Fallout: the Return

Interlude: Rarity - Part 2

Blackness and pain; that’s all I saw or felt. Over the loud ringing in my ears I could hear Scoots and Applebloom yelling for me to get up. They both sounded like they were crying, and I began to register I was lying on the grass, with four hooves shaking me.

I opened my eyes, my right one tinted slightly with red as I stood and faced Scoots and Applebloom. Their gasps of shock told me something was wrong.“What is it?” I groaned as I rubbed my face with a hoof, blinking a few times to get the red tint out of my eye.They didn’t answer me, but I looked at my hoof. Black soot mixed with red liquid, a liquid I knew was supposed to stay inside my body. Then I connected the dots. The explosion, the red tint in my eye, and the blood on my hoof.Scootaloo finally spoke, “You look a bit like your sister,” she said slowly as she handed me the knife.I looked into the blade like a mirror, the shiny metal clearly reflecting the image of a filly. Said filly’s face had been blackened, and several patches of fur had been singed away; a few places even bleeding.I groaned, but not because of the minor pain, “Bloody Hell, Rarity is going to kill me.”“Hey, Rainbow told us not ta use that word!” Applebloom complained.I rolled my eyes, “It sounds like it fits the situation,” I said as I put the knife down and looked at the gun on the ground, “What in the hay did that thing do?”Applebloom looked at the gun fearfully, “I pulled a little lever on the thing, and fire shot out the end. Now my hoof hurts and my ears are ringin’; that thing sounded louder than a cannon.”Scoots laughed, “And then you passed out like your sister would have done.”I laughed along with Scootaloo, getting nervous chuckles from Applebloom, and I said, “No, she only passes out due to,” in a Rarity impression pre-ghoulification, “fashion emergencies.” I placed a hoof on my forehead and fell backwards.I quickly got back to my hooves when Applebloom started both laughing and crying. I looked at her, concern clearly present on my face to anyone, “Applebloom?”“I-I nearly killed you!” She said, making me finally realize I was on the receiving end of a dangerous weapon. Seriously, the minor pain in my face wasn’t enough to tell me what hurt me was supposed to hurt me.I sat on my haunches, “Well, you didn’t. Heck, Scoots has almost killed all three of us at once. I didn’t even know my leg could bend that way.”“Hey!” Scootaloo protested, “Hang gliding is a popular activity amongst earth ponies and unicorns.”Applebloom gave a snort, “And I’m sure it’s popular to not have their bones poke through skin.”Scootaloo blushed, “Sorry about the leg.”Applebloom rolled her eyes, “Now you apologize.”“Hey, I did the chores for you!” Scoots retorted.“Badly,” Applebloom said rolling her eyes and pointing a hoof at me, “Sweetie could have done a better job making a dress, no offense.”I already know the clothes I try and make deserve to be burned. “None taken,” I said with a smile. Okay, now my face is starting to hurt worse.Scoots laughed, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof nervously, “Probably.”I looked by Applebloom’s hoof, looking at the weapon that nearly killed me. With a bit of magic, I levitated it up to me, “How did you open the side?” I asked Applebloom.With a bit of hesitation, Applebloom moved a piece of metal that was near the cylinder and opened the side of the gun. The little brass tube falling out, showing us it no longer had the metal tip to it. Looking at a tree that was behind me when the weapon went off, I let out a gasp, “Holy shit!”I was hit in the back of the head by Scootaloo, “Don’t-”Instead of letting her finish, I grabbed her head and pointed it towards the tree. Her mouth dropped open and she muttered near silently, “Whoah.”The jagged hole in the tree was at least the size of my hoof, nothing but a maw of cracked pine and splinters.Applebloom looked at the brass tube, to the tree, and back again, “That piece of metal did all of that?”“Consarnit ya fillies, what’s goin’ on down here? You three better have a good explanation for wakin’ up Tigris. Granny can’t help as much as she used to.”Okay, now I was dead. Forget Rarity, Tartarus hath no fury like an angry mother; and with that scowl, I could tell Applejack was beyond furious.When Applejack neared us, Applebloom didn’t even attempt to lie, “Sweetie stole some of Rarity’s stuff. We started playing around with it and were wondering what her gun did and I’m sorry sis!” Applebloom began to cry as she charged forward and wrapped her sister’s leg in a hug.Applejack’s mouth was agape “You, did, WHAT!?” She then saw my bleeding, burnt face.Applejack gasped, “Hells bells, your sister is gonna flip.” Oh, yay, new cuss word. Totally ignoring the fact my sister is going to kill me right now.Scootaloo looked at me and smiled, “In that case, I think Mom and Dad are calling me. You know how much trouble Dinky can get into.” Then off she went, faster than a speeding firework to her adoptive mother and father.Applejack watched Scootaloo run off, muttering, “You can run, but Derpy will hear about this,” Then she turned her gaze back to me, “Give me the gun and anything you stole. I’m taking you straight to your sister.”With my ears splayed down, I levitated all the stuff I stole back into the helmet - Scootaloo must have threw it down when I passed out - and began walking back home with Applejack and Applebloom just behind me.

