Scattered Harmony

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

Prologue

"Well, this is... unusual." Marcus paced slowly around the smoking crater in the ground. His tesla cannon never did this before, but he found himself liking the change.

It was just about half a mile north of Megaton, and Marcus was fairly sure the blast could be heard all the way to the Jefferson Memorial. He occasionally went to this spot every week or so to test out his weapons, and it was telling from the numerous holes in the ground and the metal casings that littered the spot. Despite his experience with heavy weapons, he was quite impressed with the size of the hole he just made. Even his Fat Man, the gun that shot mini nuclear bombs, hadn't made this big of a crater.

The hole was engulfed in smoke, which was strange, since the Tesla Cannon shot electric ammunition, not incendiary ammunition. Marcus lived in the Capital Wasteland for more than nine years, and one doesn't live in the Capital Wasteland without seeing his fair share of odd things. However, he didn't see any reason why his Tesla Cannon would choose now to become even more overpowered than it already was. He set his large weapon on the ground with care and looked approvingly at it.

Smoke was beginning to clear from the crater, slowly but surely. It was getting dark, but Marcus didn't mind staying out for a while longer, as watching the stars at night made him think. He thought about his parents a lot, and where they might be. He had no semblance of proof that they were even alive, but that didn't bother him. At least, not anymore...

Marcus didn't have much in the way of a camp, so he lied down in the dirt, not worrying about the dust getting in the crevices of his combat armor. After several moments, more of the crater's smoke was drifting away, and the sun set further beneath the hills, making the stars appear where there would normally be a sickly blanket of brownish clouds. It was silent there, just him, his gun, and a crater. Marcus's attention was lost in the stars, but was diverted when he saw a glow out of the corner of his eye. He sat up and turned his head towards the crater, where there was indeed a purple glow emanating, making the smoke directly above it a purple fog. Marcus narrowed his eyes and slowly got to his feet. He inched his way to the crater, watching his step to make sure he didn't fall in. When he positioned himself where he was convinced he couldn't tumble in, he looked over the edge.

The thing making the crater glow seemed to be a star, or more specifically, a star-shaped emblem or jewel. The jewel was attached to a crown. No, not a crown. A tiara. And a golden tiara at that. What struck Marcus's attention more was the head that held the tiara. At least, Marcus was pretty sure it was a head. It could have been a purple blob with ears and eyes, but chances were higher that it was a head.

Although it appeared to be an organism of some kind, it wasn't one he'd ever seen. It had four limbs, like a human, but they were on its underside. Marcus noticed that it didn't seem to have any hands or feet either. This fact could have been more surprising, but he'd seen many raider settlements, and missing body parts were the norm. What surprised Marcus wasn't the missing extremities, but the extra extremity on its head. A small, spiral extension, pointed at the tip, jutting out from just above where its forehead presumably was.

Marcus stared at the... organism for a moment, not very shocked that the wasteland would produce such a thing. What did shock him was the fact that the organism was now groaning in pain. It was fading in and out of consciousness, and the mumbled groans turned into a barely audible "help".

Marcus hesitated no more, and jumped into the crater.

Chapter 1

Doc Church stared at Marcus with a raised eyebrow. He said nothing, but Marcus knew he wanted an explanation, which was completely understandable, given the circumstances.

"Doc, all I can tell you is that I found it in a crater, and it was badly injured. That's all I know. I came straight here after I found it." Marcus put his sunglasses in his pocket and placed his desperado hat on the chair next to his. Marcus was honest, and Doc knew it, but this was a bit too much for the cynical doctor. Doc Church shook his head and glanced at their guest lying on a clinic bed. Several tubes were attached to him/her and a breathing mask sat on its face. By the hair and the general appearance, it seemed to be female, although the gender of an undiscovered species tended to be unpredictable.

"Its vital signs are alright, and minor injuries were easily fixed with some stimpaks and a med-x. And although I'd just love to be satisfied with saving what could be the only unicorn on earth, I have a clinic to run."

Marcus quickly got out a sack filled with jingly objects. "How much?"

"120 bottle caps," Doc Church said before sliding a sheet of paper and a pencil towards Marcus. "and fill out some paperwork."

"Aw c'mon Doc, you've known me for how long?"

"Four years."

"Four years, Doc. We're on first name basis and everything. Do I really need to fill out paperwork so you can remember my name? You're not gettin' that old."

Doc Church gave a snicker, but pushed the paper further towards Marcus. Marcus rolled his eyes and picked up the pencil.

"Fine. I'll fill out the paperwork," Marcus caved, but he was still going to give Doc Church crap about it. "and here, I'll even read it aloud for you, just in case your old eyes can't read my young whipper-snapper handwriting."

With a smirk, Marcus began filling in the spaces on his paperwork.

"Name, Marcus Freeman. Age, twenty-three." Marcus let his smirk grow wider as Doc Church rolled his eyes. Marcus went further, and raised his voice. "Race, African-American. Sex, male. Amount owed, 120 bottle caps. Signature..."

Marcus drew a messy, squiggly line where his signature was supposed to be.

"That good enough, Doc?"

Doc Church looked over the paper. "You forgot to answer where it asks if you're a raider or a slaver."

Doc knew well that Marcus was no slaver, but Marcus took the paperwork and wrote his answer in large letters. He said loudly, "No Doc, I am not a raider. Thank you for asking, though."

Marcus and Doc Church chuckled, but stopped immediately when groaning came from the the patient room. They were staring at the bed occupied by their unicorn guest, neither of them moving or breathing. The purple thing (whose appearance had improved without the burns that covered it before) slowly opened its eyes, prompting Doc Church to approach it slowly. He didn't want it to go into shock on the off chance it was sapient. The creature's eyes finally opened, and after a look around, the unmistakable look of panic was quick to follow.

The purple creature jerked its legs and head roughly, trying to free itself from the tubes and straps that bound it to the bed. Both humans ran over to her, trying to calm her down, but it was to even less avail when she got a good look at them. After a short pause, a panicked attempt at screaming could be heard from under the breath mask, muffling the words. She struggled even harder again against her constraints, but it only served to wear her out. Finally, with a whimper, she gave up the struggle. Marcus and Doc Church stood over her, shushing her and trying to get her to calm down.

The unicorn, as Doc Church called her, looked up at her captors with sorrowful eyes, which quickly turned to an expression of dignified defeat. She must have believed herself to be completely at the mercy of the two humans standing above her, and for all intents and purposes, she was. Marcus tried his hand first at communicating.

"Hey there... friend. Do you understand me?"

The unicorn's dignified expression became a look of shock. Her eyes trailed away from the gentle brown eyes of the man, and looked over at the other man, dressed in doctor's clothes and sporting a kempt white beard. She directed her gaze back at Marcus and nodded her head.

"Wow. God damn." Marcus scratched his chin and gave a small laugh. "She actually understands us."

Marcus tried to think of his next question. What would one even ask a member of a newly-discovered species?

"Hey Doc, what should I ask her next?"

"You should probably make sure she's okay." Church replied as if it was obvious.

"Do you feel okay?" Marcus asked her.

The unicorn did nothing but point to the breathing mask on her muzzle with a hoof.

"Your mouth hurts?"

The unicorn raised an eyebrow and tapped the mask.

"The breathing mask hurts? Is that even possible?"

She rolled her eyes in an admittedly comical way. Doc Church facepalmed and spoke up.

"She wants you to take off her breathing mask, dumbass."

"Oh?" Marcus looked at the unicorn, who nodded her head. "Will that be bad for her health, doc?"

"No, it should be fine. She wont be up and about anytime soon anyway, and so far, she hasn't proved to be a danger to this clinic or the town of Megaton."

"Alright then, let me just get that off for you." Marcus began removing the mask, allowing the unicorn to get a breath of the outside air. To her, it tasted... off.

"Okay, since you can understand us, can you talk to us? I heard you say 'help' when you were in that crater, so I know you know at least one word."

"Yes, I can speak." she said exhaustedly.

Marcus turned his head towards Doc Church and playfully mouthed the words 'holy fuck, she can speak'. Doc rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, intently listening to what their guest had to say.

"Do you have a name... Or better yet, what are you and where are you from?"

"I'm--" the unicorn stopped, as if thinking of how much she should tell them. "I'm a pony. A pony from a country called Equestria. Are you a diamond dog?"

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "A what now?"

"No, you're too well spoken to be diamond dogs. My question for you is: who are you, and why have you kidnapped me?"

"I'm Marcus Freeman and this is Doc Church. We didn't kidnap you. I found you in a crater. You were in pretty bad condition, so I brought you here to be treated."

The unicorn looked past Marcus towards the doctor, who gave a single nod. "Pleased to have you in my clinic."

"Yeah, he's a big softy when you get to know him." Marcus said, earning a small scowl from Doc.

"Thank you for having me, Mr Church, but what exactly are you? I've never seen anything like you two before."

"Well, he's a doctor, and I'm a wandering problem-solver. If you're asking what species we are, we're humans, and you're currently on the nuclear paradise called Earth. Enjoy your stay." Marcus said with a hearty smile.

The unicorn lightened up at the goateed man's humorous nature, but frowned shortly after.

"So, you don't know what Equestria is... or who ponies are?" she asked with saddened eyes.

"No, I'm afraid not."

"And therefore, you have no idea how to get me back there." she already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it confirmed.

"No. I'm sorry."

"I-- I want to get some sleep." she said with a deadpan expression.

"Alright Marcus, you can go home now. She'll rest here for the night." Doc Church started leading Marcus towards the door. Before they exited the clinic, the unicorn called out, "wait, I almost forgot".

The two men turned back to her.

"To answer your question, my name is Twilight Sparkle."

They nodded and walked out of the clinic. Twilight let her head fall heavily on the pillow.

Doc Church closed the door behind him.

"Twilight Sparkle? A unicorn named Twilight Sparkle shows up in my clinic. Simms is never going to let me live this down."

"Doc, I'll take her in."

"I'm glad to see you taking some responsibility, but she should stay in the clinic for a while longer before we figure out what to do with her."

"I know what we'll do with her. We'll get her home." Marcus replied, staring at the clinic door. It was around midnight now, and the town of Megaton was silent, apart from a couple talking night guards near the local eatery.

"How do you plan on doing that? We don't know where Equestria is, and I'm pretty sure you have it in your head that she's from another planet. Otherwise, you wouldn't have mentioned that she was on Earth."

Marcus had to admit it. The idea of an alien was unusual, but his close friend had once been abducted by aliens, and apparently, he took over their spaceship and shot down another ship with a death ray. The truth of that story had to have been twisted more than a pretzel, but still, the idea that an alien would be on Earth isn't too strange. Besides, supermutants look like aliens, but--

Uh-oh.

"Doc, what if she's a product of the FEV virus?"

"You mean, like a supermutant?"

"Kinda, what if she was just a more successful and sane experiment?"

"Hmm. It could be, but nothing that goes into the FEV ever comes out looking like her."

"A modified FEV maybe?" Marcus stroked his black goatee in thought.

"Well, I guess we'll figure it out in the morning, won't we?" Doc stretched his legs.

"Yeah, I guess we will. I'll try to see if anyone around town knows anything about this tomorrow, maybe get her some armor." Marcus stroked his goatee again. Getting armor for a unicorn would be a challenge.

"I'll make sure she stays healthy. Be back here by 10 in the morning." Doc Church opened the clinic door and stepped in, giving a farewell to Marcus.

Marcus returned the farewell and walked towards his house. It was only a thirty-second walk from Doc Church's clinic, just past the undetonated atomic bomb in the center. His house used to be owned by a man named Mister Burke, who worked for Alistair Tenpenny, and was not a respectable man in the moral sense. After his attempt at bribing the Lone Wanderer, Jonathan Marks, into blowing up Megaton, it wasn't long before an angry mob chased Mister Burke outta town. Marcus was away when it happened, but man, how he wished he could have been there to see the bastard run.

He entered his house and closed the door behind him. After a moment of rubbing his temples, he lied down on the bed and closed his eyes. It had been quite a day.

"Sir, the specimen isn't here." a metallic male voice spoke from under the helmet he wore. "The crater is still warm, sir. She may be close by."

A dozen men in heavy power armor patrolled the area immediately around the gaping hole in the ground where the unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle was rescued. The soldiers' armor seemed almost inhuman, much like many perceived their actions as inhuman. A molerat looked curiously up from his meal at the soldiers. One of the men spotted it and fired a bolt of plasma at it, melting it into a viscous green goo.

The officer, dressed in a dust-brown uniform and a black hat, bore a silver insignia on his uniform resembling an oak leaf. Beside the insignia on the front of his uniform were many vibrant-colored ribbons. There was a patch on his uniform with letters that read 'Colonel Redding'. He looked around and turned back to the soldier addressing him.

"There's no way the specimen made it out of here on its own. Not without help."

"What are our orders, sir?"

"We report back to General Autumn that we need more men to capture the specimen. There's a town, just South of here. That's where we'll look first. Get everything packed into the vertibirds. We leave in 0200 hours."

"Yes sir." the soldier saluted and began picking up ammo boxes to be loaded onto the vertibirds.

"Good. General Autumn will be pleased with our progress." The officer looked towards the South, where, far in the distance, Project Purity awaited its masters.

"Autumn's dream for America is nearing fruition. With the specimens, the Enclave will have its redemption. The Brotherhood of Steel will be destroyed, along with their foolish vision of mutants living alongside the pure."

The officer stared at the crater. "And to think the weapon to defeat them with literally fell from the sky."

Chapter 2

Marcus stood in the entrance of his door for a moment, breathing in the morning air that seemed rather pleasant in contrast to the dusty, almost dead-tasting air that would soon prevail when the wind picked up. Ever since Project Purity cleaned the water in the Potomac River Basin, the humidity in the morning air seemed fresh. He was there when Project Purity was finally completed, cleansing the river of radiation. That was where his companion and friend, Jonathan, attempted to sacrifice himself much like his father did, in pursuit of his mother's dream.

Although Jonathan didn't die at the purifier, Marcus could not think of a more appropriate death, carrying the same goal as his father, and falling to the same devices. But Jonathan's road hadn't ended at the purifier, and he was welcomed back as a hero. Marcus didn't get much recognition in restarting the purifier, but Marcus knew he hadn't been the one to sacrifice himself. He wasn't even inside the purifier when it happened, a fact that would torture Marcus in a small way for the rest of his life.

Once satisfied with his morning routine, Marcus trudged along past the bomb and sat down at a bar stool in front of the Brass Lantern. There were two restaurant/bars in Megaton: The Brass Lantern and Moriarty's Saloon. Marcus chose the Brass Lantern because the other one was managed by, in Marcus's words, "a fucking two-faced asshat". In this aspect, "two-faced asshat" means a person who tricks and canives others away from their money. Moriarty, whom the establishment was named after, was also notorious for being a liar, a cheat, and a black-mailer. There was even a rumor circulating that Moriarty urinated in his alcohol stills, laughing maniacally as he did so. If it weren't for his silver tongue and the fact that he kept the townsfolk just boozed up enough to keep him around, the people of Megaton would have run him out of town a long time ago.

Jenny Stahl, co-owner of the Brass Lantern, walked in front of Marcus and asked him how he was.

"You know, surviving. How about you?"

"Alright. Business is good. Leo has been getting over his chem addiction. I wanna thank you again for getting him some of those meds from the West. What are they called?"

"Fixers."

"Yeah, those things. They didn't get rid of his habits, but they definitely helped."

"Glad to hear it."

"So have you seen any interesting things out there in the wastes lately?"

Marcus's thoughts immediately flashed back to seeing the barely-moving Twilight Sparkle in the crater. That same Twilight Sparkle was currently getting remediated in the clinic, though Marcus was not sure whether he should make the presence of an alien species public knowledge. In all truthfulness, Twilight's existence probably wouldn't shock too many people. The Capital Wasteland has given folks more unusual things to gape at than a unicorn.

Suddenly, Marcus felt the urge to skip breakfast and excuse himself from the bar table. He had many more questions for Twilight, and he found that his hunger for practically useless knowledge outweighed his hunger for food. Jenny and Marcus exchanged good-byes, and Marcus made his way to Doc Church's clinic. Doc Church was brilliant, but rigid. Waking him up at this time in the morning would have to have a good reason for being at his clinic, or else Doc Church would give you a reason to be there. Curiosity wasn't an emergency, so Marcus had to hope Doc Church was in a forgiving mood, or perhaps just as curious as Marcus was.

