Twilight bent herself backwards like a limbo dancer to get distance and used her wings to stay upright. Clover followed Twilight’s lean by bending forwards.

“Clover, personal space,” Twilight said firmly, gently pushing Clover back. It was like trying to discipline an over eager puppy, and the similarities put a bad taste in Twilight’s mouth. Clover thankfully backed off. “I’ll gladly take any help you can give me.”

Clover’s grin was as close to ear-to-ear as possible for a human, her cheeks dimpled and teeth glittering white. It was altogether manic, childish, and overjoyed. She grabbed Twilight’s hand and yanked her in the direction of the old theater building. Twilight sputtered, asking Clover what she wanted to show her, but Clover either didn’t hear or ignored her. She ran so fast that Twilight had to spread her wings and fly to keep her braced leg from dragging.

Through the front door and past Eulogy’s headless corpse, Clover skidded inside the bedroom and pointed at the safe in the corner by the metal table.

“Mr. Eulogy keeps all of his business papers in there,” Clover giggled. “Lots and lots of them. He writes in them everytime we sold someone.”

Twilight grit her teeth to hold back her correction for Clover’s poor grammar. She didn’t want to berate Clover, who leaned towards Twilight with a wide-eyed, pleading expression.

Sweet Celestia, she’s even more like a puppy than I thought. It felt as if someone was sitting on Twilight’s chest, constricting her heart, lungs, and all. Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If Clover had been abused to the point she was this desperate to please, her ego would be as fragile as a soap bubble, and needed to be handled delicately. Twilight didn’t want to feed Clover’s self-doubt by giving her a compliment that could come off as patronizing. She needed to choose her words carefully.

“Thank you, Clover,” Twilight said, opening her eyes. She faced her and smiled. “You did good. I’m proud of you.”

There were times that Twilight felt like she was a machine giving out answers, rather than a person speaking from the heart.

Absorb input, calculate response, produce output, analyze the result, repeat.

The ghost of a smile on Clover’s lips melted Twilight’s doubt away, and Twilight focused on the safe. They crossed the room together and were almost to it when Twilight stopped at a table overloaded with empty whiskey bottles and cigarette cartons. A splash of color standing out among the other junk drew her eye.

It was a bobblehead of a blond man wearing a vault suit standing at a wooden podium. Twilight thought about taking it for Daniel, but quickly squashed the idea with a shake of her head. Nothing said ‘I love you’ like a pre-owned gift belonging to a dead slaver.

She refocused on the safe.

“Do you know the code?” Twilight asked, but Clover was already kneeling by the safe, punching in numbers on the keypad.

"Way ahead of you, sugar," Clover said with a confident smile. “I know what to do before I’m even told.”

Twilight shifted uneasily, looking away in shame. It was as if Spike had been transformed and aged-up. Someone over-eager to please her for attention. Only this time, rather than being a baby dragon that she had raised and cared deeply for, Clover considered herself Twilight’s property.

The safe clicked and Clover pulled the door open before reaching inside. She grunted as she grabbed something, and came out with a thick leather-bound binder overstuffed with papers. It was thicker than some of the tomes in Twilight’s library.

Clover spun on her heels and thrust the binder towards Twilight with that eager puppy-look in her eyes again.

“T-thank you,” Twilight stuttered, taking the binder in her hands. It was heavier than she expected. She telekinetically swept the junk on the table aside to clear a space and set the binder down, opening it in the same motion to reveal a disorganized mess of spreadsheets, hand-drawn graphs, and notes all written on notebook paper. She flipped to a random page near the back, and the writing had her features crease in a deep scowl.

| Timothy Greene, teenage male | Captured by Linda Barnes | Product sold to Wehrner of The Pitt for 500 caps, 200 cap profit |

| Mei Wong, adult female | Captured by Linda Barnes | Product sold to Mr. Burke of Tenpenny Tower for 1000 caps, 700 cap profit. |

| Alice Brooks, adult female | Captured by Thomas Ogden | Attempted sale to Madame of Evergreen Mills, product ran when cage was opened. 400 cap loss + 1 slave collar. |

Twilight gripped the edges of the ledger hard enough to dent the leather binding with her fingertips, her nails scratching the hide. Her jaw ached from how hard she clamped it shut, suppressing a scream of fury. Twilight had grown up studying and reading. She knew how to interpret spreadsheets, graphs, and many other forms of data entry. People’s lives, their existences, had been boiled down to summaries in a ledger, and the slavers didn’t even have the decency to refer to them as people, just… product. Something to treat with the same emotions one would give a head of lettuce or bundle of carrots on a shopping list.

She took a deep breath and forced out an apocalyptically explosive snarl as she clapped the binder closed. She needed to stop reading before her fury drove her to do something reckless. Like going alone into a building owned by the slaver boss.

“We’ll find you,” Twilight said, muttering a near-silent promise to the names on the list as she turned around. Clover jumped back with a startled noise, Twilight almost colliding with her. She’d been reading over Twilight’s shoulder without her realizing it.

“H-hey,” Twilight said, awkwardly, scratching the back of her head. She telekinetically lifted the binder, presenting it to Clover. “Did you want to read this?”

Clover hesitated for several seconds before she slowly nodded.

“If that’s okay with you, Miss Twilight,” Clover said, avoiding eye contact and shifting uneasily like a child caught with their hooves in the cookie jar. “Mr. Eulogy never let me read his business papers for long.”

“Of course I’ll let you,” Twilight said, and Clover took the hovering binder in her arms and gripped it close to her chest like a mother hugging a child. “Keep hold of that. We can read it together later, but we don’t have time right now. We need to go see how my husband Daniel is doing.”

Clover nodded slowly. Twilight didn’t see any adverse reaction on hearing the word ‘husband’, but Twilight wasn’t going to take chances. Clover wanted to be Twilight’s favorite, and Twilight was keenly aware of what had happened to the last person that Clover wasn’t the favorite of.

Twilight made a mental note to take Clover’s shotgun away again before they teleported away from town.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight reappeared with Clover around half-a-mile away from Paradise Falls. The moonlight and Daniel’s Pip-Boy lamp worked together to illuminate the crowd of figures that had once been the town’s prisoners. The people—a mix of humans and Equestrians—congregated at the center of a rocky gully between several small and barren hills. The gully was deep and wide enough to hide a small campsite from view in any direction that wasn’t atop the surrounding hills.

Walking down the slope of the hill she had appeared on, Twilight smiled as she counted the heads of the slaves they had rescued. Eighteen adults and five children. The children were the easiest to count, as all of them sat in a circle around Daniel in the center of camp.

She overheard him whispering a story as she drew near while he used his Pip-Boy arm to illuminate his face from below. The children stared up at him without a hint of amusement.

“And then… the deathclaw leapt from the shadows, rarrr!” Daniel suddenly growled, curling his free hand into the shape of a claw as he jerked forwards. None of the children moved.

“Laaaame,” one of the girls in the group drawled. Several of the other children sniggered, and many of the adults who watched chuckled along. Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled, reaching Daniel, who scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly, his cheeks flushed.

“Having fun?” Twilight asked, playfully bumping Daniel’s shoulder with a fist. He nodded, and they shared an affectionate smile before Twilight inspected the gathered crowd.

Unlike what they had predicted, no one was seriously wounded as far as she could tell. But why would they be? Slavers wouldn’t damage the product they wanted to sell and reduce its value. Then again, the slavers were bastards. It wouldn’t hurt to check, rather than assume.

“Did you have any trouble on your end?” Twilight asked, helping Daniel up with an offered hand.

“Not as much as you, apparently,” Daniel said, his mirth fading. “I could hear the fighting from here. Are the others okay?”

“They are,” Twilight replied, nodding as they both walked away from the circle of children. She didn’t want to talk business around them, who, free from Daniel’s storytime, talked amongst themselves. She only saw one pony among the young faces, a pegasus colt.

“Electrum may take a while to get here,” Twilight said once they were a fair distance away. “She’s teleporting the three slavers who surrendered back to Adams, so that might involve paperwork.” Twilight wished there were more who had surrendered, but like Forty, the slavers seemed dead set on not submitting. “Rainbow and Sergeant Dornan are going to take the cart back after sweeping the town one last time.”

“I'm glad that we're leaving soon, I was running out of story ideas to keep the kids entertained,” Daniel said, his blush returning. “As you saw.”

Speaking of seeing, Twilight thought, her gaze shifting around the camp for Clover. For once, Clover wasn’t uncomfortably close. As a matter of fact, she had remained far out on the edge of camp.

Twilight watched Clover approach one of the former slaves and open her mouth as if she were about to speak, but the man backed off with apprehension and hands held up defensively. Like he was scared of her.

Sure, Clover was scary, but she was also a former slave. Twilight expected some sort of camaraderie between them. Perhaps she was wrong.

“Daniel," Twilight said, slowing her walk, "have any of the people here mentioned Clover by name?"

"Who?” Daniel asked, following Twilight’s gaze to Clover, who had tried and failed to speak to another former slave without success. He shook his head. "The one with the bloody hair?” Twilight nodded. “Not that I know of, but from how the others are avoiding her, I think they're scared of her."

"Yeah," Twilight agreed, shoulders slumping. She spotted Crimson sitting on a rock near the edge of camp opposite of Clover, keeping an eye on the other woman. Twilight didn't know for sure, but the look on her face could only be described as contempt. "We should talk to Crimson, she lived with Clover and might be able to tell us about her."

“Good idea,” Daniel said as they both changed direction towards the edge of camp where Crimson sat.

As they approached, Twilight said in a quiet, almost conspiratorial tone, "Clover and Crimson were both Eulogy's slaves. I took Clover's collar off, and she killed Eulogy. Now she's convinced I'm her new master."

“Wait, what?” Daniel spluttered, both of them halting in their tracks as he faced her with a look of utter incredulity. “You didn’t take her up on that offer, did you? She’s not a slave. At least, not anymore.”

“I tried telling Clover that, but she’s persistent,” Twilight whispered as she leaned in towards him. They had stopped several dozen steps away from Crimson, outside of earshot of most of the other ex-slaves, but Twilight still didn’t want to risk being overheard. “I don’t think she’s mentally stable.”

“Who in the wasteland is?” Daniel asked rhetorically, cupping his face with a hand while pinching the bridge of his muzzle. He groaned deeply into his palm. “We’re going to prove my point by adopting her, aren’t we?”

Twilight winced at his choice of words. He didn’t know how childish Clover acted, despite looking like she was in her late twenties.

“Wellllll,” Twilight started, drawling out the word as if she were Applejack, “if I know she’s not going to try and murder you out of jealousy… maybe?” Daniel gawked at her, which spurred Twilight on. Try and explain. “Something’s seriously wrong with her mentally. She’s desperate for attention and wants to be my… favorite.” Twilight shuddered just saying that. “I’ll keep an eye on her in case she sees you as competition or something, but she didn’t react when I said we’re married. I wanted to bring it up to you since we’re together, but she needs help.”

Daniel gave her a flat look. She could tell he didn’t approve, and why should he? Clover was a danger to him. Well, both of them if she was honest. He glanced across camp at Clover, working his jaw for several moments before he turned his gaze back to Twilight.

“Doesn’t Equestria have mental hospitals?” Daniel asked, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his muzzle once more.

Equestria didn’t have full asylums, but they did have mental wards in hospitals. Rainbow Dash had once broken into Ponyville General to try and steal a Daring Doo book to finish it, and thought that an escaped patient running around Ponyville had been a guard dog that was after her. That only proved that the security was lax. The doctors chasing the patient had spent hours tracking the poor mare down. What kind of damage would an unhinged wastelander do if she escaped custody?

Raiders slipping into Equestria through the rogue portals had already answered that question.

“They do,” Twilight said unenthusiastically as she turned away from Daniel to continue the walk. “But I don’t want to have her committed. She just got her freedom, and I don’t want to resort to locking her up unless she’s a danger to others. Not to mention all of Equestria’s psychologists are probably overbooked.”

Daniel inhaled sharply before scratching his goatee. He waited several heartbeats before he replied.

“Alright, it’s your call,” Daniel said with a heavy sigh. “But if she’s as unhinged as you say, then you’re the one responsible for her actions if she lacks the mental capacity to be accountable for herself.” He put a hand on her shoulder, giving it a firm, but not overbearing squeeze. “That’s how it goes when you become her caretaker. You know that, right?”

“Yes, I’ve already taken steps to reduce risk like taking her shotgun away,” Twilight said. The sawed-off was safely in her backpack. “For some reason, Eulogy trusted her to be his bodyguard.”

The twisted facial expression that Daniel made told Twilight that he was trying to do the mental gymnastics to figure out why a psychologically unstable slave would be armed and trusted to protect her master. Before he could ask what not even Twilight could answer, they reached Crimson.

She sat on the boulder with her forearms resting on her legs, eyes strained and tired. The dark skinned woman did not seem happy in the least, but Twilight had questions.

“Hello, Crimson,” Twilight said with a polite smile and a bow of courtesy to try and cheer Crimson up.

“Hey,” Crimson tersely replied as she inclined her head to regard Twilight and Daniel. She kept glancing past them to keep a wary eye on Clover. After a few moments she focused solely on Twilight, a scowl on her face as she stood up, smoothing out the creases in her pink dress. It matched the one Clover wore, like a uniform. “What do you want?”

“I, um,” Twilight said, fumbling over her words. While she had noticed Crimson was upset, she wasn’t prepared for the icy response. “I wanted to ask you why people are avoiding Clover, but I can come back later if now is not a good time.”

“Do you really have to ask?” Crimson asked in a tone that was more of a sarcastic statement than a true question. She stared at Twilight before she sighed and rolled her eyes, huffing exasperatedly. “You really haven’t put it together?”

“I haven’t had time to think about it,” Twilight said. “I know she’s unstable, but—”

“Clover’s a god-damned psychopath,” Crimson spat as she lurched forwards and jabbed Twilight in the chest with a finger. Daniel made to jump between them, but Twilight stopped him with a raised hand as Crimson continued her tirade.

“What was she doing in the next room while I was being raped?” Crimson said, her words dripping barely contained rage like ink off a freshly dipped quill. She wasn’t yelling, but it wasn’t a conversational tone either. She added in a venomous whisper, “Tell me.”

“H-hey, easy now.” Twilight took a step back and held up her hands. She didn’t want to cause a scene. “She was…” Twilight had to trail off to think about it. So much had gone on, and now she was trying to think under the stress of a very angry woman demanding a response. Twilight listed off the basics of what she remembered. “Clover was listening to the radio and eating a meal.”

The radio had been loud enough to drown out what was happening in the next room.

“Yeah,” Crimson said, sneering, “patiently waiting her turn.”

Crimson’s words were low, but that didn’t dull their sharp edge as realization cut deeply into Twilight. Clover was worse off than Twilight first thought. The idea of willingly giving herself up to a captor in that way was so alien to Twilight that she had never considered it, but with Clover’s desire to please… Twilight felt as if a million fleas were crawling on her fur.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into her,” Crimson continued, her eyes narrowing, “but if I was you, I’d take her behind a shed and put her down. She did anything Eulogy wanted to try and win his favor. So you tell me why everyone avoids her.”

Twilight bit her lip and cringed back. If Clover had followed Eulogy’s orders to the letter, then she could have hurt the other slaves on his behalf. He trusted her with being his bodyguard, afterall… but still, something didn’t add up.

“So why was Clover up for sale?” Twilight asked, recalling the first few minutes after she had taken Clover’s collar off. “When she killed Eulogy, she started yelling something about finding a new master to be the favorite of, and that he couldn’t sell her now that he was dead.”

“Because she was loyal.”

“What?” Daniel blurted, throwing out his hand. Twilight had to agree with his confusion. Clover was up for sale because she was loyal, but that didn’t make any sense. What was Twilight missing? Did Eulogy want disloyal slaves… but who would want disloyal slaves? Unless loyalty robbed him of something a disloyal slave had.

What did a sadist like Eulogy want more than anything? What did Crimson have that Clover didn't? If Eulogy enjoyed hurting people, then… then… oh sweet Celestia.

“I figured it out,” Twilight whispered, voice ringing hollow in her own ears. Daniel and Crimson stared expectantly. It had taken some mental gymnastics while putting herself in the uncomfortable headspace of a sadist, but Twilight had a solid guess why.

“Where’s the fun in torturing someone if they happily let you hurt them and ask for more?”

Eulogy wanted something he could break, not what was already broken. Twilight ground her booted hoof into the dirt, wishing she knew necromancy, just to resurrect Eulogy so she could kill him herself. Daniel’s expression matched her own.

“Exactly,” Crimson snarked. “I'm not going to relive what they did to me and say exactly what she’s done, but I have no love for that psycho, and she has no love for me. Out of the two of us, I was the one Eulogy liked to torment, and she hated my guts because I was supposedly the one getting all of his attention." She spat the word like it tasted foul coming out. "That was the only way he could torment Clover, by ignoring her in favor of abusing me.” Crimson balled up her fists. “Now, thank you for saving me, but I’m done talking about him, I’m done talking about her, and since she’s following you around now, I’m done talking to you, too.”

This had been exactly what Twilight had feared would happen between her and Sergeant Dornan—guilt by association burning a bridge to friendship before Twilight could really get to know someone. But Twilight would respect Crimson’s desire for space. She had suffered for who knows how long under the abuse of a rapist and a willing accomplice who should have been in the same position as her.

Twilight knew it was wrong to think of where Clover should have been in that situation, but Crimson had every reason to hate Clover for what she had done. If Twilight had been in Crimson’s position, she’d hate Clover, too.

Backing off from Crimson without another word, Twilight turned away with Daniel beside her. The two of them started off in a long arc around the rim of the gully.

“That doesn’t put Clover in a good light,” Daniel whispered. There was no need for it, since they took the long way around to avoid cutting through the crowded center and risk being overheard. “I think you should have Clover institutionalized.”

Twilight grimaced. She should, especially after confirming that she had helped rape Crimson, but that still didn’t change the fact that Equestria’s psychologists were likely overbooked and the hospitals not secure enough to contain someone like Clover.

“I know, but you heard Crimson, right?” Twilight asked, shaking her head. She fixed Daniel with a serious expression. “Clover’s desperate for the attention of whoever she sees as her owner. If I have her locked up to get the help she needs, she could see that as the ultimate form of betrayal, break out of whatever Equestrian hospital would agree to take her, then go on a rampage. She might be safer off with us. You’re a doctor, and I have her best interests in mind.” At least Twilight thought she had Clover's best interests in mind. There was someone she knew who would help, but Twilight shot it down as soon as she thought of it. “I could see if Fluttershy could care for her, but Clover’s chosen me to be her master, and Fluttershy’s already busy rehabilitating her gang.”