<~Rarity’s PoV~>

Wrong, I’m doing it all wrong. The sequins are supposed to go there, not there. Why can’t I just do one simple dress right!? I screamed in thought as I jabbed a sewing needle through a ponyquin’s false eye. Lithium might mellow me out, but I can still get a teensy tiny bit violent.Still in a huff, I walked out of my boutique and onto the porch. With my magic, I levitated out my lighter and a cigarette out a pocket in the duster coat I wore. I had grown quite attached to the heavy piece of dirty clothing, and like my beret, I wore it with pride.Biting down on the end of my cigarette, I lit it with the lighter. Sure, I could use my magic to light it, but there was something subliminally satisfying about striking a lighter. With a lit cigarette, I levitated the lighter back into my coat pocket, scanning the town as the clock tower in the distance slowly crept its minute hand closer to marking it the afternoon.Not a soul in the streets. A peaceful silence… then I saw Applejack trotting up with Sweetie and Applebloom walking up the street. Instantly, I saw my helmet sitting on Applejack’s back, and Sweetie’s face was blackened and burnt.I could only let the cigarette fall from my mouth and dramatically bounce off my right hoof.Applejack gave me a stern glare, “Put a better lock on your stuff.” She then threw my helmet at my hooves, the contents spilling out.Sure enough, sitting in a pile, was a few NCR dollars, two gold Legion coins, a box of .45-70 ammo, and Ebony, my black and gold Ranger Sequoia. From the burns on Sweetie’s face, I could tell a mere fraction of a hair’s width over would have led to the unthinkable.“Sweetie-” I said, completely dumbstruck by her injuries. I saw a few cuts were still bleeding, so I scooped up the items from the porch and raced inside for a first-aid kit.Inside, I dumped the helmet and other stuff on the floor, retrieved a first-aid kit from the upstairs bathroom, and made it back downstairs where the others were waiting on me, having entered sometime after I did.“How bad does it hurt, Sweetie?” I asked as I took out antiseptic, burn ointment, and bandages.“It hurts just a little,” she admitted as I applied the medicine, “The gun going bang made me pass out.”In a few seconds I was done I looked at Sweetie, her face wrapped up in white strips of bandaging. Then I turned my gaze to Applebloom. The fillies had no idea what guns could do, and all the secrecy only made them curious. It was my fault Sweetie got hurt.Looking to Applejack, I cleared my throat and motioned with my head for her to follow me into the kitchen. Once there, I looked Applejack in the eyes and said quietly, “Applejack, we need to tell them.”She shook her head, “They’re too young to hear about… about what happened to me,” Applejack said as she looked down, scrunching her face as she pressed her tail tight against the jeans I made for her.I put a hoof on her shoulder, unable to imagine what the mare felt like after what Orion done to her. “Then we don’t. I’ll just talk about the gun and hopefully the story tied with it will sate their curiosity. Based off the burns, if the barrel had been that much closer...” I held my hooves just a tiny bit away from her, “I don’t think pills would keep me from snapping.” I shivered at the thought of going feral as well as pairing with the thought of my sister missing parts of her skull like so many Fiends or Legion soldiers I killed. Both made me wince and feel sick to my stomach.“Okay,” Applejack relented with a nod before hastily adding, “but please keep it below nightmare inducin’.”I gave a devilish smile, “Aww, I can’t tell them how to properly disembowel a Fiend with a sniper rifle?”Applejack gasped, “You did that!?”I shook my head, “No, It was a joke, an extremely ghoulish joke.” I smirked at my own pun.Applejack sighed and rubbed a hoof against her temple, “Who are you and what have you done with Rarity?”“It’s not my fault my jokes fall dead,” I said with a small, gravelly laugh, “But come on, we need to talk with the girls.”