Marcus slowly creaked the clinic door open, and snuck inside. Stepping into Doc Church's small bedroom, which also served as his supply room and terminal room, Marcus could see Doc Church had not waken up. It was okay, Marcus could wait for him to get up. Patience was one of many things he learned hunting raiders down, stalking them for hours-- even days at a time. Then, once the raider party led him to their settlement, the settlement's days were numbered.

Doc Church isn't awake, he thought ,but maybe Twilight is.

Careful not to accidentally wake up their guest, Marcus peeked his head into the clinic's patient room. Although the room's name would imply the presence of patients, he was alarmed to find it devoid of them. What caused a small panic from Marcus was the absence of a certain purple unicorn. The bed she was laying in the night before was empty and the breathing mask hung lazily off the side of the mattress. Marcus wasted no time and sprinted into Doc Church's room. He slammed his fist on the wall of the bedroom, causing Doc Church to jolt up from his sleep.

"Marcus, what the hell do you think you're doing? You better have a good reason for waking me up."

"Doc, it's Twilight! She's gone!"

Twilight Sparkle walked down a dirt path, led at gunpoint by a few of the Humans that seemed to dominate this world. They hadn't told her where they were going, but by the shackles on her legs, she could only assume it was a prison. Twilight wasn't sure what law she could have possibly broken. Breaking out of a clinic, maybe? It didn't seem like much of a crime, but considering the surly demeanor of her captors, she could tell Equestrian law didn't matter much here, along with being explained her rights.

The first thing she noticed about the world outside of the clinic had been a completely strange scenery. Signs of infrastructure were scattered about. Large bridges and cracked billboards seemed to tell of a prosperous society, but the bridges were collapsed in some places and the billboards were tagged with profane slogans. Twilight was smart enough to realize what situation this world was in. She immediately remembered what Marcus told her. "We're Humans. And you're currently on the nuclear paradise called Earth. Enjoy your stay."

"A cataclysmic event had to have occurred in the past; probably decades or even centuries ago, based on the age of the decaying infrastructure. The idea of it being a nuclear event means it could possibly have to do with the sun's radiation." she whispered to herself. She made a mental note to make an actual note of that later.

Unfortunately, she didn't whisper as softly as she thought she did, and one of her guards smacked her upside the head and ordered her to be quiet. Twilight gave a sharp "Ow" and started lecturing the guard on police brutality. The guard looked confused for a moment and then broke into laughter.

"Did you hear this bitch? She thinks we're police." he yelled to the other guards. The other guards began to laugh at their prisoner's ignorance.

"Police? Oh no, little horse, we're not police. But make no mistake about it, you'll be in a cell real soon." said one of the guards in front of her.

"Hey Jack, show her your baton." the guard behind her chuckled.

The guard in front of her, now known as Jack, stretched his groin and said, "Which one?"

The other guards laughed and Twilight frowned at the crude gesture. She was directed further down the path. The path she was on reminded her of the streets of large cities in Equestria, paved with a line painted down the middle.

Though the street she and her captors were on was cracked and worn with age, the hollow metal slabs on the street confused her. She'd seen them many times in her short few hours in the outside, though their purpose was up to guessing. They all seemed to have similar design, and perhaps they once served a purpose to the people who lived here long ago, but now they were just broken, twisted chunks of metal they had to walk around.

To Twilight's disgust, a few of them were adorned with skeletons hanging out of the openings on the sides. Twilight would have asked her guards what the metal things were, but the guards hadn't proved to be the most friendly bunch.

Twilight reminisced over her current situation. Her escape from the clinic wasn't difficult. She simply waited for Doc to fall asleep, and then snuck out the front door. Getting past the guards at the giant gate of the town was only a teleportation spell away. At the time, escaping the clinic seemed like a good idea. She didn't know what to expect on the outside, but she was originally under the impression that if she found the crater that she came out of, she could somehow use the crater to get back. She didn't find the crater, but she did find a larger problem.

It was only 5 minutes outside before she was being chased by a pack of dogs. The sight of the dogs broke Twilight's heart. They looked like they hadn't eaten in days, and their eyes were cold and hard, not unlike timberwolves from the Everfree Forrest. What made her feel terrible was her inability to help them. The only way she could have helped the dogs was to let them eat her. But Twilight quickly decided against that notion. So she ran, and she kept running until she reached a camp full of humans, carrying firearms. The humans quickly disposed of the dogs. Twilight thanked them, and the humans responded by shackling her, and leading her off to wherever she was headed now.

In hindsight, thought Twilight, I probably should have stayed at the clinic.

It was another half hour before she reached their destination: a small group of old, run-down office buildings, guarded by more humans. A gas station stood to their right, and a large cage stood outside. Inside the cage were other humans, not wearing armor, but instead, rags and cheap cloth hung off their bodies. Their decrepit clothing accented their pale, depressed, almost cadaverous faces. Her mind flashed back to seeing the dogs, hungry and weak. Hopefully, these humans wouldn't have the desire to eat her, and maybe they could even help her.

"What do we have here?" a woman walked up to her, holding a small metal object in her hand. The woman smiled evilly at Twilight and observed her through cold, merciless eyes.

"We found her running away from a pack of mutts." one of her armed escorts remarked. "What do you think she is."

"Valuable." the woman smiled. "Those scientists up north in the Commonwealth might pay a nice sum for this little guy."

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. "Guy? I'm a mare. And what do you mean they might pay a nice sum for me? I'm not property."

"That's what they all say." the woman said cruelly, without an ounce of sympathy. "You might defy us now, little horse, but you'll learn to obey us. We own you now, and you'd do well to remember that. Maybe I'll start you off by changing your name. You are now--"

The woman thought for a moment before laughing.

"You are now Little Horse."

The other guards chuckled at what seemed like clever wit to them. Twilight, however, was not laughing.

"Get used to responding by that name from now on, Little Horse."

"My name isn't Little Horse." Twilight said simply. The guards got quiet, but the woman gave a tiny smile and flicked a button on the metal object in her hand.

"What was that again? I didn't hear you the first time."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, not Little Hor-- Ahhh!" shock went up and down Twilight's body as she collapsed to the ground, making her convulse and lose control of her limbs.

The woman removed the taser from Twilight's shoulder and laughed wickedly at her.

"Did you hear that, boys? The unicorn's name is Twilight Sparkle! Where do you come from Twilight Sparkle? Sugar-cunt Candy Land?"

Twilight got back onto her hooves painfully and the woman stopped laughing.

"Woah! Did I say you could get up, Horse?! Get back down until I tell you you can get up!" she gave Twilight another shock with the taser and laughed cruelly at her pain.

She once again removed the taser, and kicked Twilight in her gut. Twilight forced herself not to throw up, but didn't dare get up again. She probably couldn't, even though a large part of her wanted to.

"And that was for rejecting your new name."

The woman then knelt next to Twilight and forced her head into the dirt with a palm. It was humiliating, but Twilight didn't have the strength to kick her off.

"Now, I'll ask you again-- what is your name?"

"Twilight Sparkle." the response was met by a blunt object to the ribs. Twilight winced in pain as the woman repeated herself.

"Let's try again. What is your name?"

Twilight hesitated for a moment. "Twilight Sparkle."

Another blow landed to her side.

"What is your name?"

"Twilight Sparkle." the next blow got a few tears of pain from Twilight.

"What is your name?!"

"Twilight Spar-" she was cut off by another hit to her ribs, emphasized by a sharp snapping sound. A scream of agony escaped Twilight, but the woman only shoved Twilight's head harder into the dirt.

"We can do this all day, Horse! Now tell me, what is your fucking name!?"

"Twi- Twilight Sparkle."

The tauntings and the beatings continued for what seemed like hours. Each time, the woman would ask Twilight what her name was, and each time, Twilight refused to give in. The slaves in the cages were now watching Twilight, a few of them were even cheering for her.

"Tell her, Twilight! Tell that bitch!"

"Make her work for it, Twilight!"

"C'mon Stacy, you're getting embarassed by a unicorn!"

After a few more broken bones, Twilight still refused to cooperate. The cheering from the slaves only angered the woman. She finally lost all composure and began beating Twilight senseless, until the other guards had to pull her off the unicorn to keep the woman from killing her. Twilight coughed up some blood, but couldn't find the energy to wipe away the tears that blurred her vision. She could only imagine how bad she looked at that moment, but if she looked as bad as she felt, she looked pretty damn bad.

The woman who beat Twilight within an inch of her life walked off her blood lust and addressed a guard.

"Take this bitch to cage 7."

The guard complied and began dragging the exhausted Twilight towards her cage. At this point, the slaves in the compound were in uproarious cheer for Twilight's courageous refusal to change herself for the slavers. They chanted Twilight's name, angering the guards. The guards threatened to hit them if they wouldn't calm down, but their threats weren't heeded by the slaves. The guards ignored them, thinking they would fall back into their places soon enough.

The woman walked up to Twilight as she was being carried away, and looked at the unicorn with pure hatred in her eyes.

"My name is Stacy, little horse. But you will learn to call me master."

Twilight didn't have the energy to reply, even if she wanted to. She was thrown into the cage, causing another surge of pain. The guard locked the cage door and walked off, sneering at her. The other slaves in the cage walked up to her and picked her up. Although Twilight wanted to yell in pain, she just couldn't manage more than a grunt. The slaves spoke soothing words to her, calling her the bravest person they'd ever met, and took her over to a soft tuft of hay in the corner of the cage.

One of them used their own cloth garment to soak up the blood on Twilight's coat. It was a little after noon now, and Twilight wasn't sure she would make it through the day. Now that she thought about it, a nap didn't seem half bad. Twilight closed her eyes and let sleep take over.

Marcus and Doc Church walked through the area around Megaton, searching for any clues of Twilight's whereabouts. Doc was more or less concerned about his reputation as a doctor. He hadn't lost a patient before, and he was going to be damn sure he wouldn't lose a patient now. Marcus, however, was more worried about her well-being. Doc Church assured him that she would be fine, but Marcus knew the unforgiving nature of the wastes. Without weapons or armor, one wrong move, and she could be deathclaw food, or a raider's new wall ornament.

Marcus felt a sort of responsibility for Twilight. He had been the one to find her, after all. Plus, helping good people, human or otherwise, was just something he did. He and Jonathan practically made a business out of it. If a town needs help destroying a group of attacking raiders, Jon and Marcus heed the call.

They didn't do it for money or recognition, though they often got both from grateful people who received their assistance. Perhaps it was boredom that brought them to becoming problem solvers for the good of the wastes. Perhaps it was their desire to give people something to believe in. More likely, it was a mixture of both. Marcus had never dealt with a member of another species before, so it was an opportunity to both help someone in need, and to quench his insatiable thirst for adventure.

Doc Church wasn't much good in a fight, but insisted he should be brought along. He also suggested splitting up to cover more ground, but Marcus didn't allow that. The last thing he needed was to have two missing persons to look out for. Marcus brought only his trusty American assault rifle and a few Stimpaks. He called it an American assault rifle because whenever someone says "assault rifle", people assume they're talking about the Chinese version that kicks like a fucking donkey.

Marcus would have brought more firepower, but they needed to travel light. Besides, anything that would require a gauss rifle to kill would have ripped Twilight apart already. That was assuming they even managed to find her, or in likely case, her corpse...

Maybe some supermutants would catch her and put her in a vat of Forced Evolutionary Virus before they could find her. Although his current theory suggested she had already been transformed by FEV, it was very possible she was telling the truth about Equestria. However, it was much more likely that the FEV gave her delusions of a former life in Equestria. Humans lost their memories when they were transformed into supermutants, so the same would apply for Twilight, right?

Actually, becoming a unicorn doesn't sound too bad. I mean, an FEV subject that doesn't try to kill anything that walks? It's almost too good to be true.

Marcus quickly dismissed the thought. FEV transformation was almost always painful, and every subject loses their memory as a side-effect. They also forget everything about themselves in the process. Their names, their family, their friends. They forget it all. It's a terrible fate, no matter what you turned into.

All the more reason to help her...

Doc Church mentioned how hot it was getting, so they stopped and sat on a large rock. Marcus opened his canteen and handed it to Church. After he was done drinking from it, Marcus took a few sips and put the canteen on the belt of his combat armor. Doc Church looked around the rocks and remembered the place. He began telling Marcus a story. Something about a Rivet City prostitute.

About halfway through the story, Church laughed and pointed to a spot ten feet away. "And then she stood over there acting like it was my fault I didn't have any meds for her STD. So I said, you know what, fine! Stay here for all I care. I'm going to Megaton. And I warned her, if she got attacked by a Yao Guai and I wasn't around to save her, it was her loss. But did she listen? Nooooo. She said she could handle herself. I shit you not; a radroach walks out from behind a rock five seconds later and she comes running to me for help." they laughed, but Marcus stopped when he saw something near the spot Church pointed at. Marcus stood up and went to investigate.

"Can you believe that? A fucking radroach." Church finished laughing and continued. "So then we walk to Megaton, and the entire time, I'm thinki--"

"Doc, come look at this."

Doc Church looked confused for a moment, but quickly moved to Marcus, who was busy examining something on the ground.

"Prints. Four sets of them. They're all fresh, I'd say only an hour, maybe more." Marcus looked at another set of prints among the others.

"You're sure?"

"My father taught me how to find Caravans based on the tracks they left."

---____________---____________---

"Alright son, let's play pretend for a bit." a tall black man with a brown desperado said. Marcus looked up from his toy car, confused as to what his father meant. The man smiled. "Come outside with me."

Marcus did as he was told and followed behind. Once they got outside, the man turned to his son.

"Okay Marcus, this is how the game goes. I give you a situation, and you tell me what you'd do. Got it?"

"Okay." Marcus wasn't sure what to expect, but it seemed fun to just go along with it.

"Let's say..." the man took a pause and scratched his goatee. "You're stuck in the middle of nowhere. You find some tracks on the ground. They might be your only way to civilization. What do you do?"

If this is the game, it's not very challenging. Marcus thought.

"Follow them."

"Mmm, but do you know where they go or who made them?"

"You didn't tell me."

"In real life, you'd have to figure out on your own. Here, come with me."

Marcus followed his father to a spot only a quarter mile away. There were indentations on the ground where people had walked before.

"Okay Marcus, can you tell me where these tracks go?" Marcus realized his father was giving him the easy ones first.

"That way." Marcus pointed towards where the boot prints pointed and faded away into the distance.

"But what direction is it?"

Marcus looked up at the sun and did some thinking. "East."

"So, if the tracks are going East, where do you think they're headed?"

Marcus thought for a moment. "Watkinsville?"

"Could be. It might be useful to know who the tracks belong to. Can you tell me that?"

Marcus was now thoroughly stumped. How could he know who made the tracks if he didn't see them?

"Um, the Smiths?"

"Try for something a little less specific. Here's a hint. How many prints are there, and is there any print here that isn't like the others?"

Marcus looked and counted three sets of foot prints, along with a set of what appeared to be hooves...

"A brahmin came through here too!" Marcus jumped up in excitement as if he had just solved the unsolvable.

"And that means..."

"A caravan was here."

"Very good. I'm impressed." his father returned Marcus's smile and bent down closer to the tracks, adjusting his desperado as he did so.

"Now for the challenge. Can you tell me how long ago they were here?"

Marcus found himself once again stumped. He looked closely at the prints, feeling the grooves in the ground made by the bottoms of the caravaners' shoes. He noticed that one pair of footprints wasn't as deep as the other ones. He mentioned that to his father, whose smile quickly turned to surprise. It was clear he didn't expect his son to catch that.

"Well, yes. That's uh..." his father chuckled to himself and stroked his beard. "That's very observant. The two deeper prints are probably the caravan guards, because their large equipment and armor make them heavier. The caravan merchant doesn't need all that equipment, so his footprints aren't as deep. In fact, the depth of the prints can say a lot about who they belonged to, but that lesson will have to wait for another day."

Marcus liked this game. He didn't want it to wait.

"Now are you able to tell me how long ago these tracks were made?"

"No."

"I can't blame you. Even I can't tell exactly when a track was made. But I'd say... around nine hours."

