Chaos Rules in the Wasteland

Chapters

Chapter 2: The Scorpion Source
Chapter 3: Vault 15
Chapter 4: Science and Technology
Chapter 5: Gizmo
Chapter 6: Mutants
Chapter 8: Necropolis
Chapter 9: Old Friends
Chapter 10: Quest for the Brotherhood
Chapter 11: Radiation Sickness
Chapter 12: Out of Body Experience
Chapter 13: Warning Shady Sands
Chapter 14: Reinforcements
Chapter 15: The Attack
Chapter 16: Not Among Friends
Chapter 17: A New Development
Chapter 18: Revisiting Harold
Chapter 19: More Power
Chapter 20: Extermination
Chapter 1: A Cruel Reality
Chapter 7: Unexpected Answers

Chapter 2: The Scorpion Source

"What's that?" asked Twilight, indicating a pile of rubble in the distance.

John took a look at where Twilight was pointing with a hoof, to the left of their direction of travel.

"It looks like the remains of somebody's home. I was actually expecting to see something like this, what with the war, but I thought we might see more of them." They had been traveling since morning. It was well into the afternoon, and this was the first thing in the wasteland that was man made.

"War?" asked Twilight, shocked.

"It was one hundred years ago or so." said John. "I don't remember why they were fighting, but two countries in that time went to war. Neither side seemed to be winning, so they both decided to launch nukes at the other. And that has left the whole world is like this, I've been told."

"Nukes? They did this?" asked Twilight, both in horror and unbelief.

"So I've been told," repeated John. "They make explosions that are so huge that they reach higher than the clouds, and they give off a kind of energy called radiation that kills things slowly over time."

"And people have not been able to recover in one hundred years?"

"The wasteland is ruined. The vaults are the only safe places left in the world. Anything left out here is savage. I don't have any idea how they stay alive."

They reached the ruined home and looked it over. Inside an non-functioning "fridge", as John called it, was a supply of pre-war food.

"You're serious?" asked Twilight. "This stuff is one hundred years old?"

"Yes. And we're taking it."

"That is DISGUSTING."

"It's a matter of survival, remember? There was no way I could carry more than about a weeks worth of food out of the vault. I thought I might have to keep going back for fresh supplies, but I for one am thankful that this stuff is out here."

"Fine." said Twilight grumpily. "You didn't bring any apples anyway," she said, picking up a box with the words "Dandy Boy Apples" printed on it. She put it into John's bag.

As they continued to "raid the fridge", John said, "When we get to Vault 15, we're going to have to find you a bag of you're own."

Soon after they began walking to the east again, Twilight had a disturbing thought.

"So we are trying to find Vault 15. Are you sure that that vault is still safe?"

"I have no idea." said John. "We've tried to radio the other vaults, but we never get a response. Vault 13 might be the only safe place left in the entire world."

"I think I see a recurring theme here." said Twilight gloomily. "If things could be any worse, they are."

"Hey, things might be bad, but there's one thing that you have that makes up for it."

"What would that be?" asked Twilight, interested.

"Me! I'm the most dangerous thing on two legs you've ever seen, and there's no way I'm going to let you die with me around!"

Twilight didn't speak. Arrogant as he is, thought Twilight, I suppose that is another way of saying that he is my friend.

"Thank you John," answered Twilight, though less than enthusiastically. "You're right. That is probably the best thing I could have asked for in this place."

"Damn right!" exclaimed John. Twilight sighed.

"You have the WORST luck." muttered Twilight.

"Yep, only three, remember?" replied John jokingly, barely fazed by the swarm of scorpions that had surrounded them.

He turned to Twilight. "Are you going to use that thing?" Suddenly, all that occupied the spot he had been standing in was a cloud of dust.

Twilight raised the pistol up, but just stood in place, dumbfounded. Fortunately for her, the scorpions only seemed to care about the man that was trying to escape them, and for the moment none of them were after her.

"Shoot these things! Shooooot theeeeeem!" shouted John from a distance. He had turned left and was leading the scorpions in front of Twilight.

She decided that she had the least chance of accidently hitting John if she shot at the scorpion furthest away from him.

BANG

It missed.

BANG BANG BANG

All shots missed. She bit her tongue and changed the way she was trying to aim. She pulled the trigger six more times before the gun would fire no more.

"Oh no!" Twilight thought. "John has all of the ammunition!!"

To her astonishment, firing potshots into the hoard chasing John had apparently downed two of the scorpions, probably dead. Then she saw an unexpected movement from John caught her attention.

He had let the scorpions catch up to him and had pounced on the nearest one with his knife. The others had taken the opportunity to surround him.