Not to mention out of all of the people Fluttershy attempted to rehabilitate, it was Clover who was confirmed to be a rapist, or at least the accomplice of one. Twilight shuddered, remembering back to the raiders threatening her with the same fate outside of the Springvale school. Her first two kills felt like ages ago. Was she really going to go through with keeping someone who had sexually assaulted another so close? Maybe she should have Clover locked up.

“Okay,” Daniel said after a moment in a slow, drawn-out sigh. He lifted a small rock off the ground with his magic and idly tossed it over the crest of a hill. “I don't like it because of how much danger this puts the both of us in, but you made some good points, and I don’t see any other options at the moment.”

Twilight forced a smile, and they drew near to where Clover tried and failed to speak to another escaped slave.

“I just wanted to—” Clover started, but her voice brokenly trailed off as the escaped slave quickly turned back towards the crowd at the center of the gully. Clover slumped her shoulders, eyes downcast.

“Hey, Clover,” Twilight said, and Clover instantly straightened up.

“Hey, sugar,” Clover said, grinning eagerly as she spoke. She held up Eulogy’s business ledger. “I still have the book. I kept it safe and sound, like I promised you I would.”

“Thank you, Clover,” Twilight said as she placed a hand on Clover’s shoulder. “You did good.”

The pride and joy lighting up in Clover’s eyes almost hid the desperation.

From Daniel’s subtle grimace as he studied Clover’s face, Twilight knew he saw it as well. If Clover was charged for what she did, how culpable would she be considered? Was she even mentally fit enough to stand trial?

“Clover,” Twilight said softly, measuring her words carefully as she let go of Clover’s shoulder and motioned to Daniel. “This is my husband, Daniel.”

Like before, Twilight didn’t see any adverse reaction from Clover, who smiled and shook Daniel's hand. It was a good sign, but Twilight wanted to make extra sure she wouldn’t turn on him. She was already forming what to say next, and the fact that she could quickly think of how to twist Clover’s insecurities to get what she wanted out of the willing slave sent Twilight’s guts churning. She could not say it, but it was either putting Daniel at risk or manipulating Clover. Either choice was a rotten apple, and it was her fate to decide which one to take a bite out of.

Twilight suppressed the frown threatening to overpower her forced smile as she looked at Daniel, the one who had saved her and loved her. Could she really live with herself if something was to happen to him? Especially since Clover was her responsibility now.

“I would appreciate it very much if you obeyed and followed his instructions like you would mine,” Twilight said to Clover. “He is my husband, so what’s mine is also his.”

Twilight felt damnation closing in as she played along with Clover’s insanity. She glanced to the side at Daniel, and wished she could take back what she had said as he shot her a dark look. His eyes had narrowed down to slits that spoke of his lack of approval at being roped into co-owning another living, thinking being. Even someone that wanted it.

Meanwhile, Clover’s smile only grew.

“I’ll do all I can to be both of your favorites,” Clover said, bowing her head in a submissive gesture. “Is there anything I can do to repay you for this, sugar?”

Twilight heard the snap of Electrum’s teleportation nearby. She was finally done with processing the prisoners, and quickly set off gathering groups to teleport to Adams Air Force Base. Good, Twilight was tired of standing in the middle of a gully in the wasteland. It was just asking for trouble.

“Yes, in fact,” Twilight said. “Let’s go get you cleaned up. Your hair is matted with blood.”

Clover scrunched her face and scratched her hair. A cloud of orange-red flakes fell from the white locks like dandruff.

Out of everything that Twilight had seen so far that day, it was the sight of that that made her vomit.

<>~<>~<>

Daniel, Clover, and Twilight were the last to teleport back to Adams Air Force Base with Electrum’s help. Twilight didn’t teleport the group since the rule was very specific that they had to arrive inside a particular hanger, which Twilight’s broken horn wouldn’t allow her to do.

She wondered why the instructions were so specific, but one step outside of the hanger and Twilight understood why. Adams Air Force Base was like a city—it never slept. Even though it was close to ten P.M., large, double-rotor helicopters either took off or landed near the other hangars surrounding their arrival point. The noise of their tiltrotor engines was a constant, ear-splitting chug-chug, muffling the shouts of dozens of soldiers running to and fro. If she had arrived anywhere but the designated area, she might have appeared in front of someone.

Many of the running soldiers wore combat armor, or no armor at all, instead of power armor. The nearest group was two soldiers in blood-stained fatigues running with a stretcher carrying a man missing both his legs above the knees. They headed towards a triage in another hanger. Other soldiers toting stretchers gathered there with wounded. A casualty collection point. Something had gone wrong.

Twilight caught Daniel watching the runners. She could read in his tense shoulders and serious expression that he wanted to join the medics.

“Go help them, if they’ll let you, maybe you can find out what’s going on,” Twilight said, barely loud enough to hear herself over the howling helicopter engines. “Electrum, Clover and I are going to the showers.”

That was the push he needed to rush into action. The unneeded bags of medical supplies they had brought for the slaves bounced against his combat armor as he caught up to the stretcher-bearers, using his magic to help them carry the load.

Despite the chaos and the screams of the wounded, and the omnipresent whine of the vertibird engines, Twilight smiled. Daniel had a gentle heart and a good conscience, and his willingness to help reminded Twilight of most Equestrians she knew. She watched Daniel until he dipped into a hangar.

She was about to ask Electrum where the showers were, but changed course as realization struck her.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Twilight asked. In all the excitement, it had slipped her mind to simply ask the Enclave member accompanying them before sending Daniel off.

“Applejack sent several squads to try and retrieve some tech from Old Olney,” Electrum said, taking the lead of the group. Twilight made sure to check on Clover every so often. There was no chance she would let her lag behind like back at the gully. “There’s an old power plant there that has something that might get Liberty Prime up and running.”

Twilight hadn’t seen it personally, but Fluttershy had told her about the giant robot in the basement of the Brotherhood of Steel’s base. Liberty Prime had never worked, though, something about issues with its reactor not producing enough power.

As they moved away from the hangars, the noise of the vertibirds thankfully quieted enough the conversation could continue without nearly shouting.

“Why are there so many wounded?” Twilight asked.

Electrum’s face went grim.

“Old Olney is the biggest deathclaw breeding ground in the Capital Wasteland.”

The wasteland has such lovely places to go, doesn’t it? Twilight thought. She looked back at the stretchers.

Something told her that Applejack was about to ask for another favor.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight didn’t hear any showers running or feel humidity in the air as she and Clover followed Electrum into a locker room. The showers they intended to use lay just beyond an archway on the other end of the room. From what Twilight could see, it was a communal bathing area, which made sense on a military base.

Walking towards the showers, a quick glance around revealed far more lockers than Twilight had first thought there were. They wrapped around most of the wall space and long banks of them were set up throughout the room. The lockers formed walls and corridors in what had once been an open-air room, and each locker had multiple doors, breaking them up into smaller sections about the size of a filing cabinet drawer.

Between the lockers were at least a half-dozen long benches, although, with how twisting and turning the locker banks were, Twilight couldn't see the entirety of the room in one spot.

While she couldn’t see or hear anyone currently, she could smell for a fact that the room was heavily used. The clawing odors of old sweat and mildew stuck to the background like a lurking predator, assaulting the nose with unexpected ferocity. Twilight covered her snout with a hand.

“This is perhaps the lockeriest of locker rooms I’ve ever had the pleasure of walking through,” Twilight said through her plugged nose.

Clover didn’t seem to mind the spell, and Electrum chuckled, not bothering with holding her nose either as she stopped by a locker that was larger than the rest. It was painted white instead of plain gray, and unlike many of the lockers in the room, it also didn’t have a padlock. Inside were neatly folded towels and washrags, and Electrum pulled out two of each.

“I’m going to keep any guys out while you two wash,” Electrum said. “These showers are supposed to be co-ed, but you’re civilians.”

Twilight worked her jaw, thinking it over. While Equestrians were normally nude, and many had no shame walking around naked strangers, there was something about bathing that felt too intimate to do around the opposite gender. Washing involved scrubbing places not normally touched in public and inviting wandering eyes.

“Thank you,” Twilight replied, fidgeting in place as she took the washcloth and towel. Twilight didn’t feel as laissez-faire about nudity as she had in the past. With how her humanoid form stood on two legs, not even her tail would keep her modest.

Electrum nodded, handed Clover her own towel and washrag, then left the room.

Watching her leave had Twilight realize that unless another woman came in to bathe, she would be alone with Clover. Given what Clover had done, that was not a comforting thought, but it was also a good time to ask her questions. Twilight certainly wasn’t going to leave her unattended in the shower. Something like a broken mirror shard could become a knife.

While Twilight didn’t know if Clover was in such a mental state that she’d hurt herself, it was better to be prepared than regret it later. It was another reason why she needed to talk to Clover at length, to get to know her better.

Clover had already set the ledger down on a nearby bench and stood with her head submissively bowed, as if ready for an order while holding her towel and rag.

The rash from the bomb collar hadn’t shrunk since it was taken off. It was still a perfect band of raw, angry red skin around Clover’s throat. Twilight wondered if her neck would fully heal, or if she would always have the ghost of the collar haunting her neck.

Twilight grit her teeth. She knew she followed the same path Fluttershy had taken almost step-for-step with her raider gang. The similarities were too close for Twilight to not see as plain as her reflection in a mirror. Twilight wanted to know why she was so insistent on helping Clover. Did she pity Clover like she was some sort of lost puppy?

Clover glanced up from her bow.

“Is everything okay, sugar?” she asked, setting the towel and rag down with the ledger.

“Not really,” Twilight said. She didn’t want to lie to Clover more than she already had. How much damage had she caused to Clover’s mental state by playing into her desire for a master?

Clover tensed, reaching her hands out like she was about to spring forwards to embrace Twilight, but stopped.

“It’s about me, isn’t it?” Clover asked, slouching back. “Have I done something wrong? I saw you talking to Crimson and…” She looked down at her shoes. “Do you think I’m a monster?”

“I’m trying to figure that out,” Twilight said, sighing and leaning back against a bank of lockers. “Crimson told me what you and Eulogy did to her.”

Clover let out a shallow half-chuckle as she leaned back against the opposite bank of lockers, facing Twilight, her posture continuing to sag.

“Anyone would think I’m a monster after what Eulogy told me to do to her,” Clover said, crossing her arms to hug herself. “I know it was wrong but…” she trailed off, rubbing the rash on her neck with her hand. “It’s a lot easier to live with myself when I’m not the one in control of my life.”

Twilight could see stark, horrified lucidity in Clover's eyes as she stared down at her shoes. She had a broken half-smile on her face, like she was trying and failing to bury the pain.

Twilight didn’t pity Clover. Pity implied that she felt superior to Clover, and despite how she had manipulated her by playing into her wish for a master, Twilight didn't desire to lord over her. Clover was a person. A person who, despite every evil thing that she’d done, didn’t change the fact that Twilight had found her with a bomb wrapped around her neck.

“You’re not as crazy as you act, are you?” Twilight asked, crossing the short distance between her and Clover, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“The fuck do I know, right?” Clover asked, snorting and shrugging, her tone petulant, but never raising her eyes to meet Twilight’s gaze. “I’m just a worthless piece of meat until someone needs something.”

She sniffed, and Twilight saw the glossy sheen of tears in Clover’s eyes.

“You’re not worthless, Clover,” Twilight said, squeezing her shoulder. “There’s more to you than people think. You could have easily told Eulogy the truth when I took your collar off, but instead, you tried to deflect him by saying I was a slaver who’d wandered in from the party. That was some impressive quick thinking. I would have stumbled through a lie like that.”

You also took it upon yourself to kill him, you’re not incapable of thinking for yourself, Twilight thought. It was best to leave that part unsaid.

“You’re the first person to tell me that,” Clover said, looking up to Twilight with bloodshot and tear-filled eyes. “Thank you.”

Twilight smiled and let go of her shoulder, stepping back to give Clover space. She knew there was more to her, and turned to the bench where Clover’s towel and the ledger sat.

Clover was smart enough to read the ledger over her shoulder. Why would a slave want to read the business ledger? Unless there was a transaction she was looking for.

“You wanted to escape to look for someone, didn’t you?” Twilight asked. “You don’t have to tell me if you aren’t comfortable. You’re not my slave, or Daniel’s, no matter what I said earlier. You’re a free woman, and it’s your choice to follow us.”

Clover stared at the ledger, then shifted to meet Twilight’s gaze before she shook her head.

“No, she’s never known me, and I know enough to know I’m not mother material. I just wanted to make sure Daisy wasn’t on any of the lists,” Clover said, still shaking her head. “Now, can we please shower Miss Twilight, the blood in my hair is starting to itch.”

And just as fast as it came, the lucidity faded, and Clover was back to her manic grins and servile bows.

<>~<>~<>

“I have another favor I need from you, Twilight,” Applejack said, leaning over her large wooden office desk with a heavy sigh. She stared down at a stack of papers. The casualty reports and other various paperwork were about as thick as the slaver’s ledger. It was an easy comparison to make with the tome laying on Applejack’s desk.

“Is this about Old Olney?” Twilight asked, shifting uncomfortably in the chair across from Applejack. Clover and Daniel also shifted in their own seats, which flanked Twilight’s. Deathclaws had a fierce enough reputation that Deathclaw Joe named himself after them, and he used them as the symbol for his raider gang. Even Twilight was vaguely aware that they were something to avoid at all costs, and Daniel had recently treated those wounded by them.

“Nope,” Applejack said, shaking her head. “Several of the kids rescued from Paradise Falls are from a settlement called Little Lamplight. I need you to convince ‘em to join the Enclave.”

“Fat chance,” Clover interrupted. “They kick everyone out when they turn sixteen, and hate adults.”

Twilight raised a brow to her white-haired companion.

“Seriously, Miss Twilight?” Clover huffed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. “You never wondered about my life before Mr. Eulogy?”

“I didn’t know when a good time would be to ask you,” Twilight said. After their talk in the locker room, Twilight let Clover wash with as much privacy as she would allow her. She had watched Clover, but hadn’t pestered the woman with personal questions. “But now that we know you’re from there, maybe you can tell us how Little Lamplight keeps its population up if they kick out everyone before they’re adults.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Clover said. “Mr. Eulogy told me one time that no one wants to buy an investment that’ll take that long to grow, and he’s not heartless enough to just let babies die, so we send ‘em to Little Lamplight. At least that’s what he told me when he sent our daughter.”

And just when I thought the wasteland had shown me everything, Twilight thought, clenching her fists.

“Um… well,” Applejack said, fumbling around the awkward bombshell Clover had casually dropped. “There’s also a back way into Vault 87. If you can convince the Little Lamplighters to join the Enclave, we can hit Vault 87 from two sides. The front door with Liberty Prime, and soldiers slippin’ in the back way.”

Daniel politely coughed into his fist before speaking.

“What about the piece of tech you needed from Old Olney?” Daniel asked. “The soldiers I was working on said the mission was a failure.”

“I’ve already made plans to ge—”

A golden flash behind Twilight followed by an electric blue one cut Applejack off. The magnetic sensation driving through Twilight’s brain let her know who was standing behind her before she even turned to look.

Deathclaw Joe and Princess Celestia stood side by side, and Twilight balked at how much blood covered each of them. It practically painted them from horn to hoof, tarnishing the golden armor Celestia wore. They used both hands and their magic to carry a refrigerator-sized cylinder of wrist-thick copper wires topped with a metal ball.

“Here you go, Applejack,” Celestia said in a cheery tone despite the large rents in the chestplate of her armor. “One quantum-harmonizing tesla-coil.” Her gaze shifted down, allowing Twilight to see her eyes were as wide as the sun itself.

“Oh, hello, Twilight,” she said, forcing a smile through a sudden wince. “I nearly died today, but I’m feeling great, how are you?”

“W-what?” Twilight stammered. “Are you okay, Celestia?”

“I’m sorry,” Deathclaw Joe grumbled bitterly. “She’s… high.”

The wasteland never ceases to put me at a loss for words.

Chapter 51: Old Olney

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Clang.

Celestia grunted as the blow crashed into her sword, and her armored hooves started sliding back across the concrete floor. Reacting quickly, she adjusted her stance to put the weight of her plate mail behind holding her rival's blade at bay and stop her slide.

The rules were simple. Don’t get hit, don’t get pushed out of the circle. The friendly competition reminded her of participating in tournaments long ago. The familiar cheer of the crowds on the sidelines, the clinking and crashing of metal on metal. Even the smells were the same. Alcohol and sweat. They lingered in the air as thick as fog.

Yet, one familiar scent was out of place in the medley of odors. One that didn't belong on competition grounds. The faint scent of death wafted up from the bottom of the twin metro stations of Metro Central, as welcome as an uninvited guest…

"Nice block," Joel—or as most knew him, Deathclaw Joe—said with a smirk, drawing Celestia back to the fight. His blade slid against hers with a tortured screech as he pressed Celestia back one more step towards the edge. The royal guards on the sidelines started booing. Joel was gaining leverage, and with his advantage in height and raw strength, Celestia knew she'd lose if she didn't disengage their locked blades. “Did you learn that from fancy tutors, or first-hand experience?”

"I'm over a millennium old," Celestia replied. She forced his blade to the side and leapt past him. She spun around just in time for Joel's blade to miss her breastplate by a hair's breadth. The crowd roared as she parried his follow-through strike. After a few more clashes and parries, they ended up back where they started with locked blades. "My reign wasn't all sunshine and rainbows."

Flaring her horn, Celestia wrapped her blade in an aura of golden light and pushed. Her telekinetically enhanced blade was enough to force Joel back enough that neither of them held the edge, although he wasn’t using his magic. She’d worry about that when she wasn’t worried about her second opponent.

Lisa chose that moment to land off to the side of Celestia. Joel’s first wife had turned into a bat pony, and her new wings matched the scandalous outfit of spiked shoulder pads and leather lingerie that she preferred. She hefted a blunt plank of steel into a two handed grip. The sparring greatsword was about the same size, shape, and ugliness as the ones Celestia and Joel used. They were nothing like the ornate relic sheathed across Celestia's back.

