Scattered Harmony

"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."