"How can you tell?"

"The edges on the print are a little more rounded than a fresh print. That means the wind has weathered it down."

"Oh. That sounds confusing."

"It can be. It helps to step on the ground next to the print your tracking, to get a sense of how a fresh print should look." His father stepped on the ground next to him and removed his foot.

Surely enough, the caravan prints looked less detailed than his father's print.

"So, knowing everything you know now, if you were stuck in a desert and saw these prints, what would you be able to tell from them, and what would you do?"

Marcus was feeling some pressure, but he had everything already explained to him, so he quickly regained his composure.

"There was a caravan here going East. There are two guards and one merchant... Oh! And a brahmin... They were here about nine hours ago."

"So what should you do?"

"Go East and find the town they're heading to."

His father smiled at him. "Good job, son. You're a fast learner, you know that?"

Marcus turned his head away in slight embarassment.

"Now let's get home. Your mother is probably waiting for us."

The two walked back towards their house when Marcus realized something.

"Hey Dad, you haven't got your turn yet."

Marcus's father almost forgot they were playing a game.

He adjusted his hat once more. "Okay. What's the situation?"

Marcus thought for a second. "If I was alone and lost in the desert, would you come looking for me?"

His father put a hand on his shoulder. "I wouldn't stop looking till I found you."

Marcus couldn't help but to crack a smile. Dinner was probably ready, and they would eat dinner together as a family. The thought made the young boy happy.

---____________---____________---

Marcus stared at his desperado hat for a moment, until Doc Church snapped him out of his daydream.

"Marcus!"

"Huh?"

"Who made the tracks?" Church said, crossing his arms. Marcus put the hat on his head and began examining them.

"Four sets of prints, all moderately heavy. Probably a caravan, telling from the hoof prints... Wait a second."

Marcus focused on the hoof prints. They weren't like normal ones. These were almost perfectly elliptical, though not quite round. He suddenly remembered Twilight's hooves, nothing like a brahmin's.

Marcus began muttering to himself. "But if the hooves belong to Twilight, then who do the foot prints belong to?"

Marcus went through all the options in his head, liking none of them.

"We may have a problem, Doc."

"Is she dead?" Church said sarcastically.

Marcus was about to say no, but considering who she's with, "It's possible."

"The deepness of the prints makes me think they all have armor. That could mean mercenaries."

"Or slavers." Church added. Marcus cringed at the word.

"Let's hope not." Marcus looked in the direction of the prints.

"They were going Northwest, probably past Rivet City. We could ask some locals if they saw anything out of the ordinary."

Doc Church nodded. "Sounds about as good a plan as any."

The two followed the prints towards Rivet City, not knowing how long it would take to reach their destination.

"Hey Doc, remind me to pick up some snacks while we're there."

Chapter 3

"The princess wishes to speak with you immediately." the royal guard opened the door to the bed chamber without so much as a knock.

"Oh joy. The princess wants to speak to me?" Discord feigned surprise. "What ever for, my dear Stonewall?"

The guard's expression remained deadpan. He didn't trust Discord. In fact, when Discord thought about it, not many ponies did.

Still, Discord thought, their hesitation just makes them sooo much more fun to fool around with.

"The princess would not reveal to me the purpose of your audience."

"Princess..."

"Celestia."

"Ugh, well thanks for the warning." Discord let out a yawn. "I suppose I can sit through what I'm sure will be an exciting chat about who the cast of the next Hearths Warming play will be."

Stonewall walked out the door.

"Ooo or maybe we'll enjoy a cup of tea and talk about foreign policy, while I imagine how many nobles I can kick off the Canterlot Mountain in a minute."

Discord snapped his fingers and a watch appeared on his right wrist. "Well, let's get this over with."

Princess Celestia waited for Discord in the throne room. She had told the guards and nobles to leave the room, so it was just Celestia and Luna.

Celestia sat, staring at the wall, clearly more distraught than her sister. Luna was not as upset as Celestia, but she knew the circumstances were dire, especially for Celestia.

"Tia, you are sure that they are gone?"

"I'm sure, Luna. They couldn't have just gone missing."

"Perhaps true, but I urge you not to do anything drastic in the case he isn't involved in their disappearance."

Celestia was going to reply before bright light in the center of the room glowed and expanded before them, forming into the shape of Discord.

"Ah, I see the throne room is still big as always, or maybe it's just the absence of snobbish locals wasting everypony's time." Discord looked away from the stained glass windows in the throne room to see Celestia giving him a scowl.

"Oh, why the long face, Celestia?" Discord's face started to stretch away from the rest of his head. "You're not still mad about the eject button I hooked up to your throne, are you? I mean, come on, those ambassadors sure got a kick out of it."

Discord's face slung back towards his head. "Besides, can you really be mad at me for giving you an excuse to get out of there?"

"That's not why you're here, Discord." Celestia spoke in a low tone.

"Oh?"

"Yesterday, Twilight and her friends were nowhere to be seen in Ponyville, and the Elements of Harmony went missing from the vault."

"Oh my, what a tragedy." Discord responded with a dull expression.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that?"

"Who, me? Of course not. If you're implying I stole them again, you're wrong. And frankly, I'm hurt that you would even suggest I'm the culprit."

"We know you did it, Discord."

"Oh, really."

"You left a note in the Elements' vault, saying 'I hope you don't mind if I borrow these, Love Discord'." Luna spoke up.

"Now that's hardly proof." Discord crossed his arms.

"Discord, you will tell me where they are, or you will go back to being trapped in stone. Understand?" Celestia narrowed her eyes.

"But Celestia, come now. Where is the fun in just telling you?" Discord said with a devious grin.

"You don't think I'd have fun turning you into a statue?"

Discord laughed, catching the princesses off guard. "Please, Celestia, spare me the flatteries. You might have the ability to lock me in stone, but I know for a fact you don't enjoy it."

"Listen Discord, it doesn't matter what I'll enjoy. I want to know where my little ponies are. If you want to test my patience, please, by all means, refrain from telling me." The edge of Celestia's flowing mane seemed to end in flames, and her eyes glowed with a fury bright enough to make the average noble flee in terror.

Discord wasn't impressed, but he didn't want to see how far he could go before Celestia fulfilled her promise. Being trapped in stone was so boring. Finally, Discored rolled his eyes and gave an irritated sigh.

"Ugh, fine Celestia, if you wanna do this the easy way..." Discord materialized a chair and sat down.

"I sent the elements and Twilight's friends to a world inhabited by humans, yadayadayada, they'll start a change of events, accidentally form a new country, ya know, the works. And they'll do some stuff that'll eventually lead humanity to a new golden age, and discover a connection between the human world and Equestria, and everything will be happy funshine for everyone."

Celestia looked unfazed.

"Is that a good enough explanation for you, Celly?"

"You sent them to another world?"

"You learn quick, Celestia."

Celestia seemed to be getting more angry.

"Without asking my permission?"

"I wouldn't be here if I had."

"And what kind of world did you send them to?"

"Uh... well, you know..." Discord rubbed the back of his head. This answer would definitely piss her off, and Celestia could tell.

"Discord..."

"The kind of world destroyed by nuclear holocaust..." Discord gave an innocent smile.

Lyra had just finished playing her last song for the afternoon. She got off the park bench and looked down into her Lyre case. Only four bits sat in the case.

"Man, slow day." she began packing up her Lyre when she heard an earth-shattering noise coming from Canterlot Mountain.

Looking up, she saw a brown speck in the distance. After a few seconds, that speck got bigger and closer, and Lyra instinctually ducked beneath the bench until she heard something hit the ground.

She waited a few seconds for the dust to clear. Before she could react, Discord floated out of a giant hole in the ground, tapping his chin. He materialized a duster that began to clean the dirt off of him, and then began to dance around him.

"I think she handled the news pretty well..."

"Let me guess, Princess Celestia found out you have something to do with the missing elements?" Lyra said, crawling out from beneath the bench.

"Eh, she'll get over it."

Twilight woke up feeling as if she'd been beaten senseless by a psychopathic slave trader.

Oh. Right.

Twilight attempted to rub her eyes, but it hurt her to even lift a foreleg. A groan of pain got the attention of one of the slaves, who came to her aid.

"Don't try to move. You got banged up pretty bad, and I don't know how bad your injuries are under the surface."

Twilight closed her eyes for a few seconds, but even that was painful.

"It shouldn't be too bad." the slave said with a smile. "Besides, you've already proved yourself to be tougher than the average slave." the person helping her was a tall, built man with a scar under his left eye. Despite his rugged appearance, his calm and friendly manner put Twilight at ease.

"Are you able to speak?"

Twilight opened her mouth, but it hurt her chest to try. "Barely."

"Well, that's better than nothing." the man replaced one of the cloth strips that kept her from bleeding out and replaced it with a new one. "I don't think you'll need to introduce yourself. After what you pulled, practically every slave in the compound knows your name."

She knew what he meant by "what you pulled". She was reminded of it every time she took a breath.

"My name is Martin. Been in this compound for two years, so when you get your voice back, feel free to ask me anything."

Twilight nodded her head. She would have shaken one of his hoov-- hands, but she was gladly taking Martin's advice not to move.

"I've gotta be honest with you, Twilight. I haven't seen too many unicorns in these parts. You come from out West?"

Twilight managed to raise an eyebrow at the Human.

"No? Well then, I'm out of guesses. Although if Stacy is selling you to scientists in the Commonwealth, it's probably best you don't stay here."

Twilight didn't like the sound of that. If the scientists were no more civil than these slavers... Twilight decided not to think about it.

"Alright, let's try to get an idea of how bad your condition is. When I touch something, just moan if it hurts."

The man poked her in the side first, earning more than a moan from Twilight.

"Ahh!"

"I'm sorry! Sorry! Oh man, it's worse than it looks. Could be something broken... Sorry."

Twilight already knew there was something broken, but Twilight doubted there was a clinic in this Faust-forsaken compound.

"Here, we'll get you over to Doctor Mayfield."

Twilight stood corrected.

Martin stood up and rushed to the cell's gate door.

"Hey, Jack. Twilight is in bad condition."

The guard scowled and turned towards Martin. "And that's my problem because..."

"If she doesn't get treatment, she could die. If she dies, you don't get paid."

Jack practically growled, "Fine, grab your friend and follow me." he unlocked the door to the cell and held it open.

"Thank you, Jack. You won't regret this."

"Skip the fucking pleasantries and just get the unicorn."

It turned out the clinic was just a small section of the main office building, only about two rooms. Twilight was lying on one of the patient beds. The room was empty except for her.

In her head, Twilight went through all the possibilities of what Doctor Mayfield was like. They ranged from kindly old nurse to sarcastic, cynical doctor with a limp. In a few movies she couldn't watch as a filly, there were crazy scientists who did evil experiments on their subjects, often killing the patients. However, those were only movies. Even though this doctor worked for slavers, he wouldn't risk killing her.

Hopefully.

"A talking unicorn? You're joking." A voice came from outside the patient room door. "Leave me be, Jack. I don't have time for your games. I'm a very busy man."

"It aint' a joke, Mayfield. Go in there and see for yourself."

The voices stopped for a moment, and the door swung open to reveal a middle-aged man in doctor's scrubs. He stood in the door silently for a few seconds and walked into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Well, in my 37 years of medicine, the last thing I'd ever expect to be in my clinic is right here in front of me." the doctor gave a small bow and a smile. "Doctor Mayfield at your service."

Twilight was glad to see that the doctor was more friendly than his slaver companions.

"I must apologize for Stacy's behavior. She's a bit... temperamental, especially when it comes to obedience. But I doubt apologies are going to heal you, so I'll get two-- maybe three stimpaks for you."

Doctor Mayfield went to retrieve some meds from a locked cabinet when Twilight realized this was the second time in only a few days that she'd needed medical attention. Luckily, even in this world, doctors all seemed to be amicable. Twilight noticed Mayfield was a bit shorter than other male humans, but given his age, it wasn't surprising.

"Okay, these might sting at first, but they'll numb the pain and hopefully begin to heal your wounds." Doctor Mayfield injected one of the stimpaks into her chest, followed by two more in her limbs. Twilight was amazed at how fast they began working. The pain in her chest subsided a lot and she could see that a few of her minor cuts were closing themselves up. Doctor Mayfield removed the cloth wrapped around her torso and observed the larger gashes on her side. He reached for another stimpak and injected it into a spot between the two largest injuries, sealing the wounds in mere moments.

Twilight was relieved to be able to raise her forehoof, which she used to feel her hair. It felt messy, and most likely covered in blood.

"Now I've been told you can speak. Is this true?" Doc put the empty syringes in a trash bin and sat down in the bed adjacent to hers.

Deja vu.

"Yes, and thank you for treating me." speaking became much easier after the meds.

"Incredible." Mayfield mused, seeming to ignore the thanks. "I won't lie to you, I'm not sure how your immune system will handle the stimpaks. Though it appears to be healing you even faster than a human."

Twilight observed a single stimpak, making sure to keep the needle away from her eye. "This human medicine is far more ahead of its time than anything on Equestria."

"I'm sorry, Equestria?"

"It's the country I come from. We don't have medicine as advanced as this. Some of us have magic, but even with advanced healing spells, these are much more technologically sound."

"Yes... magic." Mayfield muttered, just now noticing the purple energy that enveloped the syringe Twilight was studying.

"Ah, where are my manners? I haven't even gotten around to asking your name." Mayfield pulled two Nuka-Cola's out of a nearby cabinet and opened them, putting the bottle caps in his pocket, which Twilight thought was kinda weird.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle." Twilight was getting a bit tired of having to re-introduce herself all the time, especially since every human's reaction was about the same.

"Twilight Sparkle. That's... an interesting name. Do all unicorns have names like that?" Mayfield asked nervously, handing Twilight a cola, which she gripped with her magic.

"Names like what?" she replied crossly.

"Oh, listen to me ramble on!" Mayfield dodged. "A unicorn shows up in my humble clinic, and here I am bothering her with small talk."

"It's really no problem, doctor. Actually, I haven't had much time to talk to anybody in this world, at least, not anybody friendly." she said, remembering Stacy's way of welcoming her to their compound.

"Well then, I'd be happy to indulge you in conversation. Also, I'm curious to know what it's like where you come from. That is, if you don't mind talking about it."

Twilight smiled. "Okay, what do you want to know?"

"Tell me about yourself."

"Well, I guess I'll start with when I first became Celestia's student..."

Twilight spent the next hour telling Mayfield about her life in Equestria. She went into great detail telling him about her friends and the adventures they'd had. She told him about Discord and his vows to be less chaotic. She mentioned Chrysalis and her plans to take Canterlot. She even told him about when Luna came to Ponyville on nightmare night. Doctor Mayfield sat listening intensively, occasionally jotting down notes on a piece of paper. She continued telling her story until there was nothing left to tell.

"... and that's how I ended up in your clinic." Twilight finished with a sheepish smile.

"So not only are you a unicorn from another world, it's a world also inhabited by earth ponies and pegasi?"

"And griffins, and zebras, but to explain them in detail, I'd have to go over the entire history of Equestria."

"You're right, that's a conversation for another day." Mayfield gave a small laugh. "I still can't fully grasp the chances that a member of another species lands right here in my clinic. I can't imagine what your friends would say if you told them about our world. Your friend Applejack might think you're a liar."

Twilight smiled, but it quickly became a look of unease. "Mind if I ask you something, doctor Mayfield?"

"Of course, consider it answered."

"You seem like a decent person, Doctor Mayfield. So why do you waste your talent helping these slavers?"

Mayfield paused and looked away from Twilight, swallowing, and finding any way to avoid the question.

"Doctor?"

"It's getting late. You should get some rest." Mayfield said softly, walking towards the door. "Come in tomorrow if you're still feeling bad."

Mayfield walked out of the room, not sparing Twilight a glance. His leave was followed by Jack's entrance. He had a scowl again, which Twilight was convinced was permanently stuck to his face at all times.

"Well it's about fuckin' time. What, were you having a tea party with the good doctor? Actually, don't answer that. Now can you get up or am I gonna have to pick your crippled ass up again?"

Twilight got up from the bed, relieved to be able to stand again. She followed Jack towards her cell, thinking of Mayfield the entire time.