"You’re pretty spry for an old hag," Lisa taunted. Most of the royal guards gasped, and Lisa held her pose, drinking in their reactions with a cocky grin before she chopped at Celestia’s backside like a tree. The coming blow was as obvious as a wine stain on a wedding dress. Celestia dodged, weaving out of the path of Joel's and Lisa’s swords as she drove deeper towards the center of the ring to get away from the edge.

Lisa, unfortunately, stopped her blade from overshooting and hitting Joel. She had skill with controlling a blade that could only come with practice. Celestia had as well, but her training had been on four hooves instead of two. The chance to learn how to fight on two hooves was why Celestia had suggested sparring in the first place.

"I was dodging arrows and spells before your ancestors were in diapers," Celestia said, a bemused chuckle escaping her as she fell into a guard stance. When she was in a good mood, she didn't mind talking about her age. It was a joke that she could laugh along with. With the thrill of friendly competition coursing through her, Celestia could safely say that she was in a good mood, despite the lingering smell in the air.

"Then I'll go easy on you so you don't break a hip," Lisa taunted back, pacing along the border of the circular arena. She lazily swiped her blade in front of her with a limp grip as she walked. Joel moved the opposite direction, the grip of his weapon firm in two hands. They were going to attack Celestia from both flanks.

Celestia recalled the lessons her instructors had drilled into her for fighting multiple opponents. Separate the group from each other and take out the weakest fighters first. Another tactic was to break their concentration and get under their fur. Since the sparring rules prevented them from leaving the ring, breaking their focus to gain the upper hoof was Celestia’s next option.

"I can assure you," Celestia said, adopting a low, sultry tone. Twilight had always talked of how effective Rarity's flirting was. “If my hips were in any danger, the first to discover would be Joel.”

It got the desired effect. Joel jerked in a double take, and Lisa roared with laughter. It was the opening Celestia needed as she telekinetically yanked Lisa's weapon away from her lazy grip, turned the weapon on the former wielder, then smacked Lisa on the thigh with the flat of the blade to knock her out the fight.

Celestia then launched towards Joel with a flap of her wings. She reared back her greatsword to swing…

Her breath exploded out in a sudden gasp as her chest collided with something. Her hooves shot out from under her for a split second before her vision flashed white with pain as the back of her helmeted head slammed into the ground.

It took Celestia a second to spot the sparring sword hovering above her. It was sheathed in a familiar aura of electric-blue light. In her haste, she’d clothesline herself on Joel’s sword. He’d adapted quickly.

"Wow," Lisa said, a smirk audible in her tone. "It doesn't take much for Joel to get you on your back, does it?"

"And you got her started," Joel said with a sarcastic sigh. He recalled the levitating sparring sword back to his hands as he approached Celestia at an even pace. His calm walk still sounded like a rhythm of falling boulders. He was a huge man, easily as large as a super mutant. His lightning-colored eyes and chiseled visage looked tiny from their perch eight feet up in the air.

"You okay?" He asked, genuine concern in his tone as he stooped and held out a hand for her. "I'm still getting used to my alicorn strength… and powers."

"I think you bruised my pride, but I’ll live," Celestia said, grinning sheepishly as she accepted the proffered hand. As Joel pulled Celestia up to her hooves, she added, “Do you think there will be any updates on Twilight's mission yet? I'm not sure how much time has passed down here.”

They'd been teleporting people to and from Metro Central all day, yet Celestia had lost track of time. Thankfully, Joel had lived in Metro Central for so long that he had an uncanny ability to tell time by looking at the hole in the ceiling over his throne. They hadn’t moved his furniture yet, and his gold-plated deathclaw skull was still mounted above the headrest of his throne. Celestia had seen it when there was still daylight out, and the golden skull had shone like a star in the metro station.

“Hmm, we haven't spent too long here,” Joel said, glancing towards the dark hole in the ceiling. “Still, we should get back, I don't want to miss any news about Paradise Falls." He turned to face Lisa, who rubbed at a red mark on her thigh. "Could you round up the last few of our people who are here, please? Tell them this is their last chance to get to Equestria today.”

Lisa grunted an acknowledgement, and Joel headed for his tent. The pavilion-sized dwelling of sewn-together brahmin hides sat atop a concrete balcony overlooking the rest of the upper of Metro Central’s two metro stations.

“Hey,” Lisa said, joining Joel's side as Celestia walked along the other. “I did have a question that’s been bugging me. Now that the Enclave wants Paradise Falls gone, why aren’t we helping? Either of you could teleport us there and we could help—”

“No,” Joel snapped. The outburst sent Lisa and Celestia cringing back. Joel winced at his own outburst, his ears going flat and his voice smoothed out to a calm and even tone. It was as if all playfulness and joy were carved out with a knife. "Sorry, Lisa, but no. I shouldn’t go. I’m trying to think with my brain more than my fists and sword." He shook his head, as if ashamed. "After what I did, I need to do better.”

Celestia saw the pain in his eyes. He hated what he's done at the Knock. She could see the regret in his wide open eyes. Celestia didn't blame him for slaughtering the more violent and unpredictable of the raider gangs. She'd planned on attacking the Metro gangs with Equestrian troops before Joel dealt with the problem for her.

“Knowing myself,” he continued, voice low and strained, “I would see one mistreated slave and go berserk.” He grit his teeth and looked away, visibly frustrated. He vented his frustration with a heavy sigh. “I’m scared of what my new powers would let me do. In Equestria, Celestia and I fought gryphons in power armor, and I won without a scratch." His voice grew frantic as he gestured at Celestia. "For crying out loud, Celestia pulled the sun up from the wrong direction just to mess with their night vision helmets. I have the powers of a god now, I just don't know what they are, and I'm afraid to find out what I can do if I lose my temper.”

Celestia cringed, recalling a teary, private conversation she had with Fluttershy. An alicorn on a true rampage would be a bloody mess. She looked at Joel, a man so massive he eclipsed mountains… and he was afraid.

It was a good thing.

“With great power, comes greater responsibility," Celestia said, rejoining the conversation with a small smile. "But I think you have the right mindset for it. You try to improve yourself, both physically and mentally, and you're holding yourself back from indulging in revenge.”

Jealousy had driven dear sweet Luna down a path of darkness, to the point she had turned into a dark creature ready to slay her own sister. What would the quest for bloody revenge turn an alicorn into? Luckily for everyone involved, Joel was more than a simple barbarian king. The books he preferred, outside of Grognak the Barbarian comic books, were dense reads. Celestia had helped pack up and move his vast collection of epic poems, philosophy, even a few dictionaries. If he’d been born in Equestria and given the chance, he’d probably have graduated college.

Joel took a step back and seemed to consider her words, mulling them over as he worked his jaw.

“Thank you, and sorry that I yelled,” Joel said. With a sigh, he relaxed his shoulders and seemed to grow even bigger as he smiled confidently. He kissed Celestia on the forehead, then had to bend to kiss Lisa’s head, who was two heads shorter than Joel, and a head shorter than Celestia. “You're both right that I would like to take down Paradise Falls, and I’m holding myself back, but I trust that Twilight has it covered. My real revenge lies with The Pitt…” His features darkened again for just a moment, before he forced away the thoughts plaguing him and smiled again. “Sorry.”

“Ey, big guy, no need to sweat it,” Lisa said, smiling softly as she spread her wings. “I was the one who went about asking the question like an asshole. Anyways, I’ll go get the people rounded up now. Are we sleeping in Equestria or the Enclave base tonight?”

Joel looked to Celestia for the answer.

“Equestria,” Celestia said. “The guards on the Equestrian side of the portal have been told to expect us to come through at any time.”

“Cool,” Lisa said. “I can’t wait to see what Samantha and the kids have been up to.”

Lisa ended the conversation with a powerful flap of her wings. She soared up towards the arched roof of the metro, then banked towards where some of Joel’s former subjects were sitting around a barrel fire.

Joel started back on the path towards his tent, and Celestia followed.

“I don’t think I mentioned it earlier,” Celestia said, changing topics away from Paradise Falls. “But nice reaction time with your telekinesis. You reacted faster than I expected.”

“You didn’t do too bad yourself,” Joel said. He worked his jaw, as if considering something, then grinned. “That joke did take me off guard. I still can’t believe you’re over a millennium old.” He then worked his jaw again, humming as he bit his lower lip.

What was he thinking?

“Go ahead,” Celestia said with a smile. They reached the stairs leading to the platform where Joel’s tent rested.

“What?” Joel asked, feigning ignorance and looking away. Celestia kept her eyes on him, narrowing them until she had the proper glare to bore right through him. His lips twitched with a restrained smile, and he relented. “Okay, I have a question about you, but I don’t know if it’s offensive or not. It's related to your age. I’m a barbarian, but I still have manners.”

Celestia rolled her eyes. She didn’t mind questions. Was he blushing?

“Go ahead,” Celestia insisted, smiling ruefully. “I’m so old that I’ve probably already answered the question. You wouldn’t believe what some ponies have asked me in the past. There has been more than one colt or filly who just HAD to know ‘do alicorns need to poop’.”

That got a chortle out of Joel. She was ready for anything he could throw at her.

“How accurate is your memory?” Joel asked with genuine enthusiasm and a smile on his face. “Are you a living history book? I would have loved to have a living primary source from a thousand years ago in human history, just to ask what it was really like back then.”

Celestia drew up with a grimace. Of all the things, it had to be the one topic that made her feel her age.

“Well,” Celestia said, her tone soft. She wasn’t going to dodge the question, she had been insistent that she would answer it, no matter what it was. “My immortality didn’t come with an eidetic memory, and I’ve lived so many mortal lifetimes that I forget details or jumble things up.” Celestia sighed and shook her head. She started up the stairs, trying to work out how to explain it to a recently ascended mortal with only a fraction of her lifetime. Maybe how she had explained it to Twilight would work for Joel.

“It's hard to explain, but looking back at anything under my first two-hundred years or so now, is like… like trying to recall memories of being a child for a mortal. Things are so far back that the details are a smudged oil painting in my mind’s eye, all blended together.” She couldn’t even recall exactly how old she was. “Journaling helps, but it gets to me when I realize that my earlier journals are practically unreadable to a modern Equestrian because of how far the language has drifted. Sometimes, I don’t even feel like I’m the same pony.”

Celestia paused on the steps and turned towards Joel. He stared at her with a hand on his statue-worthy chin as he contemplated her words. She knew an analogy that would get the point across.

“Humans have a myth similar to the Equestrian story of the Carpenter’s House,” Celestia said. “Do you know of the Ship of Theseus?”

“Yes,” Joel said, humming. “But I’m interested in hearing Equestria’s version of the parable.”

“Well” Celestia said, nodding. “The story goes that a young carpenter built a house and moved into it with his family. This was so long ago that it was in the days before pegasi controlled the weather, so a storm blew off his roof. He built a new one, and afterwards, years go by until he eventually passes on. His son—a carpenter following the family trade—and his family are now living in the house.” Celestia slowed their pace so they wouldn’t reach the top of the stairs before she finished the story. “Now, the son has more children than the house was built for, and the house is getting old, so he adds another room and makes repairs all over, replacing many boards here and there.” Celestia waved a hand. “Skipping the parts where the story repeats on and on, the point of it is that after generations of carpenters and stonemasons repairing, renovating, adding and modifying as needs fit, is the house at the end of the story the same house from the start? Even after every board and the foundations themselves have been changed?”

“Centuries of life,” Joel said. “Some forgotten memories here, a traumatic experience there, a mistake or two that you will never forget added in, and moments so wondrous and happy it’ll stick with you forever seasoning the tapestry of your life.”

He understood what she was getting at.

“Hmm,” Joel rumbled contemplatively. He cupped his chin again with a hand. “I hear the story and I think that, in the end, does it even matter? The original builder may be centuries dead, but it doesn’t change the fact that, in the distant past, the house was a house perfect for those that needed it. The house grew, the house changed, but by the end of it all, the house was still a house. No matter what, you are still Celestia, ruler of Equestria. You changed to fit your people’s needs, but the centuries didn’t rob you of being you.”

He smiled, leaned over so he was face to face with her, and tapped the side of her head with a finger.

Celestia threw her arms around the back of his neck and hauled herself into a passionate kiss. It lasted for several moments, before Celestia pulled away, panting for breath. Joel blinked at her, processing it.

“Sorry… just…” she stammered. “That was the best thing you could have said to me.”

“Heh,” Joel grunted, a smile breaking through his bewilderment. “I just said what came natural. Now, let’s go pack up some more things before we get back to Adams.”

That sounded like a wonderful idea. Hopefully Lisa wouldn’t need too long to get the rest of the humans organized, Celestia was looking forward to seeing how Twilight handled the slavers.

<>~<>~<>

Alexander Espinoza peered through the cockpit window at the fast-moving scenery below, a smile hidden behind his flight helmet. What a night it was to fly his vertibird. No clouds, lots of moonlight, and barely any wind.

He spared a glance to VB-991, which flew wingman to him. The other vertibird had drawn in close enough that he could see the faces of the troops letting their legs dangle out of the passenger bay. It was stupid and reckless to hang out of a bird like that. The newer suits of Enclave power armor weren’t made as well as the old stuff back West. If the vertibird had to take evasive action and bank hard, anyone who fell would drop like a stone and make a mess on landing.

“Lawnmower,” Espinoza said, grunting into the microphone embedded into his helmet. VB-991’s pilot, Tobias Clarke, chose a terrible nickname, but he was still a good friend of his, so it was a moot point. “You might want to have your guys keep their legs in the vehicle. Wouldn't want anyone to fall out when the deathclaws start throwing rocks at us.”

Espinoza was well into his sixties and hadn't lost a single passenger to an accident. He hoped to spread that wisdom to the new generation of Enclave pilots. Those that would listen, at the very least.

“Like we’re gonna land that close to Old Olney,” Clarke replied, his voice crackling with static from the speaker in Espinoza’s helmet. Despite the distortion, Espinoza could still make out the humor in Clarke’s voice. “We’re gonna be fine, Gramps, lighten up a little. Your ass is so tight, I could put a piece of coal between your cheeks and get a diamond for my effort.”

“Only way you’re gonna see a diamond,” Espinoza said, preparing for a low blow he knew would trip up his young friend. Their conversations went like that, verbal middle-fingers to each other. Espinoza hoped that each time he one-upped Clarke, the boy would learn from the experience and grow a little. “How long did your last relationship last? Two days? You change girlfriends more than you shower.”

Heaven knew the boy still had a lot of growing to do.

“You laugh, Gramps," Clarke said, still in high spirits, "but I just hit it off with one of the new girls ‘round the base.”

Espinoza wasn’t aware of any transfers. Unless Clarke meant some of the Equestrians. Was the kid that desperate? Of course he was, he was young.

“You’re dating one of the muties, aren’t you?” Espinoza asked with a grimace. It was bad enough that he had to play nice with the brahmin-faced hornheads, and while the President looked human, she was an Equestrian. Didn't matter to him that America owned the plot of land she was born on, it wasn't stateside or the oil rig… but that didn't stop her from shaking his hand personally before he took off for this mission. Bucket-of-Bolts Eden wouldn’t have ever done that.

“Sergeant Emerald looks human enough, if you ignore the fact that you can see through her like she's an empty green cola bottle.”

Espinoza had thought ghosts had come over from the other side when he’d seen a crystal pony for the first time. At least she made the kid happy. Damn the ponies for being too damned likable.

“I’d like to meet her,” Espinoza said, trying to sound as sincere as he could force himself to be. He didn’t like muties, but the Enclave was changing. He could at least try. “Do you know if Equestrian’s drink alcohol? We can take her to—”

The joystick in Espinoza’s hands gave a sudden and violent jerk as the vertibird dropped a few feet in altitude. Espinoza wrenched the yolk back, and his co-pilot, Gavin, swore like a raw-recruit the entire time as he too wrestled the controls. They leveled back out, but the feedback in the joystick was wrong. It wobbled and occasionally jerked, and Espinoza’s palms started to sweat under his gloves as he held the joystick in a death grip.

The shaking lasted a few more seconds, then left as soon as it came.

“You okay, Esp?” Clarke asked in a worried tone. It took Espinoza several moments and Clarke repeating himself before Espinoza finally realized he was being asked a question.

“What happened?” he replied.

“Set that bird down now. Something fell off,” Clarke said. Espinoza knew his friend well, and could tell from the tone that something was wrong. There was a professionally suppressed panic to his voice. “Command wants you to contact them. We’re scrubbing the mission. We can cull the deathclaws on any other night we choose.”

Espinoza scrambled to press the button on his control console to change preset radio channels. The new one linked him back to Adams AFB instead of his wingman.

“Command,” Espinoza said, taking a deep breath and reminding himself what to do in emergencies. He checked over his instruments.

Shit… he was losing oil and hydraulic pressure. Did lines get cut by the debris that fell off?

Seconds passed by, unease building in his gut as he waited on the edge of his seat, his knuckles white under his gloves. The gauges kept falling. He was about to call again, but a woman’s voice finally replied in a calm and composed tone with a heavy country twang.

“Command here, Espinoza,” President Jacklyn said. The honesty in her tone helped calm his racing heart. “Land as far away from Old Olney as you can. We're gonna teleport a repair team out to you. We have a pair of alicorns here, and one of them knows the area.”

Espinoza could see the ruined town miles ahead of his vertibird. The crumbling buildings and rubble-filled streets were painted in shadowy hues by the moonlight. It was enough to see landmarks like a water tower, billboards, and a few crumbling spans of elevated highway. The emergency landing zone should be… there. He spotted it after just a few moments of searching.

As Espinoza pushed his joystick to reorient the vertibird, the aircraft entered a shallow angle down before he heard a sound that would empty the bowels of any pilot. A loud metallic crunch accompanied by a complete lack of feedback in the joystick.

Gavin swore as his joystick went dead as well. Espinoza tried the pedals that controlled yaw… no response. He and Gavin shared haunted looks. They both knew what it meant.

<>~<>~<>

The starry night sky greeted Celestia as she opened her eyes with a groan. The scent of burned mane lingered around her head like a halo, and her wings were trapped between her and the asphalt she lay on.

“Joel, I think you need a few more lessons on teleportation,” Celestia said as she leaned up and dusted off a layer of soot clinging to her armor. She looked around the span of road that she’d appeared on. It was an elevated highway full of rusting cars and concrete barriers, but no Joel.

“Joel?” Celestia asked, raising her voice.

