Scattered Harmony

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."