"Doc, I've asked just about everyone on this boat. I haven't gotten a single lead on where she could be." Marcus said, taking a sip of water from his canteen.

"Yeah, same here." Doc Church rubbed his temples in frustration.

Rivet City was the biggest population center in the capital wasteland. It wasn't the average shacks-and-collapsed-buildings settlement that you'd find anywhere in the wastes. Rivet City was a beached aircraft carrier from before the Great War. The bow of the ship was severed from the rest of the ship at some point, but most of the carrier still remains to this day, although rusty and creaky. Scientists moved into Rivet City first, followed by other people who wanted shelter inside the ship. A couple decades later, Rivet City would grow to be the most populous settlement in the wasteland of DC. And yet, even with it's population, Church and Marcus couldn't find a single person who knew Twlight's whereabouts.

"You know what, Doc. Maybe we should just keep on following the tracks tomorrow morning. We've wasted too much time here. There's no telling how far she's gotten ahead of us."

"To be honest, we probably should have done that earlier." Doc gave a yawn.

"No. If we kept blindly following those tracks, they could have led us right into a trap. But seeing as how nobody here saw anything, we have no choice."

"Well then, if we're done standing around being useless, we should rent a room here for the night."

"Good idea. You have any bottle caps on you?"

Doc Church's eyes widened. "I thought you were bringing money."

"I was in a rush to get my gear, so I left the caps at home. I thought you were bringing some."

"You're the one who makes hundreds killing raiders. I'm just the town doctor."

Marcus sighed. "Well, what now?"

"I guess we're sleeping outside tonight."

Marcus thought for a second. "The Jefferson Memorial is less than ten minutes away. You think the Brotherhood of Steel will let us bunk at Project Purity?"

"They might let you bunk there. You and Jonathan are the Brotherhood's little helpers, after all. What am I to them?"

"You're in an even pissier mood than usual, aren't you, Doc." Marcus grinned.

"Hasn't been what you'd call a great day."

Marcus and Church proceeded to leave Rivet City, crossing the metal bridge to the docking platform further inland. They reached the platform and were about to head to the Jefferson Memorial when they were stopped by a squatter resting on the platform.

"Hey, I heard two guys were asking around here for a unicorn. You wouldn't happen to be those two guys, would ya?"

"Yeah, that's us." Marcus said. "You know anything about the unicorn?"

The squatter gave a laugh. "And here I thought I was going crazy when I saw it. Yeah, I've seen your unicorn."

"Great. Can you tell us where they're going?"

"You sure you wanna know?"

Doc Church stepped up. "Look, we don't have time for guessing games. If my patient is out there, I wanna know where."

The squatter looked between the two. "You ever heard of a place called Greenville?"

"Damn it." Marcus dropped his head. "That's exactly what I was afraid of."

"I know where that is." Church said.

"Then you know how unlikely it is that you're gonna see your unicorn friend again."

"Church, they must have gotten there hours ago. We don't have much time." Marcus said, digging in his bag for something.

"I know. But we can't just charge in guns blazing, even though I'm sure you'd enjoy it."

"Damn right I would."

"So, since I gave you some information, maybe you could..." the squatter said passively.

"Of course." Marcus pulled a water bottle out of his bag and handed it to the man. "For your troubles."

"Pleasure doing business with you." the squatter said, prompting Marcus and Church to walk Northwest, away from Rivet City.

"Marcus Why exactly are we heading this way? Greenville is the other way." Church asked impatiently.

"We have to go back to Megaton."

Church sighed. "Why?"

"We'll need more than the two of us if we're going to take on the Greenville slavers. We need to bring Jonathan with us."

Church let out a grunt. "Remember when I said that going in guns blazing is a bad idea? Yeah, that's exactly why we shouldn't bring Jonathan."

"He might not be the most subtle person in the wastes, but he's a hell of a fighter. If anyone can get in there and get out with Twilight safe, it's him."

"All I'm saying is that we're going to need a plan, a good one. And Jonathan... well, let's just say plans aren't his strong suit."

"He'll do fine. Give him a chance."

"Whenever I give him a chance, he ends up in my clinic. I have nothing against his motivations, but recklessness won't work here."

"What makes you think he'll be reckless?"

Church thought for a mere couple seconds. "Remember that time he kept jumping off the walking platform outside Craterside Supply trying to break his own legs, all because Moira wanted to do tests on him?"

"Oh... yeah. That."

"And that's what we're bringing along with us."

"He'll do fine. I trust him with my life."

Church raised an eyebrow. "That's good, because I can guarantee your life will depend on if we do this right."

"Always good to see the optimist hiding behind that veil of cynicism, Doc."

"Don't get too used to it."

The two humans wasted no time when they arrived in Megaton. Making their way to Jonathan's house, they knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Despite Church's hopes that he wasn't home, the door opened and a brown-haired man, only slightly shorter than Marcus, walked out. He took a sip of Nuka Cola and smiled at his visitors.

"Hey. Marcus, Doc. What's up?"

"We don't have much time to explain. Get your armor, some guns, and some money." Marcus said, glancing at Church on the last needed material. "We'll leave as soon as your ready."

Jonathan looked surprised for a moment and finished off his Nuka Cola. "Alright. Give me a minute, I'll be right out."

He closed his door, leaving Doc and Marcus outside. Only a few seconds later, the door swung back open.

"On a scale of one to ten, how much ass will we need to kick?"

Church replied quickly. "Eight."

"Oh... I'll bring my power armor." he said, closing the door again.

"... That's why we need you to help us save her."

"I believe it." Jonathan said, taking Marcus slightly by surprise.

"That easily?" Marcus replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't think you would have brought me out here if it wasn't serious."

They trio were only ten minutes out of Megaton, and Marcus had finished explaining who they were on the search for.

"And if Doc Church is in on it too, I know it isn't a joke." Jonathan smirked, but Church didn't pay him any mind.

"And I'm guessing you've heard of Greenville, right?"

"Yep. And if Twilight is being held there, we've got our work cut out for us."

"Nothing we can't handle though." Marcus grinned.

"Well, maybe us two, but uhh... is Church gonna wait outside or something?"

Church looked up at him inquisitively. "And why would I have to wait outside?"

"No offense, Doc, but you don't strike me as the fighting type."

"You'd be surprised, Jonathan." Church remarked. "Besides, if my plan goes accordingly, there might be a chance to do this without much fighting at all."

"Alright, that works. Let's hear it."

"Okay, if I'm correct, there should be a medium-sized shack just to the West of the main compound. That's where they keep their extra munitions. It'll be heavily guarded, so we need to kill them from a distance and go in undetected. In the shack, there should be explosive charges. Set them, take the detonators, and we'll make our way to the South end of the compound. There should be a small opening that will let us in. Detonate the explosives, that will give a good distraction while we sneak into the compound. When we're in, we make our way to the holding area, over near an exposed gas station. Cover me while I get Twilight out of her cage. After we get Twilight, we get the hell out of there as fast as we can before the distracted guards realize what's happened."

Marcus and Jonathan both stared at Doc Church in awe before Jonathan spoke up.

"I like it. But one question: how can we keep from being spotted when we get to the holding area?"

"We can't. Things are gonna get messy from that point on. Hopefully, the distraction will be enough to keep most of the guards off our backs."

"What about the other slaves?" Jonathan added. "We can't just leave them there."

"I agree." Marcus joined.

Doc Church sighed. "This is already looking like a suicide mission. We have to get in and out quick if we're gonna get Twilight to safety. Besides, the slaves wouldn't make it. The slavers would just gun them down."

"We have to try." Marcus stared at Church.

Church looked away. "Fine. I can't promise anything, but we'll do what we can for them."

"Good man." Jonathan replied with a smile.

"Wait, we're stopping by a munition supply shack, right?" Marcus asked rhetorically. "Why don't we bring some of those guns with us into the compound. Give the slaves something to fight with."

Doc Church scratched his chin. "That just might work."

"Armed slave rebellion... Sounds a lot like the Pitt, huh?" Jonathan asked Marcus with a smirk, returned with a laugh from Marcus.

"Oh man, how long has it been, four years? I can still remember the look on your face when you saw that the trog cure was actually a baby."

"I dunno. But I do remember you pissing your pants whenever a trog would jump out at you." Jonathan shot back.

"Tough talk coming from the guy who's afraid of radroaches."

"I'm not afraid of them, I'm just creeped out by them. Especially that little noise they make when they walk." Jonathan scowled at the thought.

Marcus chuckled at his friend's discomfort. There were a few minutes of silence before Marcus realized something that dismayed him.

"Doc, how is it that know so much about the Greenville compound?"

"Because..." Doc Church took a moment to answer, weighing the consequences of his words. "Because I'm the only person to have ever escaped Greenville alive."

Chapter 4

It was early morning. The three men walked through the barren wastes, at least five hours from their destination. Doc Church and Marcus packed light, while Jonathan looked more or less like a tank, armed with a minigun and bearing full power armor, exluding the helmet.

"Wait a minute. You escaped Greenville?" Jonathan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's what I said."

"I never knew you used to be a slave, Doc." said Marcus.

"Why do you think I never told anyone what I did before coming to Megaton?"

"That makes sense." Marcus took a sip from his canteen. "But why would you need to hide that?"

"I was ashamed."

"Ashamed? I don't get it."

"Ashamed that I didn't escape sooner, and that I only brought myself." Church said in a flat tone, not hinting at any emotion.

"Oh. That's not really something to be ashamed of. By the way you talk about Greenville, you're lucky you got out at all." Jonathan said, remembering Church's hesitation to accept their plan of helping the other slaves escape.

"Maybe. It doesn't matter. Right now, we have to focus on getting Twilight out of Greenville."

Marcus and Jonathan nodded in agreement. A few minutes of silence passed before Jon spoke up again.

"So, Doc. If you didn't want people to know about you escaping Greenville, why tell us now?"

"There's a good chance that when we go into Greenville, we're not getting out. If that's the case, I thought I'd let you two be the first-- and last, to know."

"Well that's flattering and all," Marcus smirked. "but it's not necessary. We're gonna free those slaves, and we're gonna get outta there. Simple as that."

"He's right. In fact, when we get back to Megaton, drinks are on me."

Marcus stopped him. "Sounds good. Just not at Moriarty's."

"Fair enough." Jonathan shrugged. "Man, I can't wait to give those slavers hell."

"In six hours..." Church added.

"Yeah." Jonathan sighed, pressing some buttons on his pip boy. "I'll put on some music."

"Hey Twilight, wake up." a voice called out through her half-asleep brain.

"Spike, leave me alone." she mumbled, covering her face with a foreleg.

"Spike? No, my name is Martin, remember?"

"Martin... Martin?" Twilight shot up from her sleep. She rapidly looked around her, confirming her fears. "So it wasn't just a bad dream."

"Nope. Sorry. But if it helps, Doctor Mayfield worked wonders. You look a lot better than you did before."

She remembered her condition going into Mayfield's clinic, and how those human medicines fixed her up in only a few moments. She rubbed her eyes and waited for them to adjust to the sun.

"I overheard Stacy talk to a guard." Martin said, making Twilight slightly nervous. "She said a science lab in the Commonwealth is interested in buying you, my guess is for study."

"Is that bad?"

"Depends. Some might just wanna ask you questions. Others might wanna dissect you. Luck of the draw, but to be safe, we should get you out of here."

Twilight didn't like the sound of being dissected. "But how? And what about the others?"

Martin smiled, a smile somewhere between caring and mischievous.

"The other slaves in the compound, Twilight, they look up to you. You didn't give up your name, and that gave them hope, something you don't see a lot of around here."

Twilight didn't understand the importance of what she did. She hadn't realized how much of an impact she made. All she did was take a beating, not one of her most impressive feats, considering everything she did in Equestria.

Martin leaned in and talked quietly. "I talked to Mayfield when you fell asleep. He asked me to let you see him this morning. Twilight, he knows a way out. He knows how you can escape. How we can all escape."

She wasn't sure what to feel about that. Getting out of this place should make her excited, but she knew it couldn't be as easy as that.

"So Mayfield will give us a plan to get out?"

"He knows Greenville better than most of us, and we can trust him. I know it. You need to talk to him. He'll give you the plan, but you have to be the one to carry it out."

Twilight was confused. "But why me? I just got here."

"Because these guys will follow you." he motioned to the other cages with his hand. Twilight noticed almost every slave in the holding area was watching them talk.

"You can make them fight, Twilight. You can unchain them."

Twilight thought for a moment. She didn't know how she got it this situation, but she couldn't find it in herself to disappoint these people. She knew she had to help them find freedom. It was what Celestia would want her to do...

"So what do you say, Twilight Sparkle? Will you help them?"

"Give me some time to talk to Mayfield."

Martin smiled widely, as if he wasn't expecting to hear that answer. "Okay. I'll get you some time. Just lay on the ground again, and follow my lead."

Martin straightened up his face and walked to the locked cage door, giving Twilight a wink.

"Hey!" he yelled at a nearby guard. The guard narrowed his eyes and walked over.

"What do you want?"

"Twilight's looking bad again. I think she's sick."

"And?" the guard crossed his arms.

"She needs to see Mayfiled. For all we know, her disease could be fatal, or even contagious."

The guard shook his head. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

"She's a unicorn. It might be a virus we've never seen before. If that's right, we're not immune, and we could all catch it."

Twilight caught on to Martin's trick, and began moaning.

"See? If an entirely new virus is here, who knows how fast it could spread. It could kill us all in a matter of hours. She needs to see Mayfield."

The guard looked over at Twilight. She was smart, and used a spell to make water dribble out of her eyes. It was a simple spell she used in Equestria when she considered acting as a career. The spell would make fake-crying easier, and the spell was easy enough to use that her horn hardly glowed at all. Right now, she was combining the spell with another that changed the color of things. She was using it to turn the fake tears red.

"Holy shit, she's bleeding from her eyes!" Martin yelled. "C'mon, man. She's gotta see Mayfield!"

The guard stared wide-eyed at Twilight. "Okay, okay, I'll let her out. Jesus, that's gotta suck."

Twilight was surprised to hear any kind of sympathy from a slaver. The guard unlocked the door and threw Twilight over his shoulder, running her over to the clinic.

Another guard closed the cage door. Martin took a step back, admiring their quick thinking. He didn't know how Twilight did that bleeding eyes thing, but he assumed it had something to do with her being a magical unicorn. The guard never suspected a thing.

Martin laughed a little to himself. He hadn't known freedom for years, and to think he was so close...

Martin inhaled a long, deep breath, as if the smell of the air had gotten infinitely better now. "It's gonna be a good day."

The door shut when the guard left the clinic. He looked like he was going to be be sick. After he left, Mayfield raised an eyebrow at Twilight.

"Fake isn't it?"

"What, the blood?" Twilight smiled, using her magic to get rid of the liquid on her face. "Yep."

"Smart. What did you tell him?"

"Martin convinced him I was sick with a disease that humans aren't immune to."

Mayfield looked surprised. "And he fell for it? If anything, you getting sick would indicate a disease native to our world that you're not immune to. Although I can't say Delwind is the smartest man I've ever met."

"Delwind? That's the guard who brought me here?"

"Indeed. He's one of the nicer slavers, though that doesn't mean much, I suppose."

"It means something." Twilight responded. It was refreshing to see a slaver with some semblance of a conscious, other than Mayfield, of course.

"Yes. But I assume you're here for more than conversation." Mayfield leaned in, prompting Twilight to whisper.

"Martin told me you have a plan to free the slaves here."

"Is that so?" Mayfield sighed. "Only partially true. We can free one slave, Twilight. That one is you."

"But... Martin said you had a plan."

"I do. But I can't get more than a few people out of Greenville without alerting the guards. And once they're out, the slavers are going to expect I helped. They'll have an eye on me at all times."

"There has to be a way."

"I'm sorry, Twilight. But I can't get everyone out. You have to be the one to go."

"No. If I wanted to leave, I could have teleported out yesterday. I stayed because it wasn't right to leave them behind." Twilight stomped a hoof to the ground. "We have to help them."

"I'm sorry, but there's no way to sneak them out."

"Then let them fight."

"With what? They don't have any weapons. They can't possib--"

"We'll find a way to get them weapons. But we're not leaving them here." Twilight stared at him, not backing down.

"Okay, Twilight. I can't guarantee I'll be able to do anything, but let me think."