The fur on the back of Celestia’s neck stood on end as the thought crossed her mind. What if they’d been scattered away from each other by Joel’s amateur teleportation?

“Over the median from you,” Joel groaned, crushing her worry like a grape. He appeared as he pulled himself up with the concrete barrier that divided the highway. Celestia almost laughed at his frizzy white mane. It made it look like his head was trapped in a cloud. He blew an errant white strand out of his face, the singed tip still smoking. “And in my defense, that’s the longest I’ve ever had to teleport.”

With a flex of his muscular arms, he vaulted the median, then smoothed out his long hair as he joined where Celestia stood. His deathclaw skin cloak was caked in as much soot as Celestia’s plate mail, turning the green hide a mottled black.

“I’m glad you knew the area so you could teleport us,” Celestia said. They were in the command center talking to Applejack about the ongoing mission to retrieve some technology from Old Olney when the first vertibird had a catastrophic mechanical failure. “Do you think we’ll find survivors?”

Joel was about to say something, but a sound echoed in the distance. It was like the hiss of an alligator fed through concert speakers. Celestia turned around to find that, far below the span of elevated highway were the ruins of Old Olney. Dozens of partially intact buildings were laid out in a grid divided by streets and roads, though many of the asphalt paths were choked by rubble from the collapsed buildings.

As she searched for the source of the noise, her eyes were drawn towards the wreckage of a vertibird that had crash-landed in front of a fire station. The wings had snapped off and the attached engines lay in flaming heaps, but the fuselage itself seemed relatively intact. Several blocks away, the glow of a fire from the second vertibird illuminated the surrounding buildings, but Celestia couldn’t see the crash site itself. Nor whatever had made that sound. She kept her eyes peeled, silently watching the town with Joel, until he suddenly pointed.

A looming mass stalked around the corner of a building far below in the town.

It was the first time Celestia had seen a living deathclaw, and corpses on an autopsy table couldn’t compare to the living thing.

It looked too much like a dragon, but wrong. Wingless, and with a puggish face much shorter than a real dragon, with overlapping teeth so large it couldn’t fully close its lipless jaws. Two massive ram-horns spiraled back from the crown of its head. Its scales were a dirty green and dotted with spikes that ran along the spine. The longer she stared, the less she was sure it was close to a dragon, but a bastardized idea of one instead.

It neared the fire station before it stopped, stretched upwards, then sniffed the air, giving her a better look at the underbelly of the deathclaw, which was a soft tan compared to the dark-green, almost black hide covering the rest of the creature. Its massive arms were so long that, as the creature hunched back down, the machete-length claws nearly scraped the concrete sidewalk.

There was a deceptive grace to the way it stomped. Like the creature perfectly knew its own strength, was in full control of how it walked, and wasn’t a victim of its own gargantuan size as it used its long tail like a counterbalance to keep itself perfectly steady.

It passed a burning hunk of engine and wing to reach the central hull. It sniffed at the door on the side of the craft, then nudged at the metal with the tip of its snout before it backed up.

“Is it confused by the metal?” Celestia whispered. “Maybe it’ll leave—”

The deathclaw reared back a hand, extending its claws, before swiping at the door. Furrows ripped into the metal, and she heard screaming come from inside the craft.

"Get us down there now!" Joel yelled as he drew his sword.

Drawing her own sword from her back, Celestia appeared behind the deathclaw in a burst of golden magic. Dawn’s Ray flashed out towards the creature’s calves in an arc, the enchanted steel of the greatsword’s blade slicing through the hide, then the flesh beneath. It cut just as easily as the day Celestia first used the blade.

The deathclaw howled in pain, and Celestia leapt to the side as it collapsed back like a felled tree. Joel finished the stunned creature off with a stab to the throat. The underbelly was thinner than the rest of the hide, and the only resistance his blade met was a temporary pause at the spine before it, too, was severed by the blade.

The creature let out a final, surprised gurgle, then collapsed.

"That was insane," Celestia gasped, standing beside the corpse and breathing heavily. What they'd done was reckless. It was common knowledge that you fought dragons with spells, not swords. She'd been too hasty to rush in and help.

"Yeah," Joel said, then laughed like they hadn't just taken down one of the most notoriously dangerous wasteland predators with swords. He shifted over a few steps before he knocked on the side of the vertibird.

"Oi, any of you lot still alive in there,” He asked playfully. “Or did the beastie scare you to death?"

Celestia took a moment to breathe. That only let the absurdity of the situation build up in Celestia’s mind before spilling out in peals of laughter. The adrenaline was getting to her, and she couldn't help but laugh. It was like she was an overfilled tankard. Over her laughter, she heard people talking inside the vertibird. She managed to compose herself long enough to catch part of the conversation.

"—wounded. If you people are hornheads, then you can move the whole bird with magic, right? Command said they were teleporting a repair team. Why not teleport the whole bird?"

Joel turned to her, and she realized he was expecting her to answer the question the Enclaver had asked.

"We can't teleport the vertibird, but we can levitate it," Celestia said. Not even her magic was good enough to teleport an entire vertibird's worth of mass. "We’ll try to reach the second crash site after we’re sure you're in a safe spot to treat your wounded."

“Please, save him,” The voice within the vertibird asked. It was an older male’s voice. “He tried to save us. He shouldn’t have to die on my behalf.”

Celestia set her jaw and nodded, despite the fact the fuselage door had no windows for the man to see her. Flaring her horn, she wrapped the vertibird with magic and strained with concentration.

The vertibird was one hefty brick of metal.

“A… little help here,” Celestia grunted, brows furrowed. She could twirl the sun around Equestria like a toy, but the wreck of an aircraft was beyond her. Where was the logic in that?

Electric blue mixed with her gold, and the vertibird shifted until it was off the ground by only a few inches. That would have to do.

Like how paramedics would carry a stretcher, Joel and Celestia hefted the entire vertibird full of wounded towards the edge of town Celestia recalled seeing from atop the elevated highway. There was a crude wall made of wood blocking one of the few rubble-free paths out of town.

Celestia had blown apart the Castle of the Two Sisters when fighting Luna. A wooden wall wouldn’t stop her. She didn’t even have to set the vertibird down as she lashed out with a tight beam of golden light. She aimed for the bases of the wooden posts at the spot where they met the ground. The wooden wall toppled over, the proverbial legs cut out from under it.

Wiping her brow, she huffed for air as she strained to keep the bulk of the vertibird levitating.

“You good, Celly?” Joel asked. Their hooves crunched over the fallen wall.

“Just have to save these people,” Celestia said. She wasn’t going to fail them like she failed Cloudsdale and Canterlot. Dragging in breath like she was a freshly rescued drowning pony, Celestia growled.

Then an overglow enveloped her horn.

She shone like a lighthouse, as bright as a floodlight as she heaved the vertibird higher in the air so it avoided a boulder they would have had to go around. She couldn’t celebrate the tiny victory. She had to keep moving. Save who she could and do better than she had been.

Once they were maybe a hundred paces outside of town, Celestia and Joel gently set the vertibird down onto the wind-swept dirt of the post-apocalyptic desert.

Crying out in victory, Celestia drew her sword once more and turned to Joel.

“Come on,” Celestia cheered. “Let’s rescue the other crew!”

<>~<>~<>

Celestia coughed blood.

She stared down at the deathclaw’s hand, its claws sinking deeper into her breastplate with the sound of ripping metal. Ribs beneath snapped like dry twigs.

The deathclaw dragged her upwards to eye level, her entire sternum shifting under her flesh. Gouts of blood fountained over the dark gray, almost concrete-colored hide of the deathclaw. The gray skin of its hand shifted to a deep maroon, matching the color of the blood covering it. It was like watching a chameleon adapt to its surroundings.

Ambushed by what she thought was a pile of rubble.

Stupid… reckless. Charging in full of arrogance and pride.

Slowly, Celestia managed to drag her sight away from the bloody hand and to the Deathclaw’s beady eyes. There was malicious intelligence within them. She could see it clearly, the glassy, dark eyes of the beast reflecting the light from the burning remains of the second vertibird.

They’d arrived too late to save the crew.

Celestia didn’t get the chance to look into its eyes for long before a rock the size of a wagon flew past to leave behind only a bloody stump in the place where its head had been.

“NOOOO!”

That was Joel’s voice. Distant and faint, but oh so loud somehow. Celestia crashed to the ground as the deathclaw went limp with death. She coughed a mist of blood into the air as she hit what had been a sidewalk. She couldn’t feel anything below her stomach.

Joel slid on his knees, coming to a stop beside her and the dead deathclaw. He cradled her with an arm on the back of her neck. She could read the agony on his face. She was dead for sure.

“I… I can fix this,” Joel said. He was so desperate, so sincere. “I know I can fix this.”

Body spasming, Celestia coughed another gout of blood from her shredded lungs and looked away. She didn’t want Joel to have her bloody coughs to be the last memory he had of her.

A white metal box wrapped in a blue aura clattered to the ground by her hand. It was a faintly singed medical box. Joel flipped the lid open with his magic, cursing as he shuffled through it. A half-dozen syringes flew from the box wrapped in electric-blue light.

He injected her with several stimpacks. That started closing the wounds, but the damage inside of her… it would be too much, even for the miraculous syringes of human-made potions. She wanted to tell him that it would be all right, that she had lived a good life, and that she was sorry that she was so reckless and caused him pain.

Frantically, he injected her with the last syringe. The shot made the rest of her pain go away. Had he seen what she saw? Was he letting her go?

No. He levitated a bottle of pills out the box. Celestia could barely read the label. The darkness was closing in. He opened the bottle of medicine and forced her jaws open.

She reflexively swallowed as the pill was forced down her throat.

Sorry… Celestia thought, closing her eyes. Fading… dying.

She felt another prick in her arm.

<>~<>~<>

Celestia’s eyes shot open.

Joel nearly cried out with joy as they opened. His cheer was cut short as green, somehow cold light shone out of her eyes accompanied by purple and black smoke. He jumped back at the sudden appearance of the foul light, still holding the syringe of psycho that he’d just injected her with.

The terrible green light shone out the tears in her armor, accompanied by the unnatural sound of twigs snapping in reverse. Joel could feel the foulness radiating from the energy. Joel didn’t know much about magic, but this was wrong. He’d read enough Grognak comic books to know foul sorcery when he saw it.

Then Celestia’s body rose like she was being dragged upwards by invisible ropes. Once she was several feet off the ground, she tilted in the air, orienting so her hooves hovered a few inches off the ground.

Did I somehow awaken her version of Nightmare Moon? Joel thought in a panic. He needed to get Twilight.

Then Celestia blinked.

The unnatural light cleared from her eyes and she dropped to the ground on shaky legs. She reached for her chest and came back with a handful of blood.

“Oh my… that’s not good,” Celestia said, voice slurred. Her pupils were as wide as saucers.

“I’m going to see if I can find another stimpack,” Joel said, pushing aside what he’d just seen to deal with later when they weren’t in deathclaw territory.

“No time,” Celestia said. She flared her horn, and Joel heard sizzling come from within her armor, accompanied by Celestia biting her lip and screaming as smoke shot out the tears in her armor like the vents of a grill.

“What did you just do!?” Joel asked in a panic, rushing to her side. He caught the scent of charred meat and burned hair coming off of her.

“I cauterized my own wounds,” Celestia said, her pupils narrowing as she seemed to regain focus. She scowled, reaching out one hand and flaring her horn. Her sword flew into her outstretched hand. “The scarred flesh will heal with time.”

She stomped off like she hadn’t brushed by death.

“Wait,” Joel called as he rushed after her. “What are you doing?”

Celestia spun to face him with a smile that was also somehow a scowl. An expression he’d only seen on people using psycho.

“No one else will have to die to this deathtrap after I’m done with it.”

She spun back around and continued her dramatic march away from the burning wreckage. Joel clenched and unclenched his hand.

For the love of God, I hope the psycho wears off before we get back. It’s going to be awkward explaining this to Applejack.

Mimicking her move, Joel telekinetically pulled his own sword from the corpse of the deathclaw that he’d been distracted with before Celestia was almost killed. Once his sword was firmly in his grasp, Joel raced to catch up with Celestia.

She was heading straight for the Old Olney power station.

Chapter 52: Lamplight

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Maxine ground her teeth in time with the hundreds of little distractions over her head as the rain rattled the roof of the small, prefabricated metal building. What would normally be a calming pitter-patter to many people only worked to drive her blood pressure up.

It was a light drizzle, not a deluge like back at Adams. Just enough to keep a steady rhythm.

Not even an hour after sunrise and she already wished that the day was over.

Flaring her disgusting, red-furred alien nostrils, she glowered at the gemstone-covered brass contraption in the middle of the room. When that didn’t hurry things along, she smoothed out a crease on her otherwise pristine Enclave officer uniform.

Lowering her guard must have done the trick. With a flash of light, a second red coated earth pony arrived though the portal held within the frame. Before he had the chance to turn around, she leapt forwards and threw a foreleg around him, getting a satisfyingly surprised yelp as she dragged him into a headlock.

“Kevin,” Maxine’s voice was a low, threatening murmur. She knocked off his officer cap as she punctuated each word with a light slap against his overly-long, regulation defying hair. “You. Are. A. Dumbass.”

“I know,” Kevin said, going limp and completely brushing off her assault through the sheer power of his brute-force stupidity. She gave up trying to knock some sense into him, and let him go. He bent down and picked up his hat with his teeth before staring at her with a blank expression, then drawled out through a mouthful of hat, “Sooo, whaf I do to puf yer panfies in a wist?”

He flicked his head, sending his cap spinning through the air above him. The black cap landed atop his head and came to rest at a sloppy, out-of-regulation angle which he didn’t bother to fix.

“This time?” he added.

Maxine almost knocked herself out with what would have been a facepalm ten minutes ago, but was a facehoof instead. She hissed in pain, feeling a small cut where the rock-hard edge of her new stubby limb impacted her skull.

“Six times,” She hissed in exasperation, pointing at the portal with a violent jerk of her hoof, then stomped to punctuate her point. The movement in her furry, foreign body felt too natural, driving her irritation to new heights. She shouldn’t be here at all, she was only here because the least-disciplined officer in the Enclave somehow got her transferred to this assignment with him. “It's not a toy. We're supposed to be professionals, so stop jumping through it, because knowing you, you’re going to find some way to break it, then we’ll be stuck here in Equestria as horses.”

Vapidity exuded from Kevin like condensation collecting on a pane of glass. He blinked in an overly slow way, like his eyelids were great weights that he struggled to move.

“Buuuuuut,” He drawled out questioningly, scratching the back of his head, “don’t girls like horses?”

“How the fuck do we have the same parents?”

It was a moot question to ask. Years of experience had taught Maxine that the crushing void that was her brother’s cranial cavity always won in the end. Before he could answer, she groaned and turned away, only to draw up short as she nearly ran nose-first into a bright ball of pink.

“Hiya!” The pink-furred mare squealed, sending Maxine stumbling back with a start.

The newcomer had a curly pink afro that looked like it was made out of cotton candy that was a darker shade than her coat. About the only thing that wasn't pink on her was her wide, expressive, sky blue eyes.

It took Maxine a second glance over the mare to spot the fresh scar running down one side of her head. The wound had been shaved, but stubble grew back to fill the valley carved in her voluminous hair.

“Hey,” Maxine said, caught off guard by the energetic mare. She had to be the one they were looking for. “You’re Pinkie Pie, right?”

“Yep, yep,” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing on all four hooves. “And you are?”

About to have the mother of all migraines just looking at your bright colors and constant movement.

“That’s Maxine,” Kevin said, grinning at the mare. “It’s nice to meet you again, Miss Pie, I’m happy to help you celebrate your clean bill of health.”

Kevin and Pinkie had already met? Maxine wasn’t aware of Kevin leaving Adams. Had he filled out the proper paperwork, or had he gone AWOL? Did no one but her care about the rules ever since the ponies showed up?

“I hope you don’t mind,” Pinkie Pie said. “But I’ve decided to bring a plus-one.”

Maxine’s eye twitched and she nearly had an aneurysm at the breach of protocol. The orders were to wait for Pinkie Pie and bring her to Adams Air Force Base. Not Pinkie Pie and someone else. Just Pinkie Pie. A change like this would need to be called in, and, of course, more paperwork had to be done. Adams was a military base, not a roadside attraction.

Maxine was about to berate Pinkie Pie over the issue, but Pinkie Pie stepped aside, revealing the door which had been left open after she had snuck in. Just beyond the door was a butter-yellow pegasus mare with light pink hair that was cut to regulation-length for men.

Cautiously, the pegasus crept into the room, eyeing the crowd with a shy smile. Maxine ignored the mare’s demure attitude and relaxed at the sight of what the yellow mare wore.

Her army greens were neatly pressed and clean of any dirt or grime. There were little splotches where the fabric had gotten wet in the rain, but that was to be expected. Her boots were polished and only had a smattering of mud. Her weapon, a sniper rifle, appeared to be caringly maintained. Even though the mare looked like she was about to faint with nervousness, Maxine swore that the mare was a soldier. The scars haloing her head and running diagonally across her face only supported the thought.

“Pinkie Pie,” The new mare said softly while shaking her head. She shut the door behind her with a rear hoof. The mare’s tail had been cut down so short it was easy to miss. “I have no idea why I let you talk me into this.”

She took a deep breath and straightened into a confident posture, then glared at Maxine. It was like the mare had suddenly changed from an impostor wearing an ill-fitting disguise, to the ideal image of a woman in uniform.

“Lieutenant Wells!” The pegasus mare yelled in a forceful bass that only drill-sergeants could manage. Maxine jerked, forcing her foreleg to remain still as she was overwhelmed with the sudden urge to salute the mare. The mare leaned closer, yelling into Maxine’s face. “The stick up your tailhole is not standard issue equipment! Your punishment is to lighten up a little!”

A hoof tapped Maxine’s shoulder, and she spun to come face-to-face with Pinkie Pie again.

“Say whipped cream,” Pinkie Pie giggled, holding up a pie tin filled with some sort of white foam.

Maxine’s confused question died on her lips as Pinkie Pie crammed the pie tin against her face. Maxine was too stunned to react.

“Happy birthday, Sis!” Kevin yelled. As the pie tin fell away, Kevin pulled Maxine into a headlock and playfully smushed some of the sugary-smelling foam into her hair, laughing. “I got you a sense of humor.”

Hooray.