<~Sweetie’s PoV~>

I was waiting for about five minutes on the couch with Applebloom. Our sisters were talking in whispers. Occasionally, Applejack would exclaim something loudly, but I couldn’t hear what she had said clearly enough to figure out how they were going to punish us.When my big sis reentered the room, stopping right in front of the couch, I tried to hide my wounded face. Just this morning, I was so worried that she would disappear again, and now, I was stealing from her. My cheeks were burning with shame as I stared at the floor, as if it were some infinite white void that would hide me from my disgrace.Rarity stepped closer, and then sat on the couch in that weird way I saw only Lyra do. Applejack hopped onto the other end of the couch beside Applebloom, who hadn’t spoke to me since nearly accidently killing me.The silence and tension were so thick you could practically cut them with the knife that still laid in its sheath on the floor.Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I spoke, “Sorry, sis.” I rubbed the bandaging the covered my face, feeling a slight sting in the few patches that were actually bad enough to have bled. The sensation made me wonder how Rarity could handle the constant stinging of the wounds on her face.Rarity gave a small sigh, “I know you are, sis. You could have been hurt badly, or even killed by this,” she said as she levitated the gun from the floor to us.I stared at the thing. The bear on the wooden bit, pawing at three blue diamonds practically screamed ‘I am dangerous’ now. I gasped when she opened the spot where the explosive thingumajigs went.“Seemed you figured out how to load and unload Ebony, huh?” She asked casually in her raspy voice.I tried to make myself shrink down, but still answered, “Applebloom got it open the first time.”“.45-70 rounds; they are as expensive as they are powerful. A single one can kill you.”I shivered, “I saw what it does to trees.”She gave a hum in agreement, “Now imagine that happening to you.”I pictured in my mind a wooden copy of me exploding in a flash of fire and splinters. Which in turn lead to me thinking of what it could do the real me. I gave a shudder.She obviously saw me shake, saying, “That’s why we don’t talk about where we went. We fought the Legion with guns and knives. Imagine a dozen going off at once, screaming to people beside you just so they can hear you as bullets pass over your head.” She noticed my confused look, “Bullets are the lead pieces that fly out the end of a gun.”Scoots used a slingshot on a clay pot, and I barely could see the rock since it was flying so fast. If bullets are designed to fly fast, and are propelled by an explosion, how fast can they go? My guess was that only Rainbow Dash could keep up with one.“Applebloom, Sweetie; you’re not in trouble. It was our fault we didn’t tell you what happened to us, but please, stop trying to find out on your own. You came close to being killed, Sweetie!” Rarity said in a loud rasp as she gave me a loving hug.I hugged back, “Sorry Rarity. Can you forgive me for stealing your stuff?”Rarity let out a gravelly laugh, “I can, you’re my little sister after all.”I gave a light-hearted laugh and looked at Applebloom. She just looked down, managing to sniff out, “Sorry… I’m sorry, Sweetie.” As she began to sob, Applejack took her in a hug.After a few blubbery minutes, everypony had calmed down – actually Applebloom and Rarity; I felt perfectly fine after almost getting killed.Rarity got up from the couch and stood in front of us, Applejack following suit. Then they told us all about New Vegas and the strange creatures called humans.

<~-~>

“And that’s when Twilight used the gauntlet that gave her magic to bring us back to Equestria!” My sister shouted out for showmanship. It had probably taken less than an hour to explain all that had happened to them.Looking to my left, I saw that Applebloom looked confused as Applejack began to carry her on her back to the door, preparing to leave, it was getting late and Applejack had Tigris to attend to. About midway out the door, Applebloom began asking Applejack questions, but I didn’t hear what her answers were.Turning my head to look at Rarity, I blushed and looked down towards the floor, “I can see why you didn’t want to tell us, and after all of that, I shouldn’t have pressed. Sorry for stealing your stuff Rarity.” I’m probably going to list today as, ‘craziest day ever’. I was nearly killed by Applebloom with my sister’s gun, learned that guns were dangerous, found out that my sister did in fact fight the Legion, and I also learned not to attack her… she got a little too descriptive with the knife fight against some person from a group called the Fiends.Rarity grinned and levitated over her helmet, putting the device on my head, “You don’t have to apologize. I may just be able to stitch together your own Ranger outfit.”I gasped… Me, dressed just like my big sis.I felt the helmet where my bandages were. I even had the scars.