Doctor Mayfield sat back in his chair, and thought for a few minutes. Twilight sat patiently, never taking her gaze away from Mayfield.

"I know where they can get weapons." he said flatly. Twilight's face lit up.

"Really!?" she asked, giving a smile almost as big as the rest of her face. Mayfield looked surprised, and she quickly straightened herself. "I mean-- good. Where?"

"There's a building outside of the compound. Only myself and the other slavers know where it is. I'll take weapons from there and put them in another building, most likely the gas station. After I do that, I'll sneak into Stacy's room and steal her master key. Once, I do that, this plan has to go through all the way,or she'll figure us out. When I steal her key, I'll open the cages, and you'll grab the guns from the gas station. From there, I wish you luck. The slavers will be on you the entire time."

"I can use my magic to protect the other slaves."

"Good, you'll need it."

Twilight nodded her head, liking the plan. "So when are we doing this?"

"I'm not sure how much time we have. It'll have to be today."

"Today..." Twilight thought out loud. She was ready, but she thought she'd have more time to prepare.

"Yes. Now you should get back to your cage, tell the others."

"Will do."

"Good luck."

"Same to you." Twilight stood up and walked out of the clinic, escorted by the squeamish guard. He took her out of the main building, towards her cage, where the other slaves, including Martin, were waiting patiently for her return.

The guard locked her cage and walked away. Martin and another man, who was about a foot shorter than Martin, stepped up to her.

"Twilight, this is Adam. He's an ex-mercenary. He tells me he's a good shot, so he's gonna cover us when we free the rest."

Adam stuck out a hand, which Twilight shook with a smile. "You've come at a good time, Twilight. The slavers here have been thinned out ever since their scouting parties started getting attacked out in the wastes. The time for rising is now."

"Mayfield certainly thinks so. It's happening today."

"Today?" Martin said, eyes wide. "We'll barely have time to tell the other slaves about the plan."

"Well then, we'll tell as many as possible, and the others will have to improvise." Adam said, stretching an arm.

"I don't know when it's going to happen, but I know what to do when it does."

"That'll have to do." Martin sighed. "So what's the plan?"

Twilight looked around to make sure a guard wasn't listening. "Okay, first, Mayfield is gonna unlock our cage..."

"General Autumn, you wanted to see me?" Colonel Redding walked into an office room, closing the door behind him. The Enclave General sat at a large desk in the middle of the room, a large Old World American flag hanging on the wall behind him.

"Yes. I've already received your message. One of the specimens could be in the town of Megaton. You requested more troops to deal with it."

"Yes sir."

"And why is that? Because a bunch of locals are a force to be reckoned with, or are you afraid of something bigger?"

"Sir, Megaton is in the DC area, only a few miles from the Brotherhood of Steel's Citadel. If they get wind of our attack, they could send troops to stop us."

"Mmm, I see. I understand your unease, Redding, but have some faith. The Brotherhood of Steel is too busy expanding to worry about us. They still think we're dead. A small group will be sufficient to take out Megaton, so long as we have the element of surprise."

"Yes sir."

"Good. I'll give you three vertibirds and however many soldiers you need to accomplish your mission. You are dismissed."

"Wait. Sir, can I ask you something.?"

Autumn raised an eyebrow. "You can certainly ask. There's no guarantee that I'll answer."

"Yes sir. What's the status on the other specimens?"

Autumn smiled and leaned back in his chair. "We learned more from one of the specimens than I believed we ever could. We didn't even need to threaten it before it told us everything about the others."

"That's good news, sir."

"Indeed. What's strange is that it told us with a smile on its face. Not an arrogant smile, but it was almost like the specimen was having fun."

"That is strange, sir."

"Yes, but it doesn't matter. We now know what and where the other specimens are. There are six, all carrying a different 'element of harmony', as they call them. The specimen that gave us this information told us about the elements: objects wielding enough power to wipe out evil, and leave behind purity." Autumn turned towards the flag hanging on his wall.

"Think about it. Objects that put the Garden of Eden Creation Kits to shame. Objects that can take the chaos out of this land, and give the Enclave the place in this world it deserves. It gives a man pause."

Colonel Redding nodded. "Sir, do we know how to use the elements?"

"No, but the specimens do. They're the only ones that can use it, which means we have to retrieve them before they're killed."

"Yes sir. I'll bring back the specimen from Megaton safely." the Colonel saluted at attention.

"Good. And remember, we can't leave any evidence in Megaton that gives hint towards our goals. Burn down their buildings, and make sure nobody escapes."

"Yes sir."

"Oh, and as you might know, Jonathan Marks and his accomplice are residents of Megaton. Expect a fight from them."

"Jonathan Marks, sir?"

"The Lone Wanderer, as some people call him."

"Yes sir, I remember now."

"Then you know he and Marcus Freeman are to be shot on sight. Both are in the Brotherhood, and they have both committed atrocities against the Enclave."

"Yes sir, we'll make sure they pay."

"Excellent. You are dismissed, Colonel. Assemble your troops, and head out as soon as you are able."

"Yes sir."

Colonel Redding left the room, leaving General Autumn by himself. He sat at his desk and logged into the Enclave records using a terminal. He found the file labeled "places" and selected the town of Megaton. A small picture of the town sat under the coordinates and the word "inhabited".

Autumn scrolled down the screen and went into the "Status change" tab. He pressed another button, and the word above the picture changed suddenly from "inhabited" to "destroyed".

The General logged off, sat back in his chair, and smiled.

"Yes sir, we'll make sure they pay."

"Excellent. You are dismissed, Colonel. Assemble your troops, and head out as soon as you are able."

"Yes sir."

Discord tapped the mirror with a talon, making the image of the General fade away, leaving Discord's reflection staring back at him. The mirror was the only way he could see into the Human's world, and he wasn't pleased with what he saw.

"The Enclave. Of course the Enclave found them." Discord grunted to himself.

"Celestia is going to have my head for this, Pyro." Discord said to his pet phoenix, making his head float off his body. His head started floating around his body, and his body began flailing its arms, apparently searching for its head. The phoenix looked up at its master.

"I need to come up with a plan." A floating white glove materialized and began scratching his chin. The God of chaos wasn't much for plans. If he had the ability, he would make the Enclave soldiers' armor start dancing on its own, meaning the soldiers would be vulnerable. Unfortunately, he couldn't interfere with the human world from Equestria. Not any more than he already had by sending the elements there.

The elements got sent to where they needed to be, and with exception of the Enclave, everything was going smoothly. However, the Enclave would be a big obstacle. Discord hoped Marcus and Jonathan were as good at what they do as the voice in his head said they were.

Putting the elements and their bearers in the human world was easy enough, but directing them was out of his control. He needed someone or something to make sure the elements got to where they needed to go. He needed someone Celestia wouldn't miss.

A lightbulb materialized above his head and flashed on. Discord turned to face his pet phoenix. "Pyro. My dear, sweet Pyro. How would you like to travel between worlds and be the elements' noble guardian, killing any and all that stand in your way?"

The phoenix was confused, and shook his head. Discord knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"Fine, what do you want?"

The phoenix nudged Discord with a wing and winked.

"Let me guess, a female phoenix?"

Pyro cooed and ruffled his feathers.

"I suppose I can ask Celestia if she'll let Philomena stay here for the night. I'll sleep in another castle room."

Pyro looked satisfied, holding a wing in front of his face and smelling his breath. Discord snapped his talons and a mint appeared in front of Pyro, which the phoenix happily took.

"Now when I send you to the human world, your going to have to get used to things trying to kill you. I'll do some spells that will make you bigger, stronger, and more... firey. You'll have to keep at a distance until they need your help, and then make sure they get out with most of their limbs."

Discord massaged his forehead and sighed. "Since when did I start trying to save the elements of harmony?"

"Coo coo cooo."

"Yes, I know I'm trying to reform myself."

"Coo coo. Coo coo?"

"Of course there's a reason why I sent them there. If I wanted to take the throne for myself, I would have done it by now."

"Coo. Coo coo coo."

"I guess you're right." Discord grunted. "I hate when you're right."

"Coo."

Discord floated towards the door. "Okay. I'm gonna go have 'fun' with some guards. I'll get Philomena on the way. Be back in an hour."

Pyro watched his master float out of the door and close it behind him. A few seconds later, the phoenix heard his master yell from outside of the room. "Since when did I start using doors! Agh!"

Pyro rolled his eyes.

Chapter 5

"Helloooo wasteland! It's another beautiful day in post-apocalyptic DC! And this is 3-Dog, waking you up with a healthy plate of music, and a refreshing cup of the latest news."

Jonathan had been playing Galaxy News Radio from his pip-boy for a few hours, but all they'd been hearing was music. Marcus snapped to attention at the sound of the DJ's voice.

"Hey, that's 3-Dog. Turn it up."

Jonathan did as he was told and turned a dial on his pip-boy.

"Alright, ladies and gents, I'll start you off with some relatively normal news... relatively."

"Like anything that happens out here is normal." Jonathan remarked.

Marcus replied. "Shut up, I can't hear it."

"A couple nights ago, some shadowy, hulking figures were spotted just North of Megaton. The man that saw them says he saw smoke coming out of a big hole in the ground. The figures were apparently patrolling around it, almost like they were looking for something. Who could the figures be, you ask? Supermutants? Mercenaries? Enclave ghosts coming back to haunt us? Your guess is as good as mine, but if you happen to be traveling through there, I suggest caution."

Church looked at Marcus. "Didn't you say you found Twilight in a smoking crater north of Megaton."

"It must be the same hole. But why would anyone be searching it?"

"And now for a bit of stranger news."

Jonathan interrupted. "It's a mystery, I guess. But hold that thought. There's more."

"It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a unicorn!"

"You're fucking kidding me." Marcus face-palmed.

"You heard right, people. A unicorn has graced our humble little wasteland with its presence. At first, I thought it was a joke, but more and more people started reporting it in. I don't have much more information, since the people that saw her also saw she was being escorted by slavers, making their way down south. Well, if this is true, and a unicorn is being held captive by slavers, then I hope that unicorn can hold her own, maybe throw them a few magic death rays and save us all the trouble.

"Well, that's all for now, kiddies. We'll have more news comin' atcha faster than you can say 'magical unicorn'. But first, here's Louis Armstrong with 'What a Wonderful World'. You got that right, Louis."

The song began playing and Marcus started to hum along.

"Magic death rays?" Jonathan remarked. "If Twilight has those, she might not even need our help."

"Even if she had a magic death ray, I don't think she'd use it unless she was forced to." said Church.

"Doc is right." Marcus stopped humming. "I spent some time with her. She's definitely not violent, or else she would have killed the slavers by now."

Jonathan shook his head. "Don't be sure of that."

"Trust me. Twilight wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Hey! Get back in your fucking ca--!" the slaver was interrupted by a blast of energy from Twilight's horn, sending him flying into the building behind him. Another guard raised her gun at Twilight, and Twilight responded by magically ripping the gun out of her hand and hitting her across the head with it.

"Damn it! C'mon, we gotta get those weapons!" Adam yelled, directing the other slaves from cage 7 to the gas station behind their cage. There were only about eight of them, and they each took an assault rifle from the gas station, except for Martin, who grabbed a 10 millimeter pistol. Twilight didn't like the idea of killing people, but she was also partial to living, so she took hold of a sub-machine gun with her magic and loaded in some ammo. After they were all armed, the cage 7 slaves exited the gas station. They were immediately met with four slavers aiming their rifles at the slaves.

One of the slavers taunted. "Get ready to die, motherfuc--"

A bullet from Adam's gun went through the head of the slaver. The other three slavers looked down at their comrade's body in shock. The slaves took it as their cue to fire, killing the other three. Twilight didn't shoot a round.

"Twilight, me and Adam will cover you. Use your magic to break the locks on the cages. It's faster than using a key." Martin said, watching the buildings for more slavers.

"Good idea." Twilight ran towards the nearest cage, cage number 8.

"The rest of you," Adam yelled. "cover the others when they run to get weapons! If you need ammo, pick it off the dead slavers. And most importantly, don't die!"

Twilight was happy to take Adam's advice. She wasn't intent on killing anyone, but she wouldn't let the slavers win on account of her squeamishness. Besides, she's handled a gun before... five years ago, for twelve minutes. And she did a really good job of hitting the dirt mound behind her targets.

Twilight decided to focus on the cages and keep shooting to a minimum. The locks weren't hard to break, and she was on the third lock when she heard gunfire behind her. The slavers already brought reinforcements. The slaves were fighting back, but it seemed the slavers were shooting from the windows of the building across the street. A bullet twanged on the ground beside her, making her jump. She quickly regained her composure.

Come on, Twi, just focus on the lock. she thought to herself, concentrating her energy and shattering the lock. The slaves in the cage rushed to get weapons from the gas station. Most of them, anyway. A couple sat cowering in the corner. Twilight didn't have time to worry about them. She moved on to the next cage, guarded by Martin and Adam.

Twilight was halfway done with releasing all the slaves. She had been to busy to see how the fight was going down. As far as she knew, the slaves were only barely holding the slavers off. The parking lot of the gas station was nearly devoid of cover. Some of the slaves ducked behind benches closer to the road, but that made the slaves coming out of their cages vulnerable until they got to the gas station.

A slaver came around the corner, but didn't get far before being hit with a blast of magical energy. A few seconds, and the next lock was broken. The slaves from that cage rushed out, but before they were all free, the last one caught a bullet to the chest. His tattered clothes weren't enough to stop any kind of bullet penetration. The man fell to the ground with a sickening thud, instantly killed.

Twilight stared at his corpse, unable to move or speak. Some of the blood ended up on Twilight's face, but she didn't notice. Interesting, she didn't even hear gunfire anymore, like she turned down the volume on the world. In fact, she wasn't thinking anything at all, just staring at him, not sure what to do or think. The first thing she did--when she was able to do anything-- was hope it was painless.

"Twilight, come on!"

"Hm."

"Come on, he's dead! I'm sorry, but we need to get the others!"

"Others." she replied absent-mindedly, not taking her eyes away from the body.

Twilight was taken out of her moment of confusion when Martin started shaking her violently.

"Snap out of it, Twi! I'm sorry he's dead, but if we don't release the others quick, there are gonna be a lot more like him!"

Twilight's mind cleared up. Her senses returned to her, and she remembered she still had a job to do. The lives of these slaves still rested on her.

"You're right, let's go!" Twilight yelled back, running towards the next cage.

"We can't move! We're pinned down here!" Adam yelled, peeking over his cover, and ducking back down fast enough to avoid the volley of bullets that flew at him. The slavers were shooting from the ruined 8-story building across the street, keeping the slaves behind cover until reinforcements could flank them and decimate the lot of them.

Eight cages. That's how many they'd had to open. As it was, their small group of slave rebels equaled up to about 67. Not bad, considering the circumstances. But that number went down every time an unfortunate slave popped his head out and caught a bullet from a slaver. Twilight already worked it out in her head. If they were to have any chances of success, they'd need a spot to defend. The gas station wasn't good enough. She needed to ask someone who knew Greenville well.

"Martin!" Twilight yelled, trying to speak over the sound of gunfire. Martin turned his head towards Twilight. "Where is a good place to defend if they send reinforcements?"

"Well... The plaza, I guess! Lots of cover in all directions, easy maneuverability... Why?

"Because we're gonna get crushed if we don't get out of this spot!"

"She's right." Adam spoke up. "We're sitting ducks out here! We need to get to a more fortified position!"

"Alright, that sounds fine to me. Everyone!" Martin yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping most of the slaves could hear him over the fighting. "Move to the plaza! We'll give you suppressing fire until you're out of their distance!"

Only the slaves closest to him heard his order, but it was a start. Martin turned his head towards Adam, counting down from three, and they nodded.

"Covering fire!" Adam yelled. Twilight, Martin, and Adam stood up and began shooting their guns at the building. A group of about ten slaves began sprinting towards where she assumed the plaza was.

She emptied her magazine firing at the building, and replaced it with another. Bullet after bullet whirred past her head, striking the ground near her, or the building behind her, but never hitting her. Time seemed to slow down, or maybe it was speeding up... Twilight couldn't tell. She knew it was only adrenaline rush, but the feeling of it, the feeling of dodging death with every bullet that just barely missed her... it was breathtaking. It was like, for the first time in her life, she felt alive, almost invincible...