<>~<>~<>

Clover hadn’t intended to spy on her masters and their friends, but she’d been rudely awakened by a water drop hitting her head from the leaky roof. The houses at Adams Air Force Base weren’t the most well-maintained structures.

She changed position in bed to avoid another leak and tried to go back to sleep, but ended up staring at the ceiling. The torrential downpour hammering away at their temporary home kept her awake. Defeated, she got out of bed, only to hear people who weren't her masters had entered the house. Since she wasn’t called in, she slipped to the door, listening in on their conversation.

I should stop, Clover thought, chewing her tongue as she kept her ear pressed against the bedroom’s wooden door, which led into the living room and was close to her masters’ bedroom. Clover wondered if her masters would be upset if they caught her eavesdropping.

I’m not spying, I’m just… listening to be called. That was it. She was simply being a good, obedient slave and listening in so her masters wouldn’t have to repeat themselves if they suddenly gave her orders. She would be their favorite. She would be useful.

The laughter and jovial conversation died down as the crowd in the living room changed topics.

“So,” Rainbow Dash said, her tone serious. She had a scratchy, almost masculine voice, and from the thumps on the floor, it sounded like she was pacing in the middle of the living room. “We’re not taking a vertibird to Little Lamplight.”

“I’m guessing it's because of the storm that blew in before we woke up?” Daniel asked. If Clover was mentally picturing the room beyond correctly, Daniel sat on the couch with Twilight.

“That,” Rainbow Dash said, “and airframes don’t grow on trees. We lost two vertibirds last night, so with the heavy rain and wind keeping the fleet grounded, it's the perfect time for the maintainers to look over the vertibirds top-to-bottom, just to make sure the mechanical nightmare that happened last night doesn't happen again.”

Clover remembered that topic. Princess Celestia and Joel had explained what had happened at Old Olney to her masters. Another conversation that she had overheard by simply waiting on the sidelines.

See, not spying, she reassured herself.

“So, how are we getting the kids to Little Lamplight?” Twilight asked. “Unless…” she paused to hum with thought, “I could fly with you above the clouds to Little Lamplight, then we teleport back and pick everyone up. But I don’t know if my horn’s good enough for that many trips.”

Electrum’s voice sounded like it came from around where the fireplace was. “I can do it, if Rainbow Dash carries me in a wagon.”

“That should work, just pack a raincoat,” Rainbow Dash said. “So who's all going to Little Lamplight?”

“Oooh, me, me, me, pick me!” Pinkie Pie giggled. From the vibrations in the floor, she was jumping up and down in the middle of the room close to Rainbow Dash.

“That’s why we asked you to come here in the first place, Pinkie, you’re great with kids,” Twilight said, letting out a polite laugh that was music to Clover’s ears. “Applejack wants me to try and convince Little Lamplight to join the Enclave. Failing that, at least let troops through into the back entrance of Vault 87, so I’m going for sure. What about you, Daniel?”

“I know we’re not supposed to go in yet,” Daniel replied, “but I’m not going to miss out on the chance to get the GECK if something were to happen. It’s the last thing my father needs to complete Project Purity.”

“Rainbow, isn’t Liberty Prime being repaired so the Enclave can barge through the front door?” Fluttershy asked from on the couch with Twilight and Daniel.

“Yes,” Rainbow Dash said. “But we would prefer to get the GECK out of Vault 87 with a small team so the almost one-of-a-kind piece of technology isn’t destroyed in the crossfire.”

“When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is nopony’s friend,” Pinkie Pie chimed in. “Not even walls, floors, roofs… heh, I just realized I need a new weapon if we're heading underground. Maybe one of those belt-fed shotgun machineguns that I saw one of Deathclaw Joe’s people use.”

“Uh-huh,” Rainbow Dash said, sounding as if she rolled her eyes. “Back to the matter at hand. Are you going, Fluttershy?”

“If you have to go into Vault 87, I’ll join you girls on this. I have the most experience fighting super mutants from my time in the Brotherhood of Steel. Project Purity is a good cause to fight for.”

“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash cried out. “So, Twi, what about that Clover girl? I’m surprised she hasn’t come out of her room yet. Is she still sleeping?”

Hearing her name, Clover tensed.

“She’s awake,” Twilight replied. “Clover, come in here, please. I can see your shadow under the door.”

Clover hissed, realizing that there was no way to cover up the fact that she’d been spying. Twilight was too smart, too perceptive, and too amazing.

Swallowing down her reluctance, Clover reached towards the door handle, ready to face whatever punishment was deemed necessary.

<>~<>~<>

When Twilight pictured caverns in her mind, she imagined dark, cramped, narrow spaces full of jagged rocks and sudden deadly pitfalls.

Little Lamplight Caverns—at least, from what she’d seen past the entrance—were none of those things. The gray stone tunnel she traveled down was wide, with high ceilings, and floors that were almost flat. Several strings of white string lights hung overhead, matching the dozens of strands outside marking the entrance.

Even in the wind-whipped rain, Little Lamplight’s entrance had shone like a beacon all the way from the parking lot where Electrum had teleported them.

Clover walked beside Twilight, while Sammy, Squirrel, Penny, and another Little Lamplighter Twilight hadn’t caught the name of led from the front.

Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Electrum, Daniel, and Fluttershy were all behind them. It was a larger group than Twilight would have wanted to bring on an ambassadorial mission, but the wasteland was a dangerous place. There was safety in numbers.

“I haven’t been here in… not sure how many years now. Eight, maybe?” Clover said, mostly to herself as if it were a question.

“Anything new, or is this all familiar?” Twilight asked as they rounded a corner. The tunnel opened up even wider into a cavern with a large, scrap-metal wall spanning from one side to the other. An old Little Lamplight sign the size of a small billboard acted as the gate, with overhead pulleys and ropes allowing the slab of wood to be lifted up and down.

“Hey!” A voice called out before Clover could respond. The voice was young and male, but not lacking in authority or confidence. There was a parapet atop the gatehouse wall, and a young boy used it to brace his assault rifle.

Twilight skidded to a stop, raising her hands up to show she was unarmed as the kid aimed at her. On the opposite side of the gate from the boy, an automated turret swiveled from target to target as Twilight’s friends caught up to where she and Clover had stopped.

“Hey, buttbrain!” Sammy called up to the guard as he and the other kids jogged towards the gate. The turret didn’t bother aiming at them. “Let us in, MacCready!”

“After that big ol’ ball of mutant mungos tell me who the fuck they are,” MacCready said.

Electrum started to step past Twilight, but froze as MacCready swiveled his rifle to aim at her.

“Hey, stay right where you are, hornhead, or I’ll blow that stupid horn off your fucking head!”

“I told you the town doesn't like mutants,” Clover muttered under her breath to Twilight. “We should have left some people behind.”

Twilight knew Clover was right. Her punishment for spying had been to give everyone a verbal apology, and to tell everyone what she knew about Little Lamplight. It was only logical that the town of adult-hating kids wouldn’t have a soft spot for adult mutants. The kids from Paradise Falls had corroborated everything Clover had said. Luckily, Twilight had accounted for this.

“Psst, Pinkie, you’re up,” Twilight whispered.

Pinkie Pie giggled and skipped past Twilight, even as the turret and MacCready aimed at her.

“Hiya, Mayor MacCready,” Pinkie Pie said. “My name’s Pinkie Pie, and I’m here as an ambassador from Equestria. The people and ponies behind me helped rescue your friends from that awful, awful, Paradise Falls place. That means we’re good for the town.” She gripped her hands together and batted her eyelashes up at him, her voice adopting a pleading tone. “And we really want to come inside and talk to the town. Can you let us in, pretty, pretty pleeeeeease.”

Mayor MacCready snorted, then lowered his rifle away from the wall.

“You ponies have the most annoyingly fucktastical names, you know that, right?” Mayor MacCready laughed. He turned away from the wall, and Twilight saw that sticking out of the jacket over his uniform were green-feathered and furred pegasi wings. His oversized helmet kept his altered ears from showing. He called deeper into the cavern behind him. “Open the gate!”

Somewhere, a switch in need of a lot of oil was thrown. Motors whirred to life, ropes went taught, and pulleys rattled as the gate lifted. It took about ten seconds before the gate stopped.

Once the gate was done, Mayor Macready glowered at Twilight and her friends.

“Alright, mungos, you have my permission to come inside since you’re being nice. But you better be on your best fucking behavior, or I start shooting. That clear?” He demanded.

Twilight and the others all agreed.

“Good, now, I want to talk to whoever is your leader. I see you have a wingy-hornhead with you. I assume you’re the one in charge?”

“I am,” Twilight said. Applejack was the one who had wanted her on this assignment. “You’ve been to Equestria?”

“And someone sent you back?” Electrum added as they all walked towards the gate, passing under it in just a few steps.

“Mungos, I ordered Princess Sunbutt to send me back,” MacCready gloated. “I had to get back to keeping this place from falling apart in my absence.”

“So why’s the mayor guarding the gate?” Clover asked. “Mr. Eulogy never guarded his own gate.”

“Because,” he replied with an overconfident smirk, jerking a thumb to his chest, “I lead by example. I won’t tell anyone in Lamplight to do something I won’t, so I’m doing the boring job of watching this gate and telling mungos like you to turn the fuck around or get shot. Now,” he jumped off the platform that let him look over the wall and strode up to Twilight. “You’re coming with me to my office for a chat. Everyone else stays here for now, deal?”

His town, his rules. Twilight was here to establish good relations with Little Lamplight, not make a bad first impression. She didn’t have any choice but to play along with the mayor’s whims.

<>~<>~<>

Mayor MacCready’s office was inside of a little shack that was past the gatehouse and tucked away into an alcove in the cavern wall.

On her way, Twilight passed several rooms. One of which was a classroom staffed by a dark-skinned teenage boy. From what Twilight overheard in her brief moment of passing, he was teaching the children practical things for wasteland life. Like how to properly boil water to purify it.

Glancing through another open door revealed a hospital that was staffed by a young girl and a model of Mr. Handy that Twilight hadn’t encountered before.

“Remember, Lucy, gentleness is very important when handling babies,” it said with an accented feminine voice that sounded similar to Rarity when she talked in fancy dress terms. The robot looked over Lucy’s shoulder as the young girl—who was no older than eleven by Twilight’s guess—changed a baby’s diaper.

After that, they reached the office. From the size of the nearly empty room, the Mayor’s office was a repurposed janitor’s closet, but everything had been cleared out to make room for an old school desk, which MacCready sat at, and a metal folding chair across from it for Twilight. The only other furniture was a large metal shelving unit stocked with snack foods like Nuka~Colas and gumdrops, as well as a radio, which was on but turned down low. The patriotic tunes of Enclave Radio triumphantly belted out of the machine.

“Quite the office you have here,” Twilight said, trying to break the ice as she took her seat across from the mayor.

“I set it up here because it’s close to the front gate,” MacCready said, propping his rifle in the corner of the room behind him. Well within reach. He laced his fingers together under his chin as he propped his elbows on the school desk.

“So, first things first, what’s your name?” Mayor MacCready asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight replied. She shifted in the cold, uncomfortable metal chair. Mayor MacCready’s glower was stone cold and confident. He knew he was in control here, and by getting her alone in his office, MacCready was making sure that she knew he was the boss.

I’m getting powerplayed by a colt half my age. Props to him. Twilight thought.

He shifted to lean back in his chair, elbows still on the desk, but his fingers steepled.

“You and I have some problems,” he said. Before Twilight could ask, he gestured his hand past her towards the door. “The baby we passed on the way in. That was the last baby we got from Paradise Falls.”

“You’re mad that I stopped slavers?” Twilight asked without a moment of hesitation. “The same ones who kidnapped your people?”

“Mungo, you assume we’re helpless. Little Lamplight protects our own. We would have gotten them back ourselves. But no, I’m not mad you stopped the slavers, I’m mad that you and the other mungos decided to ruin things. Like mungos do.”

The patriotic song playing on the radio cut out.

“Howdy,” Applejack said. “President Jacklyn here, and I’d like to let y’all know what’s goin’ on in our wonderful country. As many of you have likely already heard from Galaxy News Radio, a great blow was dealt to slavery after Enclave troops, with the help of Twilight Sparkle, took down Paradise Falls—”

“Between the Enclave station,” Mayor MacCready said, distracting Twilight from listening to any more of Applejack’s broadcast, “Galaxy News Radio coming back, and my trip to your home, I know more than you’d expect.” MacCready shook his head, then sighed. “Shit’s going on in the wasteland. I want to protect my people from it and help Little Lamplight grow. But, of course, I couldn’t stop you and your friends from cutting off our biggest source of new Lamplighters.”

Twilight could see the writing on the wall. From how intelligently MacCready spoke despite his age, he saw it, too.

“And with Enclave patrols about to deal with raider gangs in the wasteland,” Twilight said. “You won't be getting any orphan survivors from raided towns or caravans.”

MacCready nodded.

“While I have to tell you thanks for the help, the help wasn’t asked for. I appreciate you rescuing my friends, but now I would like all of you mungos to leave. Let Little Lamplight fade away in peace. Your help isn’t fuckin’ wanted here.”

The cutting words were a knife to Twilight’s heart. She grimaced, knowing that she was getting kicked out for helping. It didn't seem fair. But life wasn’t fair.

“I see, thank you for your time,” Twilight said cordially as she slowly stood up. Mayor MacCready did as well. Likely to make sure that she and her friends found the exit.

While it was disappointing to be kicked out, it wasn’t their only way into Vault 87. Liberty Prime would be ready soon.

When Twilight emerged from the building, it was apparent that word had spread of the mungos that were let into town. A crowd of gawking children had gathered in a large semi-circle around her friends.

Mayor MacCready huffed, shaking his head. “Word got around faster than I thought.”

Twilight didn’t reply. Instead, she stared at Clover, who in turn stared at a child with cotton white hair and brilliant eyes that Twilight had seen before. They were the eyes of a man wide with fear in the final moments before Clover erased them with her shotgun.

“Snow and that mungo look a lot alike, don’t they?” Mayor MacCready asked.

“That’s her daughter,” Twilight said, turning towards the mayor. “That’s probably what she’ll look like when she grows up. Everyone has to, eventually.”

“Yeah,” Mayor MacCready said. “Every Lamplighter knows that. When you turn sixteen, you have to leave.”

“Clover—Snow’s mother—used to live here,” Twilight said. “Almost as soon as she was forced out of Little Lamplight, she was captured and sold into slavery. You said Little Lamplight watches out for their own, right?”

“Listen,” MacCready said through a scowl as he crossed his arms, cradling the rifle that he had carried out with him. “I know what you’re trying to pull. You want me to uproot two centuries of how things have worked around here, all because you’re tugging at my heart. Well, mungo, when you grow up and become a mungo, you ain’t a Lamplighter anymore. I already gave you my answer… leave. How friendly do you think all those kids crowding around your friends will be once they find out you people were the ones who stopped us from getting any new friends to raise and play with?” He shook his head and gestured towards the gate. “There’s the door.”

Rejected for a second time, Twilight folded her ears and backed away. She’d failed the mission from Applejack. She’d failed Little Lamplight by coming here ill prepared to negotiate.

Mayor MacCready watched as she backed away, scowling the entire time until she turned her back to him and joined her friends.

“Hey, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said, an eyebrow quizzically raised. “What gives with the long face?”

“We’re getting kicked out,” Twilight replied, crestfallen. “Mayor MacCready knows that the Enclave took out their main source of new citizens.”

The door was opened… just so it could be slammed in their faces.

Daniel leaned towards Twilight as he pointed at Clover, who approached her daughter. The young girl looked no older than five or six.

“What are we going to do about Clover?” Daniel asked. “What if her daughter doesn't want to come with us?”

Twilight watched as Clover stopped about three feet away from Snow. The young child smiled and waved at Clover, showing a gap where Snow had already lost one of her bottom baby teeth.

Clover spun on her heels and ran.

Chapter 53: Trash

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Drown the pain faster than it can swim.

Clover drank, thankful for the fact that for once in her life—or, maybe the second—the wasteland had thrown her a bone.

Once the bottle parted her lips, Clover gasped for breath and held out the half-emptied container to her master, who sat on the soggy bus bench across the aisle from her.

Twilight took the bottle without hesitation, bringing it to her lips to take a swig. She cringed after swallowing what amounted to a shot, then held the bottle back out to Clover, her disgust gone as her eyes shifted between her and the bottle.

Clover knew what Twilight wanted to ask. She looked away to the broken window, but the view of the wasteland and the light rain wasn’t any more pleasant than the look in Twilight’s eyes, so she turned back and took the offered whiskey.

“Seeing her reminded me of what I used to be like,” Clover admitted, before tossing her head back with the bottle to her lips. The warm buzz dancing in the back of her skull made it easier to talk without hesitating, but she needed to be smashed if she was going to get through the whole conversation.

Gulp, gulp.

Clover paused her drinking to take a breath and collect her thoughts. The next words flowed out of her mouth as easy as the whiskey went in.

“Not fucked up.”

Twilight didn’t say anything as she levitated a bottle of beer out of the floor compartment. The same compartment Clover had used to stash the alcohol what felt like a lifetime ago. Back when she still had Hope…

The hiss of the beer bottle opening shook Clover out of her stupor. She focused back on Twilight, just in time to watch her master take a sip. Twilight’s near-immediate gag of disgust put a smile on Clover’s face.

“Fuck, that stuff is foul,” Twilight cursed. She levitated the bottle out of the window, following its flight until she leaned half-out a window into the drizzle to yell. “Rainbow Dash!”

“Mine!” Rainbow Dash yipped, her speed turning her into a blur as she snatched the bottle from the air and rocketed back towards the second bus where the others waited.

Twilight lingered outside before sliding back into the bus seat. Her smile melted some of the ice around Clover’s heart.

Hope used to smile like that.

Twilight focused back on Clover, and that wonderful smile dropped into a neutral line.

“I think you’re too hard on yourself,” Twilight said. Like she knew what she was talking about.

“Hard on myself?” Clover asked, irritation creeping in despite who she was addressing. The soft buzz in her skull had grown to a full vibration. It was so easy to let her mouth run before she could stop herself. “Have you met me? The last opinion I give a fuck about is my own.”

Just a pet. An animal to feed and train and abuse.

Twilight frowned, crossed her legs and steepled her fingers. It was like she was trying to pull off a professional pose or something. If Twilight wanted to act like a doctor, she could at least put on a white coat instead of her camouflage metal armor. The strange, camo-painted plate mail rattled like a tin can as she shifted into a more comfortable position on the soggy bus seat.