"Fuck! Martin's hit!" Adam's booming voice called out, jerking Twilight out of her euphoria.

"What?!" Twilight went into a near panic. Just like Adam said, Martin lie on the ground, clutching his abdomen and groaning in pain. Adam bent down to help him and Twilight followed suit.

Twilight didn't know what to do. It was too quick to even comprehend. Martin was bleeding out, and what could she do about it but watch helplessly?

"Go. Get to the plaza." Martin demanded through gritted teeth. "There's no time left to waste. Just forget about me and move everyone you can."

"No, don't be stupid, Martin! You know that's not happening!" Adams lifted his pant leg to reveal a stimpak tucked underneath a strip of elastic band. "Got it from a junkie, thought it would be useful."

"Good idea." Twilight yelled over the fighting. She only wished there was a spell she could use to fix him.

Oh... oh yeah.

Twilight knew how she could make herself useful. "Actually, save your stimpak! I can heal him with my magic! It'll be tough, normally a job for multiple unicorns!"

"So what makes you think it'll work?"

Because I have enough adrenaline flowing through me to sate an elephant.

"Because we have to try!"

Adam looked uneasy, but put the stimpak in its holding place again, allowing Twilight to do her spell.

"Fine, but make sure it works!"

"Okay, I'm gonna need a lot of concentration."

Twilight closed her eyes and focused on her magic. Her horn glowed a bright purple. For a second, it felt like she was doing it, but she stopped when a bullet impacted the ground a few inches from her, startling Twilight out of her concentration.

Adam noticed her difficulty. "Twilight, you're sure you can do this?"

"Yes, I just need to concentrate!"

She looked at the line of slaves behind cover. One of them further down was hit and fell backwards. Another slave tried helping, only to get shot as well. The second slave's body fell atop the first. Twilight clenched her eyes and turned her head away from the gruesome scene.

The sound of gunfire only got more rapid. Not a second went by without a gun-blast being heard. The sound was almost omnipresent, every single shot resonating and blending in with the others, making a giant cacophonous roar that bores into your brain and doesn't go away. Twilight found it increasingly hard to concentrate. Attempting to drown out the sounds of the fighting, she closed her eyes again. She was finally beginning to focus her energy, but that sound... that awful sound--

Twilight felt a singeing burst of heat in the midst of her focus. She looked up to see what happened. Apparently, the slavers had incendiary weapons. A couple slaves were on fire, running around and letting out blood-curdling screams. The other slaves went into a panic and began moving from their cover. A few of them got mowed down in seconds. Still... more screaming.

Twilight was starting to get irritated. Concentrating was becoming nearly impossible. Especially with the ever-present gunfire, and the screaming-- Twilight wished they would just stop the screaming and let her concentrate.

She tried to close her eyes, and she felt the energy flowing into her horn, but it only lasted a few seconds before she was interrupted by another bullet hitting the ground next to her.

"Oh come fucking ON!" Twilight yelled to no one in particular. Martin was bleeding heavily, but he could see the frustration on Twilight's face. It was threatening to consume her.

Twilight pounded a hoof into the ground, breathing erratically and trembling. She began mumbling things under her breath before looking at Martin with a wide smile on her face. It was a look that truly scared him.

"Alright Martin, we're gonna fix you right up. Just give me a moment to focus." Twilight said in a cheery, singsong voice. "Just give me some time to concentrate."

She closed her eyes, and was immediately met with another bullet next to her. "Just give me some time." Twilight said through gritted teeth.

"Honestly, it would get done a lot faster if they just stopped the fucking screaming!" her eyes twitched wildly, and one of her ears kept flopping up and down. Martin didn't like where this was going. Another wave of heat hit Twilight. The incendiary projectiles impacted a few meters away, a misfire on the slavers' part. Some of Twilight's sweat got into her eyes, clouding her vision. She had to blink uncontrollably to get it out, cursing under her breath.

"Twilight, are you almost done?" Adam yelled from his spot in cover.

"How about you give me some time, huh!" Twilight yelled back angrily. Adam looked at her in shock. There was something different about her eyes, something that wasn't sweat.

"What the hell... Twilight?"

"All I'm trying to do is help a man in need, but I can't because I CAN'T CONCENTRATE! ALL THAT GUNFIRE, AND ALL THAT FUCKING SCREAMING! JUST GIVE ME A GOD DAMNED BREAK!"

"Twilight, please, calm down."

"Calm?! Calm?! I am calm! I'm the calmest pony you ever met! Why would you think I wasn't calm?!"

Adam just stared at her. Twilight tried to focus on her magic again, but it was no use. She was too enraged to concentrate.

She began breathing heavily, in short bursts. Twilight felt like her blood was boiling, like every single thought was corrupted and singed with anger.

She turned to the body of a woman a few feet away and started yelling at it. "I DON'T WANNA HEAR YOUR FUCKING SCREAMING, SO QUIT IT!"

"Twilight, she's dead!"

"SHE'S TAUNTING ME! TRYING TO MAKE ME LOSE FOCUS! TRYING TO KILL MARTIN! I WON'T LET YOU DO IT, YOU HEAR ME?! I WON'T FU--" Twilight was stopped mid-sentence by a bullet to the shoulder. She looked at the wound, slowly touching it with a hoof. Twilight examined the blood dribbling down her hoof, shaking and breathing even heavier than before. She let out a deafening roar as she stepped out of cover.

What happened next was a blur to Twilight. She focused every single bit of pure, unfiltered rage into her horn, releasing it in some form or another. No thoughts went through her head, no reason or logic to guide her, just releasing her anger into the world. What she found strange was that it felt great. In the distance, she could hear a faint voice crying "I'm going to kill every single one of you!" Wait a minute... Twilight recognized that voice.

It was her own.

It all happened so suddenly. Twilight wasn't sure exactly what time she passed out, but she remembered smoke. Lots and lots of smoke.

And silence. No gunfire, no screaming. Just sweet, sweet silence.

Discord stared agape at his mirror, his lower jaw literally smashing through the floor. When he pulled it back up, he spit out pieces of stone. With a snap of his talons, the mirror changed back into Discord's reflection.

"Well, I have to give Twilight credit on this one. I never thought she had it in her."

Discord tapped his chin. "In fact, if she's going to be pulling stunts like that, I might not even need to send you, Pyro."

Pyro wasn't paying attention. He sat on the table, trying to make his feathers look presentable. Philamena would arrive at any minute, and he wanted to set the mood.

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?"

"Coo."

"Ugh, figures." Discord looked around the room, just noticing the candles spread out.

"Candles. Are you being serious?" Discord caught himself. "I mean-- not that I like serious."

"Coo. Coo coo." Pyro happily noted, lighting the candles with his wing.

"And what, no smooth jazz?"

"Coo." the phoenix dove underneath the table, struggling to pull up a stereo. He placed it down and pressed play. A soft, seductive melody filled the air.

Discord laughed at his bird companion. "Oh Pyro, you never cease to entertain me."

The phoenix cooed and bowed a wing. They stopped when a knock was heard at the door.

"Coo coo. Coo." Pyro motioned with his wings for Discord to get out.

"I would leave, but no other pony in the castle wants me to stay over, no matter how many times I assure them I'm not gonna make their furniture do a rain dance."

The phoenix rubbed the back of his head. "Coo. Coo coo."

"What, no! Of course I don't wanna watch."

Another knock came from the door. "Look, I'll just sleep at Celestia's tonight. I'm sure she won't mind. She always did like surprises."

"Coo."

"Just don't ruin the couch." Discord ordered before snapping his talons. In a flash of light, he vanished, leaving Pyro in the room by himself.

Slicking his hair back, Pyro cooed again, roughly translating to "You can com in. It's just me, no ancient Gods of chaos in here."

Twilight didn't remember the royal palace being this cold. The guards were acting strangely, too. Most of them never made eye contact, and the few that did scowled at her and looked away. She rested her hooves on the front of the doors that lead to the throne room. She couldn't deny that she was a little nervous, even scared. Twilight couldn't explain it. The whole place just seemed off. She braced herself and pushed the doors open with her full strength.

An uncomfortable wave of heat rushed out of the throne room, contrasting with the cold of the palace halls. She hesitated going any further, but she willed herself to walk into the room. The doors slammed loudly behind her, making her jump. She swallowed the lump in her throat and slowly approached the far end of the throne room. A familiar white pony sat atop her throne, looking down at her hooves, not giving Twilight a glance. When Twilight got close enough, she decided a bow was called for.

"Princess, is there something you need?"

The alicorn waited a moment to reply. "Twilight..."

"Yes, princess?"

"Have you ever killed anyone before."

"Yes."

Wait, what? No. Why would I tell her that? She doesn't need to know that.

"Did you really think you could hide it from me?"

"Yes."

No! Stop! Why can't I lie?

Twilight could feel the heat rising in the throne room. It was getting very uncomfortable.

"Hm. And exactly how many have you killed?"

Lie! Lie, damn it! She can't know!

"At least thirty."

"Just as I thought." Celestia stood up from her throne, approaching Twilight. The air kept getting hotter and hotter, becoming almost unbearable.

"Twilight, for crimes against sapient life, I have no choice--"

"No, please. Don't do this Celestia. It's me, Twili--"

"Don't interrupt me! You may have been my student, Twilight, but I never taught you slaughter. For crimes against sapient life, I sentence you to death, and eternity in the fires of Tartaros."

The heat sapped all the energy from Twilight, making her collapse to the ground. A ring of fire formed around her. Celestia stood on the outside, returning Twilight's pleading eyes with a cold, pitiless glare. The flames started to close in on her, dragging her helplessly into the void. The last thing she saw was Celestia's face, plastered with hatred. And then, all she could see was darkness.

Sunlight flooded Twilight's vision, making her cringe and cover her eyes with a foreleg.

"She's awake." she could hear a voice say.

"Should you talk to her or should I?" another voice replied. This one sounded like Martin.

"You should do it. She knows you better."

They stopped talking for a moment. Twilight's eyes took a moment to adjust to the light. When she opened her eyes fully, she could see Martin was kneeling down next to her.

"Hey Twilight, it's good to see you up." Martin said with a smile.

"Martin... but, you got shot." Twilight rubbed her eyes and got to her hooves.

"Adam gave me a stimpak. Your injury wasn't too bad, no vital organs hit or anything. He improvised a bandage from his shirt."

Twilight looked at her shoulder, where the shirt was stained in red, but seemed to have stopped the bleeding.

She turned her head toward the bare-chested human a few feet away. "Thanks for that."

"Don't mention it."

Twilight looked around her. She was outside, in the middle of a clearing. Small office building flanked the clearing on every side. Armed slaves were walking about the clearing, apparently watching out for slavers. Small concrete blocks that looked like they were designed to hold foliage, surrounded the clearing. Other things like desks and refrigerators served as cover for the slaves. This must have been the plaza Martin was talking about.

Adam began explaining their situation to Twilight. Most of the slaves got safely to the plaza. Once they set up fortifications, they held off another slaver attack. Once the slavers retreated to lick their wounds, the slave forces followed them to one of the office buildings where they did most of their business. Now the slavers were pinned down with nowhere to go. Martin assured her that the slavers wouldn't be a problem for long.

Next to her was a flagpole, sticking out of the ground, but leaning slightly. At the top of the flagpole was an unfamiliar banner. The flag was simply decorated, red and white stripes with a blue block in the upper left. A circle of thirteen white stars centered around a larger white star. The color scheme was attractive, but the meaning of the stars and stripes eluded her.

Martin caught Twilight's gaze, and he looked at the flag too.

"It's the flag of old-world America. You know, before the Great War."

Twilight nodded her head, but in truth, she had no idea what any of that meant. It was obvious that America was a place. Probably a country from before that war. And for all she'd heard about the war, she knew next to nothing about it. Even then, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why this place was called the wasteland.

She looked back at Martin, who had an uncertain look about him, as if he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure he should.

"So, uhh, Twilight. What exactly happened back there?"

Twilight couldn't answer the question herself. It was all kind of blurry. But if her subconscious was trying to tell her something in that dream, she imagined it couldn't have been good.

"I'm not really sure. All I remember is getting shot, then I passed out."

"And that's all you remember?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Oh. Well, do you want to know what we saw happen?"

Twilight nodded, but in truth, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Well, after I got shot, you kind of... snapped, a little." Martin said somberly.

"And?"

"You kept yelling and panicking. Adam tried to calm you down, but that only made it worse. After you got hit..." Martin looked nervously at Adam.

"What did I do?" Twilight's eyes stared at the ground.

"That's what we want to know."

"I told you I don't remember what happened."

"As far as I can tell, you used some kind of magic at the building the slavers were in, and... Well, let's just say it's not much of a building any more."

Twilight was afraid he'd say something like that.

Adam was next to speak up. "It was kind of like a giant purple beam that came out of your horn. Tore a big hole in the building. It collapsed in less than a minute."

She felt a knot in her throat as she pondered the next question. "Did I kill anybody?"

"Yes."

"How many?"

"There were a lot of slavers in that building. I'd say maybe thirty."

Twilight sat back on her haunches. It was true. The dream was right. She was a killer, and she couldn't hide it. She stared at the ground in shame.

"Twilight, it's not your fault."

"How is it not my fault? I killed thirty people. Thirty. And I've only been on this world for a couple days." She felt tears begin to well up. She couldn't go back to Equestria. She couldn't face Celestia's disappointment. For a brief moment, she wished she would have died in the fight.

"I don't know what it is you did back there, but you're the only reason any of us are still alive. The other slaves would have been massacred if it weren't for you."

"So you're saying I stopped a massacre by causing a massacre." the thought didn't make Twilight feel any better.

"I'm saying you did what you needed to do. Those slavers weren't going to show us any mercy. All they care about is money. But you made sure they wont hurt anybody ever again. You're not cruel, Twilight. Don't ever doubt that."

"But I didn't mean to do what I did. What if I can't control it? What if I hurt someone I didn't mean to? Let's face it, I'm no better than those slavers."

Twilight was surprised to feel someone embracing her in a hug. "You're ten times better than the whole bunch put together. Whatever it is that happened, I'm gonna help you take control of it."

Twilight returned the hug with a smile. "Thank you."

Martin pulled away from Twilight, giving her a devious smirk. "Now let's go give those slavers something to be afraid of."

Chapter 6

"There it is. Greenville." Marcus stopped the group, pointing in the direction of the office buildings in the distance. It was at least another half-hour's walk.

"Is that smoke?" Jonathan motioned toward the plume of black smoke rising from Greenville.

Marcus saw what he was talking about, and began searching through his bag. He removed an unattached sniper scope and held it to his eye.

"Damn. What happened there?" Marcus said, passing the scope to Doc Church.

Church's eyes got wide. "I'm no pyrotechnic, but I'm fairly sure that's a fire."

"A fire. That would be a pretty good distraction, wouldn't it? We might not even need to blow up the arms cache."

"We'll have to get there quick if we wanna make use out of that fire." Jonathan stretched one of his legs.

"It's not going to be much of a distraction." Doc said plainly. "That smoke is coming from around the holding area. The guards will be all over that place."

"So our job just got harder?" asked Jonathan.

"A lot harder."

"Of course it did."

"Ya know," Marcus pondered. "Twilight gets captured by slavers, and less than a day goes by before their compound is burning to the ground. I'm not sure it's coincidence?"

Jonathan's eyes widened. "Magic death ray."

Doc put his face in his palm. "Can we drop the magic death ray thing? There are more important things to worry about right now."

Marcus nodded his head in agreement. "He's right. Twilight could be in a lot of danger. We should get into Greenville as soon as possible."

"I'm guessing this means the plan is scrapped, huh?" Jonathan said, pulling the minigun off of his back.

"I guess so."

"So, we run in guns blazing."

The good doctor sighed. "Crap. I suppose we have no choice. Just don't go shooting anything that isn't shooting back. I don't need the extra work on my hands."

"Got it. Thanks, mom." Jonathan smirked.

"If we run, we can get there in a little more than fifteen minutes."

"Then let's go. Alice is getting feisty for slaver blood." Jonathan smiled wickedly.

"Alice?" Church looked towards Jonathan, who was stroking his minigun. "You named your gun?"

"A gun this nice? She deserves a name. And Alice kills with malice." Jonathan took a smug pride in his ability to rhyme.

Marcus face-palmed. "I'm starting to regret bringing you along."

Twilight was proud of their plan so far. Retreating to the plaza was the best move they could have made. And now that her head had cleared up, she was glad that her temporary loss of sanity was put to some use.

Adam had gone off to coordinate the slave forces. Martin and Twilight decided to walk to the place where they had trapped the slavers. While they were walking, Martin had filled her in on the details of what happened while she was passed out. The slavers were trapped in one of the office buildings, surrounded on all sides. Unfortunately, there were only two entrances, which would be suicide to get in through. Their plan as of now was to stake out the building at all times, starving the slavers into surrendering.

Twilight asked Martin if they would have to kill the slavers once they came out. The answer was probably going to be yes. Martin didn't like the sound of it either, but he knew slavers were too dangerous to be let loose into the wasteland. The wasteland was dangerous enough as it was.

Still, he couldn't break her heart like that.

"No, we don't have to kill them."

Twilight smiled. "Good."

She got to see a bit more of Greenville on the way. It wasn't like any town or city she'd ever seen. There were no houses, no apartments, no shops, no schools. Just office buildings. Martin mentioned that a plaque in the plaza called Greenville an "edge city". As far as he could tell, it was just a small cluster of office buildings that people from the big city go to work. Not that there were many people working there anymore. Just slavers.

When they reached the building where the slavers were holed up, she couldn't see why they would choose it as a place to fall back. It was only three stories tall, shorter than a lot of the buildings in Greenville. The windows were all boarded up, which Twilight didn't find surprising, since most windows around were broken or seemed to be melted. Slaves were patrolling around the building with guns, presumably to keep any slavers from escaping.

"So why would they choose here?" Twilight asked Martin.

"It's where they do most of their business. It's the most defended place in Greenville, even more so now that the rest of them are up in there."

"What happens if they don't surrender?"

Martin shrugged. "I guess they make their choice to starve to death."

Twilight's ears dropped. "I don't really want to think about that."

Martin saw the expression on Twilight's face, and began stroking her mane, which had only got messier over the past couple days. "It's okay, Twilight. We're giving them a choice. If they choose death, it's not your fault."

Twilight believed that, but she didn't understand why anyone would choose to die instead of facing their mistakes and moving on. Slavery was an atrocity, through and through. Was it really worth keeping at the price of death?

Twilight nostalgically shook her head. She never had to deal with this kind of thing in Equestria. Only, that wasn't true.

Twilight remembered king Sombra. He enslaved thousands of ponies just for crystals. And Nightmare Moon, who tried to stop the sun from rising. And what about Discord, the spirit of chaos? But even Discord was able to turn down his wicked ways.

Ponies sometimes lost their way just like humans did. And if Discord could become good, why couldn't the slavers?

"It's just... I hope they make the right choice."

"They might not have to." a familiar voice came from behind them.

A middle aged man in scrubs was limping towards them, escorted by Adam. A white bandage was wrapped around his thigh.

”Doctor Mayfield!" Twilight perked up at the sight of him okay. The clinic was part of the building she accidentally destroyed. It pained her to think she might have killed him, but seeing him alive gave a boost to her spirit.

"Twilight, Martin, glad to see our plan worked accordingly."

"We wouldn't have made it this far if it weren't for Twilight here." said Martin, making Twilight's face turn red.

"I figured as much. That's why I was prepared for this moment."

Twilight noticed the red spot on his bandage. "Mayfield, what happened to your leg?"

"After stashing the weapons in the gas station, I knew the slavers would find me suspicious after you broke out. I hid out in a convenience store a few minutes away. Unfortunately, one of the slavers found me and shot me in the leg. He would have killed me if this man here hadn't killed him first." Mayfield motioned to his Adam, who nodded towards him.

"Now I heard you two talking. You want to make the slavers surrender without having to starve them, correct?"

"I don't see any other way to make them surrender. They're trapped, but they're not scared of us."

"Indeed they are not, but we cannot wait much longer. The building has a long-range telecommunication terminal. If they get a message out, it won't be long before more slavers start reinforcing Greenville. We need to get in there soon, so we can call in help from Rivet City."

Martin raised an eyebrow. "How do we do that without getting killed? They have the building locked down."

"Twilight, you might be our key to getting inside the building. You mentioned being able to teleport out of Greenville at any time. You wouldn't happen to be able to teleport others as well, would you?"

Twilight nodded. "I can do that. If you're asking if I can teleport slaves into the building, I can't. I don't know what the inside of the building is like. I could teleport us in the middle of a group of slavers."

"I thought you might say that. That's why I brought this." Mayfield pulled a roll of paper out of his pocket, and layed it out on the ground. It was a floor plan of the office building. "I found this in an office desk some time ago. I've been keeping it around just in case."

Twilight looked over the piece of paper. "This might be enough."

"Wait. You can teleport?" Martin asked flatly. Adam was wondering the same thing.

"Yeah, it took me a few years to perfect, but I've learned it better than most unicorns."

"Of course. Unicorn magic. How could I be so silly?"

Adam pointed to a square on the floor plan. "That right there is the basement's bathroom. Very few guards will be down there, so it's the best place to teleport."

"I still want to keep as many slavers alive as possible." said Twilight.

"Then it's good I thought of everything." Doctor Mayfield pulled his doctor's bag off his shoulder, and placed it gently on the ground. He opened it up and held out a small object that looked like a toy car attached to a rubber band and some wood. If it was a weapon, it was hardly threatening.

"A makeshift dart gun. I confiscated it from a slave a little while back. It doesn't look effective, but if used right, it can do exactly what you need it to do."

Martin looked confused. "And how does this help us?"

"I've put extra doses of Med-X in these syringes." Mayfield said, opening the bag further to reveal at least twenty syringes.

"Med-X?" Twilight asked, observing one of them.

"A pain-killer. Much like morphine. The dose I've given them will put the average man to sleep in seconds. I've modified the dart gun to fire these syringes as well as darts."

"How did you know what dose would produce the sleeping affect?" Twilight asked, her inner scientist getting the best of her.

"Over the past few months, I tested it on slavers who only use Med-X as a recreational drug. They thought they'd just be getting high, but they were actually getting me results." Mayfield beamed with pride. "I can be quite devious if I need to be."

Twilight was slightly offput by his method, but she also felt a kind of fellowship with the doctor. Like her, he was a man of science in a world that revered simpler things.

Martin spoke up. "If we're going for a non-lethal approach, we're gonna have to go in unseen."

"There's a generator here." Adam pointed on the map. "We turn it off, we turn all the lights in the building off. It'll also turn off the speaker system, so Stacy can't give orders through the building."

"But doesn't that mean we won't be able to see them either?"

"I have a spell that will let you see in the dark for two to three hours." Twilight said, studying the floor plan.

"A see-in-the-dark spell?" Adam chuckled. "Could you silence our guns while you're at it?"

"No, I haven't learned that spell yet. And if we use the darts, we won't need to use our guns."

Adam shrugged. "It would still be useful to have."

"So we teleport in, turn off the generator, head to Stacy's office, kill as few guards as possible, get to the radio thingy, and send a message to Rivet City asking for backup." Martin asked.

"Correct. Though, we should test the teleportation spell first, before sending anyone into that situation." Mayfield said.

"I'll go." Martin volunteered, earning nods from the rest. "I'm ready whenever you are, Twilight."

"Okay. First I'll give you the dark-eyes spell." Twilight turned to Martin, closing her eyes and focusing her magic.

Martin blinked uncomfortably. He shut his eyes, not liking the sensation. Suddenly, the tingling began to lessen, and he found himself able to open his eyes. When he did, the first thing he saw was green; everything was tinted green.

Ha. Greenville. he thought.

His peers looked at him with surprise, all except for Twilight.

"Your eyes. They're green." Adam said flatly.

The whites of Martin's eyes had turned a bright green, contrasting his blue irises.

"It worked!" Twilight jumped up gleefully. She wasn't sure it would work on a member of another species.

"So I'll be able to see in the dark now?"

"Mhm. The spell will only last a couple hours though, so we need to be fast."

"Then let's go." Martin braced himself for whatever teleportation had to offer.

"All you have to do is relax until it's over. It's completely painless... mostly."

Twilight stood closer to Martin, magic forming around the both of them. Martin stood nervously, waiting for something to happen. After a moment, a flash blinded him, making him clench his eyes shut. When he opened them again, he wasn't amongst the group anymore. He was standing in a darkly-lit bathroom.

Not a second passed before he found himself stumbling around like a drunk and reaching out for anything to grab. The teleportation was extremely disorienting. Martin felt as if the whole world was spinning out of control. He grabbed a broken sink and tried to steady himself.

"The dizziness will only last for a minute." Twilight whispered. "Now wait here. I have to bring the others."

Before Martin could reply, she abruptly vanished in a flash of light, leaving him alone.

The room steadily stopped spinning and he was able to stand up without falling.

The realization finally hit Martin that he was the first human to ever get teleported by a magic, talking unicorn.

I'm gonna have some trouble telling this to my grandkids.

Adam was struggling to drag the guard's unconscious body into the bathroom. The guard was bigger than most, but the tranquilizer still put him to sleep fast.

Martin, Twilight, Adam, and a few other slaves crept through the basement hallways, watching for guards. Adam held the dart gun in front of him at all times, expecting any slavers to come out of a corner.

"Where is the generator from here?" Twilight whispered.

"Next room on the left."

Twilight walked up to the steel door and stopped, listening if anyone was inside. She couldn't hear anything, so she nodded to Adam. The man pressed a button to the right of the door, making the metal locks slide out of place. Adam opened the door slowly, thankful that there were no guards in the generator room.

Martin walked in and turned off the generator with a switch, making the whole building go dark.

"Okay, now let's head upstairs before any guards come to see whats up. Stacy's office is on the third floor."

The six walked unnoticed through the basement until they reached the stairs. They climbed up, but were confused when the stairs stopped at the first floor.

Adam grunted. "Dammit. I forgot, the stairs for the second and third floor are on the other side of the building."

"So what now?"

"We get over to those stairs and we do what we came to do."

Twilight nodded. It wouldn't be easy. The first floor was where most of the slavers would be.
The entrance to the basement stairway was at the end of a hallway. The hallway split off to the left about thirty feet away. They slowly made their way down the hall. At the other end of this long hallway was the stairway to the second and third floors. It wasn't too far, but it felt like miles to Twilight.

The group stopped in their tracks when they heard two guards talking and coming from the left hallway. Twilight and Martin held their breaths and stared wide-eyed ahead. Adam saw a door to the right of them and tried to open it.

"Fuck." he whispered when the door wouldn't open. He pointed the dart gun at where the guards would come out, ready for a fight.

"I can't knock them both out. We might have to-- Twilight what are you doing?"

The two guards came around the corner, and stopped when they saw two purple-enveloped syringes floating towards them.

"What the hell--"

The guards couldn't make another sound before the syringes flew towards their chests, emptying the contents into their bloodstreams. They both fell to the ground, passed out from the tranquilizers.

"Good job, Twilight." Martin whispered. Twilight smiled and continued down the hallway. Her companions followed her, stepping over the sleeping guards.

The hall ended in the staircase, but there was a problem. To the right was the other building exit. Four guards were around the corner, on watch for anyone going in or out. Light was shining through a small window on the door. Sneaking by them would be impossible.

They wouldn't be able to get up the stairs without getting caught by the guards. Twilight tried to think of an alternative.

There was a door to another room on the other side of the hallway. Martin opened the door slowly to keep the guards from hearing it. Walking into the room, they could see part of the ceiling where it was collapsed, making an unsightly hole; or a convenient way to get on the second floor.

Martin was the first to go up through the hole, levitated by Twilight's magic. Once the five humans were on the second floor, Adam pulled her up by the hoof, as Twilight wasn't able to levitate herself.

Walking out of the second-floor room, Twilight could see there were no guards around. They used the stairs to get on the third floor. A guard was walking up and down the hallway at the top of the stairs. Adam carefully aimed his dart gun at the guard and took the shot. The slaver dropped to the ground with a thump. They continued down the hallway, looking for what might be Stacy's office.

Finally, they came to a wall and Adam stopped them.

"This is it. This blueprint says on the other side of this wall is Stacy's office." he whispered. "The door on the left side of the room is where she'll be expecting someone to come through. One of you knock on the door to distract them. Twilight, we'll stay behind this wall. I think you know what to do."

Twilight nodded and watched one of the slaves turn the corner. She waited to hear a knock.

knock knock

Twilight flared her magic and pointed her horn at the wall.

Stacy sat at her desk, popping the bottlecap off another beer. The two guards that were with her stood silently, probably wondering whether or not they should surrender to the slaves outside.

"I still can't believe we got our asses kicked by a fucking unicorn and her gang of misfits. What a joke." she smacked an empty beer bottle onto the floor.

"I run this shit. Me! Nobody fucks with Stacy and expects to live another day, especially not some pompous little unicorn bitch! I knew she was trouble. I should have killed her when I had the chance. But I didn't, and now the people I thought could get the job done are running scared! And they want me to believe a purple horse can bring down an entire building with 'magic'? How stupid do they think I am?

"I'm telling you now, when reinforcements get here, there's gonna be hell to pay. These wannabe badasses are gonna wish they'd gotten caught by raiders than deal with the likes of me."

Stacy took a long sip of her beer. "And when the fuck is someone gonna fix that generator?"

knock knock

The two guards went to open the door, but Stacy ordered them not to.

"What! Who is it!"

No reply came.

"I'm waiting for an answer!"

Still no reply.

"I don't have all Goddam day! What the hell do you--" Stacy was stopped by something slamming her forward over the desk. She tumbled to the ground, coughing and spitting old paint out of her mouth. She landed hard on her chest, making it hard to breath. Dust was filling the room, clouding her vision.

Slaves she didn't recognize rushed in through a hole blasted in the wall she was sitting in front of. The slaves started yelling commands, telling her two guards to surrender. Much to Stacy's anger, they laid down their weapons.

She felt someone push her onto her back.

"You..." Stacy's anger rose even more when she saw her captor.

Twilight Sparkle stood over the slave-driver, a hoof pinning her right arm to the ground. Twilight's horn was glowing a soft purple, and she was grinning oddly.

"Yep, me." was the last thing Stacy heard before a needle went into her neck, putting her to sleep.

Twilight watched as Stacy fell unconscious. Statistically, it wasn't much. There was still the job of making the other slavers surrender. Still, it felt like a small victory for Twilight.

Adam and another slave were injecting the Med-X into the slaver guards. When they were finished, there came the issue of what to do then.

"We need to use the terminal to send a message to Rivet City." Martin stood at Stacy's desk, as the chair had been broken by the blast. After fidgeting with the terminal controls, he discovered it couldn't be opened.

"Damn. It needs a password."

"Does anyone here know how to hack a terminal?" Adam asked the group. No one responded.

"Well maybe she left the password around here."

"I doubt it," Martin shook his head. "And we don't have the time to look all over this place."

"Well what about Mayfield. He might know how to hack."

"Maybe. Twilight, you think you can do your thing?"

Twilight nodded. "Just give me a few minutes.

Her horn flared with magic and she disappeared in a flash of light.

Once she was gone, Adam spoke up. "I don't think the rest of the slavers are just gonna give up. Do you?"

Martin sighed. "I don't know. Twilight thinks it'll work."

"Twilight just got here. She doesn't fully understand what these slavers are. They won't just surrender because we asked them to."

"I know that. But do you wanna be the one to tell her? She thinks sparing these slavers will make up for killing those others. I say let her try."

"And how is she going to make them surrender? She can't just walk up to them."

"The intercom will let us talk to all the slavers in the building. If she can convince them to give up, we can avoid having to kill them all."

"And if they don't surrender, they're gonna know we're up here."

"We can handle it. She can handle it. Give her a chance."

Adam gave a tired sigh. "Okay, we'll do it your way. But if anything goes wrong, some slavers are gonna drop."

Martin nodded. A few minutes of awkward silence passed before another flash of light announced the presence of Twilight and doctor Mayfield. The doctor immediately fell to the ground, dizzied by the sudden change in surroundings. Adam and Martin attempted to hide their amusement, but failed.