“So, if you didn’t care about anyone's opinion, why run from your daughter?”

Clover felt as if she’d eaten a mouthful of sand and the fog cleared from her brain, like she was suddenly sober. It knocked the fire from her and killed any comeback before she could let it loose.

Why had she run? Clover had to think. Drinking would give her time.

Gulp… nothing.

Damn, Clover thought, cursing. No time to think.

“Because–” Clover said bitterly, cutting herself off as she tossed the empty bottle over her shoulder. Twilight’s horn sprung alight and the bottle came floating back through the broken window. Clover wondered why Twilight cared if she littered. The wasteland was a fucking dumpster. One more bottle wouldn’t hurt.

The flare of irritation and Twilight distracting herself by shoving the bottle into the trash can by the driver’s seat gave Clover enough time and motive to think. She took a breath.

“Because I was afraid,” Clover said, forcing the words out despite the anger, alcohol, and rehearsal in her head. Damnit, she was already a pathetic excuse for a human. Being scared of a little girl just rubbed salt in the wound. She tapped her chest and grunted. “Look at me. What can I offer my daughter?” She adopted a mocking tone, trying to sound like Twilight, the wonderful but arrogant bitch. “Oh, hey, Daisy, I guess it's Snow now because you didn't grow up with me calling you that. Want to learn some life lessons from your craaaay-zee mother? Everyone calls me crazy so it must be true. I can teach you how to suck a man dry, then slit his throat.”

Twilight twisted in a look of disgust. She shook her head, expression giving way to one of resolve as she clenched her fists, then relaxed them.

“See? Hard on yourself,” Twilight said in a soft, teacherly voice. It was too fucking patronizing for Clover to not be annoyed at. Clover started to fidget. “You think your worth comes from serving others, but you hate what services others make you do. You said before that you think you're only useful when somebody wants something. You can live for yourself, not others.”

Like it was so easy to just drop everything she knew. All the ‘lessons’ beaten into her, all the nights spent sleeping with a man who twisted her mind like a piece of old wire. Clover had loved Eulogy.

Like she loved Twilight. She was the one holding the leash.

“Listen, sugar,” Clover said, half-tempted to leap off the bench seat and punch her master, just to get off the topic. But Twilight was her master, and this was the direction the conversation was directed. Clover’s face wrinkled with a scowl. “I'm good at killing, fucking, and doing what I’m told. Not exactly self-serving skills unless I go fuck myself. What else do I got?”

If Twilight was such a wise-ass know it all, maybe she could figure that out.

“Being my friend.”

Another sobering gutshot.

Twilight wanted to help. As naive and optimistic as a child. But how could she fix something so broken?

Lost for words, Clover absentmindedly rubbed her neck, finger trailing over the smooth skin below the rash. Flushed with alcohol and anger, her skin was already feverish with heat, but as her finger trailed up to the rash where her slave-collar had been, the heat exploded into a blazing conflagration wherever her finger pressed into the abused skin. It was a familiar pain. The devil she knew, and was trained into loving.

Friend. Twilight wasn't another Eulogy. Could she be another Hope?

“It's been years since I had a friend,” Clover muttered. And what kind of friend was Clover? She already knew. It was her fault for getting caught. “I’m a terrible one. I was supposed to come back for her.” She waved a hand at the compartment of alcohol, and it was back to spilling her life story. “All of that was to celebrate Hope growing up and being sent to Big Town. We were only a year apart.”

Clover had put her entire piggy bank into buying every bottle of hard booze and beer that she could, then sneaking out at night to stash it. Enough alcohol for Clover to bring all of Big Town back to celebrate Hope becoming an adult. It was a childish fantasy that ended two days after her sixteenth birthday.

Twilight leaned back, a look of comprehension blooming on her face.

“That's why you wanted to look at the ledger, wasn’t it?” she asked. “Of course you already knew where your daughter was. You wanted to see if your friend was enslaved.”

“All these years, I could have just asked Da—Mr. Eulogy—if anyone like Hope was captured by slavers,” Clover said, shaking her head. “Either by Paradise Falls, or some of the raiders we worked with.”

But asking him would tip him off that there was one thing left in the world that he could use to hurt her.

“So, when I let you look at the ledgers, did you find anything?” Twilight asked politely. As Clover shook her head, Twilight smiled and slowly stood up from her seat, grabbing her backpack off the floor. “Then let’s go talk to Rainbow Dash. She’s been to Big Town.”

It took Clover a moment to register what Twilight was saying. When it finally clicked, Clover bolted upright, but stumbled as her body caught up to the fact that she had too much to drink. Twilight's magic wrapping around Clover kept her from falling over.

Twilight pulled Clover’s arm across her shoulders, letting Clover lean on her.

Twilight adjusted her hold to keep Clover in a comfortable position, and Clover could only let her do it.

“You’d really take me to Big Town?” Clover asked.

She was Twilight, not Eulogy. Of course she would.

“Not what I was saying, but we should have the time to spare for it,” Twilight said. “And Rainbow Dash may have already seen Hope. Even better, Big Town joined the Enclave as soon as they were asked, so we know we’re wanted there.”

Clover smiled. For once in a long, long time, it wasn’t forced.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight took each step out of the bus at a slow and steady pace as Clover leaned on her.

The alcohol had caught up with her newest friend, and Clover was in no condition to walk on her own, which Twilight was regretfully thankful for.

Twilight wasn’t naive enough to miss Clover’s violent mood swing. Alcohol was potent stuff, and out of a whole bottle of whiskey, Twilight had only a shot's worth of it.

I should have stopped you, but you were opening up. Twilight thought. She pushed the thought aside before she allowed herself to become as angry and self-pitying as Clover.

The other bus was just ahead, the metal rims resting on asphalt. Rainbow Dash stood several yards away with her back to Twilight, one hand on her chin and the bottle of beer in the other.

She’d taken off her black Secret Service jacket, showing off the white business undershirt. It contrasted nicely with her black-dyed hair and the few exposed matte-black ridges of her cybernetic spine.

“Hey, Rainbow,” Twilight said, catching Rainbow’s attention, who spun on her heels and faced Twilight with a smile. “Why are you standing in the rain? Is something up?

It was Electrum who answered the question from somewhere at the rear of the bus, out of Twilight’s view.

“We’re doing something incredibly stupid.”

Twilight raised a brow, and Rainbow Dash kept grinning.

Twilight had the distinct, sinking feeling that she was about to hear an explanation that would make her groan in frustration.

“So, you know how Pegasi can make carriages and wagons fly?” Rainbow asked. If Twilight was blind, she knew she would have heard the smirk in Rainbow’s tone. She gestured at the bus behind her. “Ehh? Ehhhhh?” She emphasized by wiggling her brows. “Since the vertibird fleet is down for maintenance, and unicorns can’t teleport power armor, and the only current stable portal to Equestria is too small for most vehicles… why don’t we just recycle the hundreds of old buses just sitting around?”

Twilight stared at the old rusting hulk of a bus and worked her jaw. Traveling by pegasus-pulled bus was certainly a lot more practical than simply teleporting everywhere, and the weight limits were more forgiving. Things like airships weren’t just for cruises.

“That doesn’t seem too bad, actually,” Twilight said, nodding her head. As if on cue to make her regret her words, there was a loud clang from behind the bus. Twilight narrowed her eyes and turned towards the sound. She bit back as much sarcasm as she could. “So, where exactly does the stupidity come into the equation?”

Electrum answered as she rounded the rear of the bus with Daniel, the two of them levitating what looked like a massive lead cube with pipes running into it.

“We’re pulling out the dead engine to save weight and to keep it from being a flying bomb,” Electrum said.

The lead must be for reactor shielding.

“And this thing’s still hot,” Daniel said, grunting from the effort. “My Pip-Boy is click-click-clickiting. The sooner we dispose of this, the better.”

“Alright, I’ll lead you back to where I saw that toxic waste dump,” Rainbow Dash said. She then looked to Twi. “Sorry, but we gotta run for now. Don't worry about helping, we’ll be right back.”

Rainbow left no room for Twilight to even try and offer help before she sped off, leading the others away with the nuclear engine.

Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled, then continued towards the bus.

She guided Clover up the bus steps and into one of the two long benches running down each side of the bus. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy sat at the back of the vehicle in the middle of the wide aisle between the bench seats. They were playing cards on a circular camping stool. As Twilight took a seat beside Clover, she watched them play.

Pinkie Pie stared down at two face-up cards that Twilight was too far away to read. She had one hand on her chin and her face was screwed up into a look of contemplation.

“Hmmmm, got any threes,” Pinkie Pie grunted through a loud, thoughtful hum.

“Pinkie,” Fluttershy said with a bemused sigh. “We’re playing blackjack.”

“I know,” Pinkie Pie giggled. “But my ten and eight are really lonely without a three. Hit me.”

Fluttershy chuckled and flipped a card off the deck, placing it with the ones in front of Pinkie Pie.

“Bingo!” Pinkie Pie squealed.

“Not even a card game,” Fluttershy mumbled, but smiled regardless.

Their jovial mood was infectious enough for Twilight to match it

Beside her, Clover shifted. Twilight didn’t get the chance to apologize for missing the chance to speak to Rainbow Dash, but Clover spoke first.

“Hey, sugar,” Clover slurred. She lowered her voice, like she was trying to be subtle, but the drunkenness was getting in the way. “You say honest things, right? Wouldn’t lie to me—” she hiccuped “—would ya?”

Twilight didn’t know Clover well enough to know for sure, but her tone sounded like she’d circled back around from fury to a mindset determined to tear her down.

“Of course not,” Twilight said, keeping her voice low. She checked down the aisle. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were, thankfully, far enough down the bus and too engrossed in their card game to listen in. “You have a question?”

“Yeah,” Clover muttered, fidgeting with her fingers. She stared at her trembling hands with unfocused, drunken, glossy eyes. “Do you think I’d ever be a good mother?”

Twilight held herself back from reacting. Be a friend, but be professional. It was a hard question to answer.

Clover was—to put it as politely as possible—a hot mess. The first thing that she’d done after Twilight had removed her slave collar was to point a loaded shotgun at her face as a joke. And the more Twilight learned about Clover’s relationships to the other slaves, the less she felt comfortable around her. But Clover was never given a chance to grow up while being raised by other children and a few robots.

The pause to think was just enough time for Clover to come to her own conclusion.

“You can’t fix everything,” Clover said, looking away. “Or save everyone.”

Twilight put a hand on Clover’s shoulder.

“No, no I can’t,” Twilight said. She felt useless. Psychology was a hole in her studies that she was sorely lacking in. But dusty old books teaching about how people think wasn’t the power of friendship. “But I can do my best.” Twilight took a slow, deep breath. She knew Clover wanted an honest answer. “So to answer your question, no, not as you are right now. To be honest, you’re unstable, childish, and not entirely faultless in your crimes against others. You have a self-destructive mindset that isn’t helping things, either, but you aren’t a lost cause. You’ve lived through a lot of bad stuff, stuff that I’m not professionally trained to fix, and can’t just magic away. But I’m here for you.”

It was the raw truth. Twilight hoped she hadn’t overdone it, but Clover nodded.

“Yeah,” Clover said, voice still slurred. She grit her teeth and sighed. “So, since we’re being honest with each other, you’re a self-righteous, preachy, holier-than-thou bitch at times who thinks the world should work like she wants it to.” Clover let out a low, bitter laugh, shaking her head and avoiding eye contact with Twilight. “Still, I’d prefer your world over mine. You’re the only person I know trying to clean the wasteland up, rather than adding more trash.”

“It’s never too late for you to join me in cleaning up the wasteland,” Twilight said, leaning back in the seat. “The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”

Clover nodded, and Twilight watched as the former slave slowly stood up on shaky, drunken legs. Like a foal trying to walk for the first time. Twilight was ready to catch her if she fell, but Clover was made of stern stuff and navigated towards the front of the bus.

Twilight was about to ask if Clover needed to go out to use the bathroom, but stopped short as Clover grabbed the bucket-sized trash can resting beside the driver seat, picked it up, and started towards the door.

Twilight followed her.

And so they cleaned.

Chapter 54: Big Town

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Twilight relaxed back into the soggy bus bench. The wind whistled by the windows as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy pulled The Fastest Brick through the sky. Twilight wasn’t sure what to think of the name of the bus-turned-air-carriage, but it was easier to go with the flow with the heavy breeze working to dry everything and everyone inside the bus.

Clover bounced up from her seat what must have been the umpteenth time. She had napped off the alcohol earlier while the group waited for Rainbow Dash and Electrum to retrieve supplies from Adams Air Force Base. It gave her a restless energy that made Twilight happy for her. It was very Pinkie Pie of Clover, never staying still or drumming her fingers with a humming tune. She stopped her erratic movements long enough to turn towards Twilight.

There was so much glee in her. Twilight enjoyed seeing Clover happy over her scowls or sadistic grins.

“I can’t wait to see her,” Clover said. “It's been years. Do you think Hope remembers me?”

As if voicing the thought deflated her like a popped balloon, Clover’s smile melted and her shoulders sagged. The Pinkie Pie comparison was a little too on point. It wasn’t lost on Pinkie Pie herself, sitting across from them with Electrum and watching the conversation with her heart worn on her sleeve.

“I’m sure she does, Clover,” Twilight reassured.

From Twilight’s other side, Daniel added in a low tone. “You’re kind of hard to forget.”

Twilight gently elbowed his side and shot him a glance.

“What?” he asked defensively. His tone lacked the nervousness he had prior to takeoff. Twilight guessed that The Fastest Brick was enclosed enough to not trigger his agoraphobia and fear of flying. Another win for Rainbow Dash’s ‘stupid idea’.

Her name for the bus would have to stick…

“I’m positive she’ll remember you,” Twilight said, wrenching her thoughts back on track and away from the horrible realization. She playfully bumped Clover’s shoulder. “And when she does, Pinkie Pie can throw you two a reunion party to celebrate.”

It was a long shot, but having other people and old friends around could help Clover adjust into a normal, non-slave life. It was worth a try, at the very least. Friendships always made things better.

“Yep, yep!” Pinkie Pie giggled. Pinkie Pie pulled out a pair of party horns and a bottle of Equestrian alcohol from her poofy mane. “And I always carry a stash of happy reunion supplies on me.”

Electrum stared at Pinkie Pie and scratched her head in confusion, muttering ineligible curses into the wind. The mare had Twilight’s sympathies. Trying to understand how Pinkie Pie worked was a recipe for disaster and flower pot rain.

“I'm lucky to have friends like all of you,” Clover said as she resumed tapping her legs, her mood brightening by the second. “Hope will like you all, trust me.” Then, as impatient as a filly on a long train ride, Clover shouted to the front of the bus. “Are we there yet!?”

“We should see it soon!” Rainbow Dash called back. “Look out the windows.”

Twilight twisted around to look outside. There were miles upon miles of empty wasteland far below. The barren dirt was interspersed with rocky hills and the occasional ruin leftover from the old world. Then she spotted a familiar cluster of buildings.

Paradise Falls is that close to Big Town? Twilight thought.

“I think that’s it!” Clover shouted, pointing. Twilight followed it to what once was a pre-war suburb. Clover’s guess was spot on as The Fastest Brick started to descend.

They circled around the front, closing in on the town, and the closer they got, the more Twilight believed Big Town was the biggest misnomer in the history of misnomers.

A rickety barricade constructed from scrap wood, sandbags, tin roofing, and a few old cars surrounded a town of less than a dozen houses. The houses were all of pre-war construction, and many of them were boarded over or collapsing in on themselves. There were maybe three or four habitable buildings if Twilight was correct.

The fence might as well be made of toothpicks, only good enough to keep pests out. All Twilight could see in the way of real defenses for the town was a lightly fortified entrance, but Twilight still had problems with it.

While the sandbag guard post overlooking the short rope-bridge was nice, the rope bridge itself spanned a moat that was too shallow and small. It didn’t wrap around the town, it was only about the width of a wagon, at most. That wasn’t even getting into the fact that the carpet of moss floating on top of the stagnant water gave Twilight the impression it doubled as an open sewer.

At least there were guards on duty. There were only three, watching The Fastest Brick coming in for a landing, but two of them had Enclave power armor repainted military green—Applejack’s color of choice to replace the Enclave black. The third guard wore an old combat helmet and leather armor. He must have been a local, but Twilight didn’t have long to take in any more details than that before The Fastest Brick touched down.

The bus landed on bare metal rims and rocked its occupants with a shuddering screech. Twilight threw her hands over her ears and ducked as showers of sparks large enough to bathe a teenage dragon shot out in every direction from the wheel wells.

The bus bled off speed and ground to a halt in front of the rope bridge.

The silence rang in Twilight’s ears as she stood up. After a quick check to make sure everything was still in the right place despite Rainbow Dash’s clear attempt to kill all of them, she checked the town out the nearest window. Several townsfolk had emerged to see what the commotion was, and the guards had their plasma rifles at the ready, but didn’t aim at them.

Yet.

Twilight reminded herself that her track record with reunions wasn't the best. Taking a deep breath, Twilight checked on Clover, who was watching the town with a smile.

“You gotta admit it, Shy!” Rainbow Dash cheered from up front as she pumped both fists into the air. Then she bear-hugged her. “For a brick, she flew pretty good.”

Twilight reflexively groaned in time with everyone on the bus but Clover, who laughed at the joke and bolted for the bus door.

“Whoa now,” Twilight warned as she wrapped Clover in a sheath of purple magic and lifted the former slave off her feet. Clover kicked in the air and squirmed like a young foal. “Don’t rush out and spook everyone.”

Clover groaned in a petulant, child-like way. She crossed her arms, letting out an impatient huff as Twilight exited the bus before setting Clover down onto the asphalt road stretching in front of Big Town.

Twilight’s warning wasn’t unfounded. More townsfolk had cautiously emerged. They muttered to each other, creating a din of worry that Twilight couldn't parse. She counted around ten or so civilians gaping at them from over the bridge. They were dressed in dirty, ripped, and ragged clothing. The weaponry they carried wasn’t anything special, either. One of them only had an air-powered BB gun. A child’s toy in this crazy world.

“I don’t see Hope,” Clover whispered as the rest of Twilight’s friends emerged from the bus and joined them. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were still at the front. They struggled to get out of their harnesses.