"Twilight Sparkle, remind me never to do that again." Mayfield slowly got to his feet, which was difficult when his leg still had a bullet in it.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked, supporting Mayfield as he got up.

"Nothing a pair of tweezers and a stimpak won't fix." Mayfield pointed to the bandage wrapped around Twilight's chest. "I see you could use the same treatment."

"It's not too bad." Twilight said, stretching her shoulder.

"That's what everyone says until they get gangrene."

Twilight grimaced at the thought. A stimpak actually sounded pretty good right then.

"Okay Mayfield, if you're done being charming, we have a terminal that needs hacking." Adam pointed to the small terminal at Stacy's desk.

Mayfield walked over to the desk, but stopped when he saw the gaping hole behind it. "Smart. Stacy would have been sitting at the desk."

Mayfield stepped over Stacy's unconscious body, and stood in front of the terminal. He observed it closely, checking the model and difficulty of the hack.

"Yes, I can hack this, but it will take some time."

"Take as much time as you need, doc." Martin said.

Twilight was waiting, thinking. She thought about where she was, and what they were about to do. She wondered if her friends would be proud of her, or if they would be disappointed. She killed a lot of people today, but it was an accident. And she was gonna make up for it. All she had to do was make a group of battle-hardened slavers surrender to a group of malnourished slaves. She swallowed the knot in her throat and tapped her hoof on the ground impatiently.

Martin and Adam exchanged glances and nodded.

"Hey Twilight." Martin tapped his unicorn friend on the shoulder. "We know a way you can convince the slavers to surrender."

Twilight's eyes went wide, and she gave an abnormally large smile. She felt as if her prayers had been answered.

"Really? How? I'll work on it right away."

Martin pointed to a white box on the wall opposite the door. It had a black speaker on it, and a red button.

"That's the intercom. You can use it to talk to every slaver in the building. Just press the button and speak."

"Okay." Twilight cleared her throat and shuffled her hooves nervously. "I can do this."

"We know you can." Martin said. He directed another slave to turn on the generator. The slave ran out of the hole in the wall and made his way downstairs.

Mayfield spoke up from behind the terminal. "Be sure to remind the slavers of what they have to lose. That's all they really care about, anyway."

"Maybe they'll come around." Twilight said. "You did, so why can't they?"

Mayfield nodded his head uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry, Mayfield. I shouldn't have brought that up."

"It's quite alright, Twilight. After this is all over, I won't be in the business of helping slavers anymore."

A few moments of silence passed. "Do you still want to know why I was allied with them?"

"You don't have to tell me, doctor."

"No, I do. You're the reason I have a chance to make things right. You deserve to know."

Twilight was going to say something, but Mayfield stopped her.

"When I came to Greenville, I was on the run. That was eight years ago. I used to work with some very bad people called the Enclave. They wan-"

"Wait, you worked with the Enclave?" Martin asked in disbelief. "Damn. I'm glad your on our side now."

"Indeed. They wanted me to perform experiments-- cruel experiments. They told me to splice human DNA and deathclaw DNA to create a deathclaw that could take orders and have the itelligence to perform tactical . The operation would be extremely painful to the subject. 'No' I told them, 'it's inhumane'. They threatened to kill my whole research team if I didn't cooperate. Even knowing that, I couldn't bring myself to do what they wanted me to do, so me and my team fled the Enclave facility and went our separate ways. I kept running until I found Greenville.

"I wasn't sure about working in a slaver city, but then I learned that Greenville's doctor ran away just like I did. He disappeared one night and was never seen in Greenville again. Without a doctor, the slaves weren't being treated properly, weren't getting the medicine they needed. The slavers didn't care. Without me, they would have died. I had to work with the evil to help the innocent. But thanks to you, I don't have to anymore."

Twilight took in what he was saying. She didn't realize what kind of effect she had made on his life. Twilight couldn't find words to reply, but she settled with what she thought was true.

"Thanks to us. I couldn't have done it alone."

Mayfield looked up from the terminal to see Twilight smiling at him, a smile which he gladly returned.

A metallic whirring noise was followed by the lights in the room and hallway flickering on. She and Martin made their way to the intercom.

"Okay, these intercoms work multiple ways. So the slavers will be able to communicate with us after we use it. Are you ready?"

To be honest, Twilight wasn't sure if she was. She'd given speeches and announcements before. It was part of being so close to Celestia all the time. But when she gave speeches at home, ponies' lives weren't at stake. If she messed up a speech in Equestria, nobody got killed. But now, if she messed up, they'd have to kill a whole building full of people.

Haha no pressure.

Twilight steeled herself and nodded at Martin. He pressed the red button, followed by a buzz from the intercom. Twilight opened her mouth, but no words were coming out. What could she possibly say in a situation like this?

She looked up at Martin. He lipped the words 'say something'.

Dammit get a hold of yourself, Twilight. she thought, slapping herself across the face with a hoof. Martin looked at her oddly.

"Um, hello. My name is... no. Umm. We don't want to hurt anyone, but... no no no."

Martin watched her measly attempt with feigned enthusiasm. Twilight could see the disappointment on Martin's face. She was failing him, failing herself, failing everyone. And failing wasn't an option.

"Stacy is dead." Twilight lied, taking Martin slightly by surprise.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I killed Stacy. She enjoyed beating her slaves, so I removed her arms first. She also reveled in kicking them, so I removed her legs. Then I killed her. Ripped her head off with magic, made quite a mess."

Twilight looked at Martin and winked. Martin gave her a thumbs-up.

"I could easily do the same thing to each and every one of you. It would be as easy as tearing a piece of paper. You've all chosen a life of inflicting cruelty and suffering on others, so I have no sympathy or regrets about killing you in the worst fashions I can think of. But fortunately for you, it doesn't have to be that way.

"I'm feeling generous today, so I'll make a deal with whoever will listen. If you surrender peacefully, and promise to make a new life for yourself-- one that doesn't include slavery-- I'll let you keep your body parts. If you choose to keep your evil ways-- well, I already destroyed one of your buildings. Who's to say I can't do it again?"

Twilight tried to think of what to say last.

"You have ten seconds to decide before I decide for you"

Martin kept his finger on the button. Twilight guessed that was her cue to start counting down, even though she had no idea what to do when she got to one.

"Ten... nine... eight..." Twilight counted down, hoping her voice wasn't making her nervousness too obvious.

"Seven... six... five..." the room was completely still, everyone except Twilight holding their breaths. Even Mayfield stopped his hacking, waiting with his fingers crossed.

"Four... three... two..."

Please please please, for the love of Faust, please answer!

The speaker above them made a high-pitch beep, making Martin take his finger off the button. A few seconds of silence passed and no one in the room moved a muscle.

A gravelly voice rang out through the speakers. "Fine. Just don't shoot when we come out."

Another small moment of silence went by. Twilight was dumbstruck. She couldn't believe that had actually worked. She was in a loss for words before she saw Martin's relieved smile. Her excitement quickly took over her.

"WE DID IT!" Twilight cheered, jumping up and down.

Adam also looked relieved, laughing and conversing with the slave next to him. Mayfield nodded his head in satisfaction and went back to hacking the terminal.

"Good job, Twilight. I knew you could do it."

"Thanks, Martin." Twilight stuck out a hoof towards the human. Martin was confused, but he had the strange urge to bump the hoof with his fist.

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure what that was."

"We call that a hoof-bump in Equestria."

"Well then, I'm glad to be the first human to ever get a hoof-bump."

"And I'm glad to be the first pony to ever get a fist bump."

The two friends shared a laugh before they heard something down the hallway. The slave who went to turn on the generator let out a shout and a gunshot soon to follow.

"We might have trouble." Adam asked, pulling his pistol out of its holster.

A few seconds went by before a small group of four slavers quickly entered the room through the hole blasted in the wall. Mayfield didn't have time to react before the barrel of an assault rifle was pressed against the back of his head.

The next few seconds were a flurry of chaos.

"Drop your guns or this fucker dies!"

"Get away from him!"

"Put down your guns!"

"Put em' down!"

"Give it up assholes!"

"Don't make us shoot you!"

"Drop the fucking guns!"

Twilight couldn't pick out most of the commands that were being shouted from both sides. One of the slavers didn't say a word, just nervously watching the events playing out in front of him. He had his weapon at the ready, but it wasn't aimed. Twilight could tell he was younger than the rest, and he didn't have the same fierce look about him as was with the other slavers. He almost looked scared. In a way, Twilight thought he was a lot like herself.

Out of nowhere, all hell seemed to break loose.

The slaver beside the youngest one fired and struck the wall behind Martin, just barely missing him. The slaver threatening Mayfield dropped when a bullet from Adam's gun struck him in the head. The slave next to Adam got hit in the shoulder and missed his target. Adam put a few more shots into the slaver's chest. The younger slaver looked down at his fallen comrade with a mix of terror and disbelief. He looked back up at Twilight, and his expression changed. Something escaped his lips that couldn't be heard, but Twilight took a few weeks of lip reading classes in Canterlot.

Liss it's all yorf ald? No, I think it's... Twilight realized what he was saying. This is all your fault.

The young slaver raised his shotgun to meet her gaze.

She couldn't explain what the next few seconds were like. Everything happened so fast, and yet it was almost like time slowed around her. Twilight was staring down the barrel of a gun that would soon kill her. She almost couldn't believe it was gonna end like this; shot to death in some dingy old office building in a world she never got to know. Her friends in Equestria would probably never find her. She'd be forgotten. Even worse, she'd most likely not even get a proper burial; just some ditch the slavers could find, if she was lucky. They might just get hungry and eat her. It was a hell of a way to go.

The slaver in front of her tightened his grip on the shotgun and his finger began putting pressure on the trigger. Without even trying, her legs seemed to move on their own, and her thinking was suddenly cleared. It couldn't end this way; she wouldn't let it end this way. The buckshot from the slaver's gun missed Twilight completely as she hopped to the right to avoid it. Her opponent pumped the shotgun and prepared to fire again. Twilight steeled herself. This time, she wasn't going to give him the chance. This time, she focused on survival; nothing else crossed her mind. Levitating her sub-machine gun to point at his torso, Twilight pulled the trigger. She gritted her teeth through the chaos as blood and smoke flew into her face, stinging her eyes. Despite the unpleasant sensation, she held down the trigger, until the only remaining sound was an empty gun's click.

Click click click

A moment of silence passed before the gunsmoke cleared. The youngest of the slavers was on the ground, sprawled out in an expanding pool of sickening red fluid. Mayfield turned his head around slowly, hoping to see nothing there but a big hole in the wall. Twilight dropped her weapon to the ground, saying nothing. She stared at the floor where the slaver she killed was lying. Adam rushed to the injured slave's aid, and Martin knelt down beside Twilight.

"Twilight... I... You wanna talk about it?"

"Talk about what? There's nothing to say." Twilight began staring at the wall, where her victim's blood began dribbling down to the floor. She wasn't upset. Not angry, sad, or remorseful. She found it hard to describe. It was almost like she felt... numb?

"Must have been the slavers that didn't agree to surrender." Martin tried to think of what to say next. "You did the right thing, Twilight. They could have given up, but they chose not to. They would have killed you if you hadn't done that."

"I know. You can't save them all." Twilight sighed, leaning her head on Martin's shoulder. They both sat there for a few minutes, not saying a single word. Martin knew how killing had an effect on people. Some were torn by it, some found a thrill in it, but he could tell Twilight just wanted to let it go. As far as he could tell, that was good.

"Let's go, Twi." Martin whispered. "We still have to deal with the rest of the slavers."

Stacy woke up face-down on the concrete. It took her a moment to fully regain consciousness, but she didn't like the look of things when she did.

"Goddamit." Stacy muttered, trying to pick herself off the ground. Her arms were tied behind her back, making her even angrier.

"What the hell is going on here!"

"It's about time you woke up." Adam said, lifting Stacy onto her knees. "Twilight, Martin, over here."

Stacy gritted her teeth at the mention of the unicorn. She looked around her. On either side of her were two slavers, both too ashamed to look her in the eyes. She leaned forward to look past them. There was a long line of slavers, all tied up and on their knees.

Stacy turned to the slaver to her left. "You surrendered didn't you?"

The slaver didn't reply. It didn't matter to Stacy. They failed her. That was all she needed to know.

"You fucking cowards. To think I called you my men! I thought you all could handle a few rebellious mules like you actually had a pair of balls. Shows how much I knew."

"To be fair, it wasn't really their fault." Twilight walked up to her, a grin on her face. "I told them you were dead, something about having ripped your head off."

"And you fucking believed her!?" Stacy yelled at the slaver to her right.

"Most of them did. A few didn't. We took care of them." Twilight said, remembering what happened less than half an hour before.

"So? What are you gonna do now? Kill us?" Stacy laughed. "I don't think you will, my little pony. You don't really have what it takes."

Twilight said nothing, but pointed a hoof towards the pillar of smoke that was still rising from the rubble of the collapsed building. Stacy's jaw dropped a little, finding it hard to believe the story was true.

"Shows how much you know." Twilight smirked, walking away from her to address the line of slavers.

"Here's what we're going to do. Either you can walk away into the wastes to start anew, leaving behind your life of cruelty--"

"Or you can rot away in the Rivet City prison." Martin finished her sentence.

"The choice is yours. Fall onto your back if you decide to leave and never return."

The slavers looked at each other, weighing their options. Stacy just glared at Twilight with a burning hatred.

After a moment of thinking, most of the slavers accepted defeat. All but four fell onto their backs, ready to give up the fight. Stacy looked at the thinning line of loyal slavers with disgust. She looked down to see the two slavers beside her lying down.

"So almost all of you made the right decision. Good." Twilight was satisfied to see most of the slavers still had some semblance of humanity in them.

"Now what we're gonna do is untie you, and each one of you is going to strip down to your underwear."

The former slaves began untying the former slavers one-by-one, until there were only the slavers still kneeling. Each one started removing their clothes until they were in nothing but underwear.

"Good. Listen closely. You're going out in the wastes to start new lives. Do some good deeds to make up for years of making other people suffer." Martin spoke up so all the slavers could hear.

"Head to the nearest town, tell them that you were robbed, and forget about what happened here. And if you continue doing horrible things to people, Twilight here will know. And when she finds you--" he motioned towards the plume of smoke. "That'll look like child's play."

The slavers felt embarrassed, for more than one reason. But their brief humiliation was worth getting to live. Most of them spent years participating in slavery, hurting people. They forgot what helping people was like, and a few of them were even relieved to have a new beginning practically handed to them.

Once Twilight and Martin believed the point had been delivered, a group of former slaves began escorting the half-naked slavers to Greenville's entrance. Stacy watched angrily as the men she once trusted abandoned her and disappeared behind the rows of office buildings.

"Now, about you five..." Twilight wondered what she would do about the slavers who refused to go.

Mayfield approached them with a satisfied look about him.

"I contacted Rivet City security. It wont be long until they come to take these ones to prison."

The four slavers besides Stacy had accepted their fates, but Stacy laughed, almost maniacally.

"Doctor, don't tell me you think I'll be staying there. I still have connections, Mayfield. Powerful connections to people who might not wanna see their number one slave-supplier locked up. You think Rivet City prison will be able to keep me forever?"

"No, I don't." Mayfield said with a smirk. "That's why I also sent a message to the Citadel. Let's see if your powerful connections can break you out of a Brotherhood prison cell."

Stacy's look went from cocky to fearful in a heartbeat. She knew her associates weren't going to risk making enemies with the Brotherhood of Steel. Stacy quickly became angry.

"You! You goddam purple son of a bitch!" she yelled at Twilight. "You had to go and fuck everything up, didn't you!"

Twilight approached the increasingly irritable Stacy. "I mean this with all honesty: I hope you have fun in jail. Send me a keychain if you can."

Stacy replied by spitting at Twilight's right forehoof. She shook the saliva off, looking back at the slaver.

After a moment of stillness, Twilight wrapped Stacy in a tight hug.

Stacy attempted to break free of the hug, but didn't succeed. "What the hell are you doing?"

Twilight pulled away from Stacy with a delicate smile.

"Making up for this." she said, bringing her hoof down on Stacy's face with all her strength.

Author's Note

So yeah, I'm updating this story again. It's been... a while.