Twilight chose to wait on them, and after about a minute, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy finally extricated themselves and hurried over to everyone at the side of the bus.

One of the Enclave soldiers called out. “Agent Dash, is that you?”

“It is,” Rainbow called back. “You’re Staff-Sergeant Andrews, right? Sergeant Dornan and I met you last night.”

“Affirmative,” He replied. “I thought you were boasting when you told me pegasi could haul more than a small wagon.” He gestured for them to approach. “Anyways, welcome to Big Town. I’d cross over to meet you, but rope bridges don’t like power armor. Mind the gaps”

One look at the frayed ropes and gray hunks of two-century-old wood and Twilight agreed with the Staff-Sergeant’s assessment. She didn’t want to cross over the stagnant water, and she was underweight.

Spreading her wings, Twilight took flight before she closed her eyes and focused. With tendrils of magic, she reached out and wrapped Clover, Pinkie Pie, Daniel, and Electrum in telekinetic fields.

There was a mild pain in her horn despite her horn medicine, so rather than risk stressing the injury, she set Daniel down. He didn’t like flying, anyways. Dropping one individual was enough to stop the pain, so she flew the rest of the ground-bound party to the other side.

Daniel didn’t wait for her to come back and pick him up. He crossed the bridge on his own, watching every step, with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flying on either side of him over the moat.

The tension in the air smoothed out with everyone gathered, and the Staff-Sergeant approached Twilight, extending a gloved hand.

“Hello, Princess Sparkle,” He said as Twilight shook his hand. The smaller Enclave power armor lacked the robotic hands of the Brotherhood of Steel suits or the older Enclave models, but his grip was just as firm as a hydraulic vice. “I’m Staff-Sergeant Andrews. Welcome to Big Town, USA.”

“Thank you for the formal introduction,” Twilight said, breaking the handshake and adding a courteous bow as their hands parted. “Is everything going well here in town?”

“It could be better,” The Staff-Sergeant said, turning to point over the bridge and up a hill. “Over that ridge there are the fuck-ugly frankensteins. I’ve been requesting backup to help deal with the mutants, but I’ve got nothing yet. I only have Corporal Dixon here to help me protect and garrison this town. It’s nowhere near enough to make a push. When I heard that the vertibird fleet was down for emergency maintenance, I felt like I was stranded here.” He chuckled and nodded to The Flying Brick. “At least until I saw that flying bus show up. If Agent Dash is here, I assume the rest of you are the special forces group that took down Paradise Falls?”

Special forces? Twilight took a moment to look over her friends to try and see how the Enclave officer could make such a silly mistake.

Electrum had her trenchcoat and Enclave uniform underneath, Rainbow Dash had her Secret Service uniform, Fluttershy was wearing a set of pre-war olive drab army fatigues, Daniel was in combat armor, and Twilight wore modified and camouflage painted Equestrian royal guard armor. The only outliers were Clover, who wore her dress, and Pinkie Pie, who was wearing a set of leather armor.

With all of the weapons, visible injuries, and scars scattered among them, their group looked the part of grizzled veterans.

“I can see how someone could assume that,” Twilight said, turning back to the Staff-Sergeant. “But we’re not officially a military unit.”

“Ah, so you’re contractors,” the Staff-Sergeant said with a confident nod. Before Twilight could correct him, he sighed. “Well, I can’t guarantee I can pay you anything if you help us. I’ll have to clear everything with command.”

“Payment won’t be necessary,” Twilight said, not bothering to correct his assumption that she was a mercenary. “We’ll be happy to help. But before we get to that, I have to get to why I came here in the first place. We’re looking for a townsperson. Goes by the name of Hope. Bright amber eyes, red hair, should be twenty-three or so by now.”

Staff-Sergeant Andrews turned and pointed into town. “She’s inside—”

“CLOVER!” A gleeful female voice yelled as a red streak sailed past Twilight and the Staff-Sergeant. The woman moved almost as fast as Rainbow Dash. Twilight tracked her path all the way to the point where she tackled Clover to the ground in a flying hug.

“Nevermind,” Twilight said with a wry grin. “Looks like she found us. Excuse me for a moment, please.”

Twilight stepped away from the Staff-Sergeant. Clover and Hope tried to untangle from each other, tripping each other up as they tried to stand before the other and pull the other up with them, only succeeding in causing the other to misstep and fall to the ground in a laughing, twisted, tangled heap of limbs and smiles.

Twilight decided not to interrupt and leave them to their happy reunion as Pinkie Pie jumped in to help the pair to their feet.

If we’re going to fight super mutants, I think I can leave Pinkie behind to watch Clover. Twilight thought.

“So, Staff-Sergeant,” Twilight said, returning her attention to him. “About that mutant problem.”

“Just go north.” The Staff-Sergeant said. “I did some scouting and located a camp about a klick away. It’s in a chapel in the middle of a cemetery. As far as I can tell, that’s their auxiliary camp. North of that and a long way up a hill is their main camp in Germantown. The Big Town locals told me that the police headquarters building survived the bombs, and it's now a super mutant fortress.”

Using the controls on her Pip Boy, Twilight set a map marker. Daniel did the same. A small icon appeared on the compass that had shown up in her vision when her Pip Boy was upgraded.

“Anything else you can give me?” Twilight asked. “I would ask for you and Corporal Dixon to join us, but I’m afraid that if you do, something might attack the town while we’re gone. Why are there so few Enclave members here?”

“I can answer that,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “Big Town has such a small population that AJ didn’t want to put more than a few people here.”

“Exactly,” Staff-Sergeant Andrews said, taking back the conversation. “We’re here to garrison and help defend, not to occupy and use it as a base. An entire platoon here would mean more Enclave soldiers than townsfolk.” He shook his head, as if silently disagreeing with the decision. “Either way, back to your suggestion to leave Corporal Dixon and myself here. It’s probably a good call to not leave this place defenseless. Your contracting team is already used to operating with each other as a small team. Dixon and I would just get in the way or slow you down since about half of you can fly. And you have your own transport.”

“About that,” Rainbow Dash said. “If we’re doing this, I think we should leave the bus behind. It took too long for me and Shy to get out of our harnesses. I’d rather not be tied to a brick when the bullets start flying.”

“Good point,” Twilight agreed. A plan formed in her head as she bid farewell to the Staff-Sergeant and gathered all of her friends’ attention.

“Okay, everyone, I have a plan,” Twilight declared once all attention was on her. She turned to Clover, Hope, and Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie Pie, are you okay staying here with Clover?”

Pinkie Pie gave a thumbs up, but Clover shook her head.

“I—” Clover started. She clenched her fists into tight balls and bit her lip, looking away before she managed to spit out her thoughts. “I’d like to help you, sugar. We can clean up those mutants and keep Big Town safe.”

Twilight wanted to grant Clover her request, but she just had a pink dress for protection. One stray bullet was all that was needed to kill her. Instead, Twilight opened her backpack and brought out Clover’s shotgun in its leg-strap holster and levitated it to Clover.

“I’m not leaving you behind to do nothing,” Twilight half-lied. “I want you, Pinkie Pie, and the Enclave soldiers here to guard the town. There’s no telling what’ll happen while the rest of us are gone.”

Clover took the shotgun, caressing the holster and the wooden grip almost reverentially. Twilight hoped the gravity of the message came across. She was trusted with her weapon again, without Daniel or Twilight around.

“I don’t know what to say,” Clover said, hugging the shotgun to her chest. “Thank you, Ma—Twilight.”

Twilight gave her friend a respectful nod, then turned her attention back to the rest of her friends.

“Okay, so, for the rest of us, my current plan is for Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and myself to attack the smaller camp from the air. We’re faster while flying, so we can hopefully get it cleared as everyone else walks. If we run into any issues, we can wait for everyone else to catch up.”

Everyone was nodding along, following the plan without objection.

“Once Fluttershy, Rainbow, and I clear the chapel, we can regroup there and use it to get a clearer view of Germantown. We plan our next move for dealing with the main camp there. Sounds good?”

The simple, straightforward plan got another round of nods.

“Alright,” Twilight said. “Then we have a plan.” She nodded to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. “Are you gals ready?”

“Right on,” Rainbow Dash said, grinning as she reached into her coat and pulled out a higher-tech plasma pistol than those Twilight had seen other Enclave personnel with. The shape of it looked closer to her 10mm, rather than the hodge-podge collection of tubes and green lights.

As Rainbow Dash spread her wings and launched a few feet into the air, Twilight followed. Fluttershy unslung her sniper rifle into her hands and racked the slide, before flying up to join them.

“Reporting for duty, ma’am,” Fluttershy said in the flatter tone Twilight had heard her use when she was part of the Brotherhood of Steel. Her aggressive soldier persona was back. Twilight wasn’t sure if she approved, but she’d already seen Fluttershy’s prowess with a sniper rifle.

Twilight led them upwards, asking Fluttershy as they ascended. “Are you okay with fighting?”

“As I said, super mutants leave no option but to fight,” Fluttershy said, burying herself deeper into her soldier facade. “Your plan seems tactically sound. The manuals I read didn’t cover pegasi-based movements, but suppressing and flanking the enemy with our improved movement should work.”

“How many manuals did you read, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You were only officially part of the Brotherhood of Steel for like, what, two weeks?”

Twilight kept an ear on the conversation as she slowed their group ascent, they were high enough now that she could get a good view of the landscape.

“You have no idea how many nights of sleep I skipped reading manuals,” Fluttershy said with a dry chuckle. “I think I crammed more studying in than Twilight before an exam. Between that, and how new recruits like Initiate Redding and myself were getting first-hand frontline experience, I learned fast.”

Twilight spotted the white church building Staff-Sergeant Andrews had mentioned. It was almost directly north of the town, and it was most definitely a super mutant camp.

Even at their distance, Twilight spotted several bags of meat that were strung up. Her stomach churned as the thought that they looked like overripe tomatoes crossed her mind. Red and wrinkly. She forced herself to look away and study other details.

Most of the church’s roof was gone, and part of one of the walls had collapsed, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the church.

Around the structure, the super mutants had driven I-beams cut into spikes into the ground. More bags of gore hung from them, and skeletons were impaled on rebar welded to the beams.

There was certainly more to super mutants than dumb brutes if they could erect fortifications and operate welding equipment.

Tearing her eyes away from the sight and gazing farther north, the ruins of Germantown loomed atop a hill like the crumbling remains of the Castle of the Two Sisters.

Back at the edge of Big Town, Twilight spotted Daniel and the others crossing the bridge.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Twilight said, launching herself in the direction of the hilltop chapel. “Time to clear the way for our friends.”

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both voiced their acknowledgement and followed closely behind Twilight. The wasteland passed under them in a smear of brown occasionally broken up by black asphalt or an elevated highway cutting across the broken landscape.

As Twilight closed the distance to the chapel, she could make out the remains of a picket fence forming a perimeter around the cemetery which surrounded the chapel.

Then she spotted a super mutant. It stood in the empty frame where the chapel’s front doors once stood.

“Permission to engage?” Fluttershy asked behind her. Twilight glanced over her shoulder. Fluttershy was already lining up her sniper rifle.

“Uhm… sure, I gue—”

BANG

The muzzle flash hit Twilight’s side like a slap. Not enough to hurt, but enough to feel. The microsecond of intense heat was similar. Enough to feel, but not burn.

Jerking her head to look at the church, the super mutant had collapsed, his legs kicking in violent spasms as he clutched at his throat.

“Damn, Shy, nice shot,” Rainbow Dash complimented. “Save some for us.”

Twilight grimaced, but didn’t voice her opinion, choosing to let Rainbow Dash enjoy her joke. At least, Twilight hoped it was a joke and not an actual desire to score more kills like it was some sort of sick game.

“I’ll try,” Fluttershy said solemnly.

Twilight shook off the thought like it was rain sliding off an umbrella. She had too much on her plate to read too much into a simple joke. Diving for the building, Twilight searched for targets.

She was about a hundred feet away before a purple friendly bar appeared on her compass towards the back of the church, and the mutant on the ground at the front still appeared as red.

Slowing down, Twilight flew through the gaping hole in the wall and landed next to a human man sitting on his knees. He wore dirty clothes that looked so moth-eaten they must have been made pre-war. His hands were bound behind his back, then tied to his ankles, preventing him from rising on his own.

“Hey, what gives?” Rainbow Dash groaned as she, too, landed inside the old chapel. “Only one mutie guarding a captive?”

“Yeah,” The man grunted and shook his head as Twilight telekinetically undid the ropes holding him. He stood up, rubbed his sore joints, and dusted off his clothes before continuing. “I heard the freak mention something about his brothers, the police station, and something about ‘humans’, but I was too busy trying not to shit myself everytime his guard dog came shuffling around.”

“Other captives?” Twilight asked. “And what was that about a guard dog?”

“I don’t know how to describe it, but I nearly pissed myself when I first saw it. I think it might be from your world. Certainly ugly enough to be.”

Wow, rude much.

“I see,” Twilight said, forcing a smile. “If you’re looking for safety, head south. Big Town is close by. We’re going to deal with the super mutant camp in Germantown soon.”

“Well, good luck with that,” the man said dismissively. He ran over to one of the pews and picked up a bolt-action rifle, checked the ammo, then ran out the door past the still gurgling mutant.

Twilight held a straight face long enough until the man was out of sight.

“What a rude motherfucker.”

Rainbow Dash let out a snot.

“Oh my gosh, Twi,” Rainbow cried out, slapping her knee and doubling over, laughing. “Please, ha-ha, n-never cuss like that again, I might die of l-laughter.”

Rainbow Dash was cut short as the mutant at the front of the church let out a loud gurgle, then finally died, leaving nothing but deafening silence in its wake. Rainbow Dash shook her head and took off her sunglasses.

“Either those things are tough, or Shy’s shot wasn’t as clean as I thought,” Rainbow Dash said, walking towards the dead mutant.

“Could be both. Fluttershy said that the Brotherhood of Steel’s been fighting them for years, and they’re tough enough to compete with power armor,” Twilight said, following Rainbow Dash and glancing around at the stockpile of loot scattered around the church. There were several ammo cans, along with a few milk crates and bookshelves stocked with goods. “We should raid this place before we hit Germantown.” Twilight pointed to a milk crate sitting on a pew she and Rainbow Dash were about to pass. It was full of frag grenades. “I’m already seeing good stuff here.”

She was surprised the human that they had rescued hadn’t looted for more than basic protection. But then again, he seemed to hold Equestrians with the same disdain as super mutants, and wanted out of Twilight’s presence as soon as possible.

“Good idea,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked around, then flapped her wings to rise a few feet into the air. “Hey… where’s Shy? I haven’t heard her shoot anything else.”

Twilight spun in place until she found two purple bars.

“Looks like she’s found another survivor,” Twilight said.

“How’d you—”

Twilight cut her off by holding up her Pip Boy and tapping the case.

“Ah, fancy tech,” Rainbow said with a sheepish grin. She put her glasses back on. “Let’s go get Shy.”

Leaving the chapel, it wasn’t long before they spotted Fluttershy. She stood in part of the cemetery off to the side of the chapel. Then Twilight and Rainbow Dash both balked and instinctively aimed their weapons at what Fluttershy spoke to at nearly the same moment.

The… thing… whatever it was… looked like a flayed human torso with no arms connected at the waist to a slug-like body of reddish-pink skin. Bones jutted out of the creature at random. Rather than moving on feet or hooves, the mutant creature shuffled by dragging its horrendous mass using the hands on the four arms protruding from the slug-like body. They were where the legs on a normal creature should be.

Twilight stalked closer, her 10mm pistol raised as she eyed the three tentacle-like tongues drooping from its mouth with gut-churning repulsion. Despite the tentacles, it still had a too-human face.

“I’m going to have to invent new curse words to describe my thoughts,” Twilight said, trying to add some brevity to the situation.

Rainbow Dash was too busy holding a hand over her mouth and making gagging noises. She lasted two more seconds before she flapped her wings and zipped behind the church to wretch.

At that point, Twilight was close enough to hear Fluttershy talking to the thing.

“I know, but it can’t all be bad, can it?” Fluttershy asked the creature in the soft tone she used with animals all the time. The tentacles quivered, and the creature let out a series of wet, tumorous noises that sounded like the unholy blend of vomiting and diarrhea coming out the same hole.

Fluttershy shook her head.

“Is there anything else I can do?”

More noises.

Fluttershy let out a resigned sigh before she raised her weapon and pressed the barrel to its temple.

With no hesitation, Fluttershy blew its brains out onto a gravestone.

Twilight gawked as the fresh corpse collapsed to the dirt, bleeding from the hole blasted into its skull. She shook her head from seeing Fluttershy execute something before locking eyes with her friend, who had faced her with a sad sigh.

“It’s called a centaur,” Fluttershy said. “But it’s more of a chimera made from mixing up humans and animals in a soup of Forced Evolutionary Virus. And if what the Brotherhood of Steel told me is true, the ones out West are even uglier than these ones, with animal features like a dog’s head coming out the human’s shoulder blade.” She shook her head. “There’s enough animal left in them that I can understand what they say. That’s the second one that I’ve talked to, and both wanted the same thing.”

Twilight caught the sadness in Fluttershy’s voice.

“Are you—”

“No,” Fluttershy interrupted with a clipped and cold voice. “I’m not fine, but I’ve learned to cope.” Then her expression softened. “Sorry, Twi, I know you're worried about me, but I learned my lesson with Philomena. I can't fix every problem a creature has my way. I would rather them go out as painlessly as I can offer them, instead of forcing them into a life of suffering.”

Twilight could understand that.

“I would have done the same if they’d asked me to do it,” Twilight said, nodding to the corpse. She turned away, back towards the chapel, unsure how to continue their conversation, so she changed topics. “Let’s stock up on supplies while we wait for the others.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Fluttershy agreed.

The two trudged to the chapel, refusing to glance back.

<>~<>~<>

Geared up with all the grenades, medical supplies, and ammunition that they could reasonably fly with, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy left the rest of the group behind at the chapel to scout out Germantown.

They flew high over their target, hopefully far enough out of sight. Twilight peered down using a pair of binoculars and frowned.

Humans in black combat armor patrolled the ruins, along with the hulking forms of super mutants.

When the captive that they had rescued mentioned something about humans, Twilight assumed the super mutants had taken captives. Not for the super mutants to be working with Talon Company mercenaries.

“Why are they here?” Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow Dash grunted. “Because someone paid them to. Agent Grey.”

“Who?” Twilight asked. The name didn’t ring any bells.

“Some SOCOM guy who didn’t get the memo they’re supposed to be back on the Enclave’s side,” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head. “He’s following his own agenda now, it seems.”

“So,” Twilight said, shaking her head, “do you think this Agent Grey guy is down there?”

“Could be,” Rainbow Dash replied with a small shrug. “If he is, that’ll be one less loose end left to bite us in the tail later. What’s the plan now? I count something like fifteen super mutants and at least ten talon company guys. And that’s before we go inside.”

‘Inside’ being the remaining two stories of what had once been a multistory behemoth of a police headquarters building. Half of the building had fully collapsed, but that still left a lot of interior space. Tight quarters where they wouldn’t be able to use the advantage of flight, or risk using grenades.

“For now, I say we go back to the chapel and tell the others,” Twilight said. “Talon company being here changes things.”

Chapter 55: Shootout

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As sunlight beamed down through the hole in the chapel’s ruined roof, Twilight took a step back, cupped her chin, and scowled at the milk crate sitting on the floor.

Why does it seem out of place? Twilight thought to herself, analyzing the small, overturned box with a scrupulous glare.

If the milk crate is supposed to be the Germantown police HQ, and the nuka~cola bottle right next to it represents the hill…

Her hoofsteps echoed off the crumbling walls as she took a few more steps back to get a wider view of the organized detritus on the floor. Milk crates, bottles, chunks of rubble, and other miscellaneous junk were arranged into the crude facsimile of a map.

Twilight scanned everything once more, and the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. It wasn't the crate, but the bottle. They were too close to each other for the map to be in scale. A slight nudge from her magic pushed the offending bottle back by a few centimeters.

There. Perfection.

Reevaluating the junk map on the floor, a niggling itch formed on the back of Twilight’s neck and wouldn’t go away, even after she scratched it. Something was wrong, and she quickly realized what it was. Everything was out of scale. That wouldn’t do.

Her horn flared to rearrange things, but every adjustment only rewarded her with a grunt of displeasure as another piece of junk revealed itself to be out of place. Rows of pencils laid end-to-end showing where the chain-link fences were located had to all be moved, then the tin-can water tower, then the broken bricks standing in for ruins.

There? No. There? No. There? Still no, no, no!

The sizes were all wrong. The model was out of scale. If the model was wrong, then then map was inaccurate, and if the map was inaccurate then that meant bad information, which could get her friends—

“Twilight.” Daniel’s firm tone and gentle hand on her back cut through the spiraling haze threatening to drag her into its gaping maw. “The map is fine.”

“But it isn’t,” Twilight gasped, flailing her hands at the map, as if they could convey what was wrong. She wanted to keep her friends safe. That meant giving them accurate information. “Maybe if I had some playing cards instead of—”

“Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said flatly from her seat on a church pew nearby. She stared out of one of the holes in the chapel walls. It faced Germantown. Rainbow didn’t turn away from staring outwards as she shrugged. “It's not the end of the world. The map’s supposed to give ideas of where things are in relation to one another. Think of it like a bubble chart instead of a scale model.”

Twilight spared a glance back at the map of junk and her jaw dropped. How had she not seen it? It was so obvious. A 3D bubble chart, not a real scale model.

“Right,” Twilight said, sheepishly scratching the back of her head. She placed an old rag back where it had been—one of many canvas tents inside the police station compound. “Thank you, Daniel, Rainbow.”

“Don't mention it,” Rainbow said playfully, still not facing away from staring out into the brown horizon. With her on guard duty, and Fluttershy flying a patrol, no one was sneaking up on them.

“So, what does our chart tell us?” Daniel asked, guiding the conversation back on track as he scooped up both a pistol and rifle bullet with his telekinesis. Similar bullets stood scattered straight-up like misplaced chess pieces around the map. A population of humans and super mutants. “What I can see is that it’s three or four to one odds against us, and that's before going inside. Anyone else care to comment?”

There was a momentary pause.

“We're understaffed?” Rainbow Dash offered up the obvious. “The odds would be better if we had more people.” She let out a dismissive grunt and sat up in her seat, finally turning away from the hole in the wall. “Applejack just had to mix honesty and politics.”

“What do you mean by that, Rainbow?” Twilight asked, planting her hands on her hips. It was Applejack they were talking about. If any politician was going to play fair, it would be her.

“What I mean is that there was less than one squad of Enclave soldiers guarding Big Town,” Rainbow said, crossing her arms in an impatient huff. “AJ decided that towns will get enough troops to defend themselves, but not enough to make it feel like we're taking over. If we had more soldiers at Big Town, we wouldn’t have to sit here and wait.”

“Maybe,” Daniel said with a lead-heavy sigh while shaking his head. He set the bullets down and stared at the map a few seconds before he continued. “What I do know is that Big Town is nearly defenseless, and I'm not going to leave until Germantown is dealt with.”

“I agree. No matter how long it takes,” Twilight said. With the Enclave’s reliance on power armor, Twilight wasn't sure how long it would take to pull combat armor out of storage to allow for teleporting troops. “Electrum will get here with reinforcements eventu—”

Twilight's words died on her lips as Fluttershy descended from the hole in the roof like a meteor. Her flailing wings beat a gale that scattered pieces of the map away as they were blasted by the downdraft. She touched down with a loud snap as her thick combat boots plunged through the milk crate, sending bits of rotting wood flying in all directions like the shrapnel of a grenade.

What the hay? I worked hard on that map! Twilight bemoaned, but the complaint never made it past her lips before she noticed Fluttershy's grimace in the split-second of her chaotic arrival. Then Twilight's eyes drifted to where Fluttershy held a hand, staunching the flow of wet crimson staining her olive drab uniform. The wound was on her lower abdomen, just below where her modified combat armor covered the rest of her chest.

Gut-shot.

“They spotted me,” Fluttershy whimpered softly, the equine ears on her otherwise-human head drooping like a shamed dog. “I did my best to shake them, but they're following.”

Twilight spun on her hooves to Daniel, however he needed no call. He sped towards the pair, his medical duffel bag open and supplies floating around him like the belt of a gas giant. A bottle of medicinal alcohol, forceps, gauze, and a stimpack were all Twilight glimpsed before she refocused on helping Fluttershy lay down on the time-rotted cushion of a church pew.

“You did your best, Shy,” Twilight said, swallowing the panic and forcing a strained smile. Fluttershy was here, and alive, with Daniel nearby to treat her wounds. Twilight could focus on details and lead. “How many are there?”

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” Fluttershy wheezed demurely. “They didn't give me time to count. Maybe ten. An even mix of muties and Talon Company.”

“Darn it.” Rainbow Dash launched up into the air, nearly touching the rafters with a single wing beat. “If we abandon this place, Electrum’s gonna arrive right on top of our uninvited guests.” She scowled and drew her plasma defender. “Not that I wanted to turn tail and run, anyways… they'll pay for shooting Shy.”

Twilight grimaced. Killing for revenge wasn't right, but they did hurt Fluttershy. That changed the equation.

“Alright, everyone,” Twilight said, drawing her own pistol. She saw Daniel take Fluttershy's hand in his own as he used his telekinesis to pour medical alcohol over the forceps. A quick and rushed disinfection of his tools. Twilight grit her teeth and forced her eyes away. “I know we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. We can't leave, so we're going to have to fight. Rainbow, I want you up in the air scout—”

CRACK

Something whizzed past Twilight’s head an eyeblink before there was a second CRACK. The impact to her pauldron was like getting kicked in the shoulder by Applejack, knocking Twilight off balance as she half-jumped, half-fell into cover behind a crumbling church pew.

“They’re already here!” Rainbow Dash shouted, diving to the ground. She landed beside Daniel as more and more cracks and bangs split the air. Rotting wood splintered and popped as direct impacts and ricochets alike pelted the ancient chapel.

Even with bullets whizzing past making the sound of a dozen bull-whips cracking at once, Daniel remained a bastion of calm as he plunged the forceps into Fluttershy’s wound. He probed around for a few seconds—Fluttershy screaming and needing to be held down by Rainbow Dash—before he stopped and nodded, a small satisfied smile forming as he flexed his fingers to close the forceps around something. A moment later, he pulled the malformed hunk of lead out of Fluttershy’s guts.

“Got it,” he grunted, flinging the bloody chunk of metal away.

Daniel jammed the area next to the wound with a stimpack. Only then did he dive behind cover, landing near Twilight with a soft thud.

“I heard you yelp. Are you okay?” he asked, telekinesis dragging out more medical supplies from his duffel bag. He nodded to Twilight’s pauldron.

He was calmly diagnosing his next patient, as if they weren't being shot at.

“Just a dent,” Twilight said, drawing on her husband’s calm to pump her words with more bravado than she felt. She ran a finger over the gouge in the metal, just to make sure. The dent was still warm from the violent transfer of energy, but there was no penetration. It was still too close a call. While death and danger weren’t anything new to Twilight, bullets were a new horror she wished she could be rid of.

Stop panicking, you can do this, Twilight thought. You’ve faced hydras and worse and made it out alive. Stuff just as eager to kill you as bullets. Pull it together.

Taking a deep breath, she dragged herself out of her shock, then checked on her friends.

Fluttershy—her gut wound closed by the stimpack—had rolled off the pew. She used it as both cover and a brace for her sniper rifle as she fired out the church.

Rainbow Dash lay flat on her back, shoulder pressed against the partial wall facing Germantown. Twilight didn’t know where Rainbow Dash had gotten the tiny disk mirror on a telescoping stick, but her friend used it to peek over the crumbling wall without exposing herself.

“Talon Co and muties closing in!” Rainbow Dash warned, twisting the stick to angle her mirror. Her lips moved as she wordlessly counted to herself, then she added aloud. “Shy was right, I count at least five muties.”

Fluttershy shot her rifle.

“Four,” Rainbow amended.

With Fluttershy sending out rounds, Twilight thought it was safe enough to take a look for herself, pistol in hand.

The Talon Company mercenaries and mutants were around two hundred feet away by Twilight’s rough estimate, up a small hill, with the mercenaries taking cover behind several boulders. However the mutants were charging downhill and closing fast, firing their mismatched array of weapons as they ran.

“Rainbow, do you still have grenades!?” Twilight shouted over the ear-splitting symphony of firepower.

“Yeah!” Rainbow replied, using the mirror to aim her pistol over the broken wall without exposing herself. Green bolts erupted from the fancy plasma pistol, but only succeeded in splattering against the rocks the Talon Company mercs were using as cover.

“Fluttershy, keep the pressure on them,” Twilight ordered. “Rainbow, give me your grenades, I have an idea!”

“What are you—” Rainbow started, but Twilight silenced her as she levitated up every one of the grenades that she’d already taken from the super mutant cache, wrapping each one in a telekinetic glow. Despite focusing on so many objects at once, her broken horn, thankfully, didn't hurt at all. The medicine was working wonders.

“I like this plan,” Rainbow Dash said, grinning as she pulled grenades out of various pockets on her secret service uniform.

The tiny bombs hovered around Twilight as she spread her wings.

“Okay, when I say go, you and I are going through the roof,” Twilight said, passing her 10mm pistol to Rainbow Dash.

“Wait, what? Why are you handing me this?” Rainbow asked, grabbing the pistol regardless in her off hand.

“One less thing for me to focus on as I juggle these grenades,” Twilight said, nudging her head towards the dozen or so grenades. “Doubling your firepower means twice the reason for them to keep their heads down.”

“And what do I do?” Daniel asked.

Twilight smiled.

“Stay here with Shy and help her take down the mutants. Rainbow and I are going after the mercenaries.”

In Twilight’s opinion, they were the more dangerous attackers. They weren’t blindly charging the chapel right into Fluttershy’s scarily accurate shots.

Daniel backed away with an agreeing nod. Twilight interpreted the look on his face as him silently wishing her luck and to stay safe.

With no other distractions, Twilight counted down.

“Three, two, one, GO!”

Twilight launched into the air, followed by Rainbow Dash keeping pace. The rooftop was left in their wing-wake after a few moments. Twilight’s speed surprised herself as she had to slow down to get a good view of the battlefield.

Down below, the super mutant’s charge had failed. Three lay dead a hundred or more feet from the chapel, and the two remaining mutants had stalled about fifty or sixty feet from the large hole in the wall. The pair used a dry ditch like a trench. Twilight quickly passed them out of her mind as bullets zipped through the air at her.

The mercenaries had already spotted them.

“Rainbow, keep their heads—gahhhckh!” Twilight’s shouted order cut into a wheeze of pain as one round, then another, slammed into her enchanted platemail like twin hammer blows. One to her chest, the other her thigh. A panicked check revealed two dents but no penetration.

“That’s it!” Rainbow screamed in rage, flying past Twilight like a lit firework. “These guys are starting to peeve me off!”

She sailed for them as straight as an arrow, strafing the rocks with her two pistols. Lead and plasma were doled out in equal measure, and one mercenary caught a bolt of green to the face. They folded up on themselves like a dropped doll.

That’s good, Twilight thought begrudgingly. In the grim arithmetic of combat, they had subtracted one enemy from the equation. Twilight felt a burst of dark pride as her plan worked. The other mercenaries had taken cover.

Twilight had her opening.

She waited until Rainbow Dash had circled around to rejoin her, taking only seconds to do so. With Rainbow as her bodyguard to keep the mercenaries’ heads down, Twilight nodded, and the pair dove as one.

Wind howled in Twilight’s ears almost as loud as Fluttershy’s rifle as she rocketed towards her targets. No flight goggles blocked the wind and airborne grit. Her eyes stung, then watered from the strain as she kept her gaze locked on the black-armored men and women who had allied with the super mutants. Time seemed to slow and the world narrow as she poured all of her focus on getting the grenades to their destination.

Biting her lip to focus on some other pain than the stinging in her eyes, Twilight waited until the perfect moment to release the bundle of explosive death shepherded in her telekinesis.

The cluster of explosive cans scattered like dropped coins as soon as Twilight let go, their metallic bodies tumbling through the air. Once Twilight was sure she and Rainbow were far enough away, she turned around in the air, hovering to watch the rain of explosives.

Many bounced off rocks or landed next to Talon Company mercenaries, however one falling grenade found its way to the face of a mercenary who chose to look up at the exact wrong moment, shattering teeth. The poor man crumpled to the ground, hand over his ruined mouth.

The Talon Company members all seemed to notice what had landed near them at the same time. Some kicked the grenades away, others dove for cover, and one selfless mercenary leapt atop one grenade.

Seconds passed. Nothing happened.

“Twilight!” Rainbow screamed. “You didn't pull the pony-feathering pins!”

“Oh…”

Rainbow reacted quickly, snapping off a shot with her plasma defender. The bolt of green energy sailed through the air before it struck one of the grenades, setting it off with a short, powerful krump that was more flash than fireball. Shrapnel ricocheted off the hard rocks, turning what had been the mercenaries cover into a blender.

Two of the mercenaries slouched over, clutching at wounds, while a third folded up on themselves in contortions that could only be comfortable to the dead. The sole remaining uninjured mercenary was, ironically, the one lying belly-first on top of a grenade.

Just one grenade had killed or incapacitated four people within twenty steps of one another.

Twilight hated bullets. She despised explosives.

“Do you think they'll surrender?” Rainbow asked, turning in the air to look back at the chapel. “Fluttershy and Daniel just finished off their mutant friends.”

Twilight watched the mercenaries for any sign of having a fight left in them as she slowly descended. She had her weapon trained on the one who's jaw she had broken with the falling grenade. He crawled towards one of the freshly wounded mercenaries, who was still contorting in agony.

“They left out all the screaming in the books I've read on war,” Twilight said, not answering Rainbow’s question. The second shrapnel-wounded merc had stopped moving.

This was my plan. I killed them. Rainbow may have set the grenade off, but I was the one who dropped them.

A cold chill ran down Twilight’s spine. What would have happened if all of the grenades had gone off? It would be like the gryphons all over again.

“It's not pretty, or fun,” Rainbow Dash consoled. She gestured towards the one with the broken jaw, who was in the middle of applying a tourniquet to the thigh of his screaming companion. Once he was done, he reached into a pouch of his own and pulled out a white handkerchief, looked up, and waved it around.

By that point Twilight and Rainbow were only around twenty feet or so above the group. Twilight flared her horn and grabbed all of the grenades and guns that she could, disarming the surrendering mercenaries.

“Do any of you still have weapons?” Twilight asked. She pointed to the man curled up over the grenade. “Can you get him to get off that grenade, please, the pin wasn’t pulled.”

The man with the broken teeth turned his head her way, silently scowling in rage, pain, and defeat. A veritable river of blood flowed down his bruised and swollen lips, down his chin, and fell as crimson rain to the rocky ground below.

“Fuck,” the one with the tourniquet on their leg babbled. A woman. “Fuck, it hurts so much. Ralph, give me some Med-X, p-please.”

Names to these faces. Twilight thought. They were no longer just nameless goons shooting at her. They had names.

Twilight lowered her pistol and landed.

“We have a medic,” Rainbow Dash said behind and above Twilight. Still airborne. “They’re on their way. But before they get here, you need to get that guy to get off that grenade.”

Ralph refused to speak, glaring in silent contempt. His female companion was in too much pain to converse or comply with orders.

“Rainbow, keep an eye on these two,” Twilight said, slowly turning to the last living mercenary. He lay curled over the grenade, quivering. From the stains on his pants, he'd wet himself, and wasn't as unscathed as Twilight first thought.

Blood gushed from his ruptured eardrums.

Sweet Celestia, I hope stimpacks can fix that, Twilight thought, pistol lowered but not stowed away as she stepped closer to the quivering heap on the ground. She prodded his shoulder with a telekinetic nudge.

He stopped quivering, turned his head her way, and Twilight saw his grin in the split second before he rolled to the side and threw the grenade at her. She watched with grim clarity as the metal lever flew away from the pinless grenade, a small jet of sparks erupting out the top from the lit fuse.

Twilight wrapped the grenade in her magic and threw it as far away as she could. It detonated somewhere far past the rocks.

That… that son of a mule! He could have killed Rainbow or the other mercenaries with that!

“Now,” Twilight snarled, spittle flying out her mouth as she over-enunciated her words to the deaf man as she took aim. “I reeeealy don’t want to kill anyone else today. But if you pull another stunt that endangers my friends, or anyone who has already surrendered peacefully, I will fucking shoot you and probably not regret it.”

The mercenary’s self-satisfied smile faded.