"Watch out!" screamed Twilight as she charged to his aid. The scorpions were trying to climb onto him. The scorpion that he had pounced on was without question dead, but now he was in a panic as they surrounded him. One stung him. He shouted and rolled aside, crushing a couple of them as he did so. He was still surrounded though, and they stung him twice more.

Twilight's magic enveloped one and threw it away as hard as she could. She wasted no time in repeating this, getting as many of the things away from John as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, this only enraged the bugs, and now they were coming for her.

Regaining composure, John stabbed the remaining scorpion on his chest and ground it into the dirt with his foot as it fell off. He dug into his pocket and threw the pistol ammunition at Twilight, who caught it with her magic. She frantically grabbed two shots and loaded them into the gun, not bothering to fill it up.

BANG BANG went the gun as soon as it was pointed at the nearest scorpion. Both shots hit, and the scorpion stopped moving.

John had already knifed another one into a bloody mess, but the last one was getting very close to Twilight.

She fumbled with the ammo box again, but the bullets tumbled out and into the dirt.

She heard screech. She looked up and saw that the scorpion had a knife in its armor, and all of its legs and its tail were twitching wildly. She looked at John. He was lying face first in the dirt about fifteen feet away.

As John woke up he immediately regretted it.

"Arghhhhh!" he cried in a whimper, clutching his chest as he rolled over.

Twilight was beside him in an instant.

"Oh my goodness! You're finally awake! How bad is it?"

"I feel like death." moaned John.

"You had five scorpion stings! It's a miracle that you are still alive! There is no way I would be. It seems that the poison isn't cumulative."

"Not... Helping..." moaned John.

"Oh! I did try to help as best as I could," said Twilight apologetically. "I had to go through your bag, I hope you are not mad. I found one of those medical syringe things and tried it, but I don't think it has any affect on poison."

"Can you try... another one?" John stopped to have a terrible coughing fit. It sounded like he was about to hack up a lung. "please."

"Where does it hurt the worst?" asked Twilight, trying to stay calm.

"Everywhere..."

Twilight didn't say another word and applied the syringe to his torso.

"Oh man, YES, that's... exactly... what I needed." John nodded off.

"Oh no! Please, I didn't just kill him!" thought Twilight. She checked his pulse. It was steady. After a short examination, she determined that he had simply fallen into a sleep.

"We don't have any more of that medicine." Twilight thought sourly.

When John woke up again, he bolted upright. He regretted this, as he was still in significant pain.

"John!" Shouted Twilight. "How are you?" she asked as she stopped beside him, concerned.

"Surprisingly... good. Compared to before."

He got to his feet with a groan. "We need to get out of here."

"Are you sure?" asked Twilight. "Nothing else has found us here, and you're still recovering. What if we walk into another scorpion nest or something?"

"NO." said John with such force that Twilight didn't speak from shock. "The vault has four, maybe five months before the water runs out. I can't afford to wait for any reason."

"But... Are you going to be ok?"

"Twilight, I don't give a damn how much pain I'm in. If something is after me, it beats being dead. Besides, I'm fine."

He looked up into the morning sun. "But, I think you had better be the one to hold the supplies," he said.

"Yes, of course I will!"

"Here, I think we can keep it on your back like this."

"What's with this?" said John, staring at the walls of what was clearly a town.

"I do believe this wasteland has some shred of civilization after all!" said Twilight, much more cheery than she had been since she found herself in the wasteland in the first place.

"Do you think they know where we can get a water chip?"

"Only one way to find out."

"Welcome to Shady Sands, stranger," the man at the entrance to the town called out. Please that knife in its holster while you are here."

John grudgingly put his knife away. He had not done so since his recovery from the scorpion attack.

John approached the man. "Good day. I am Seth. I must apologize, but your livestock will have to wait outside.

"Livestock?" asked Twilight, genuinely confused. "What livestock?"

"The hell!" exclaimed Seth. "You're a mutant!" He raised his shotgun to chest height, but did not aim it at Twilight.

Twilight narrowed her eyes at him. "Mutant." she said in monotone.

"I don't care what you are," said Seth suspiciously, "but you are not allowed into Shady Sands."

Twilight glared at him. "Whatever, fine." she said, turning away from the man. "Come find me when you're done with this- place, John." She walked away.

John took a breath and looked Seth in the eye. "I'm not coming in unless you let her come with me."

"Then you are not going to get in, my friend." replied Seth.

John didn't reply for a few seconds. "I want to know about your town."

"Shady Sands is a peaceful community. We can grow our own food. If we were not plagued by raiders and radscorpions, we would have no problems."

"Radscorpions?" said John, unsurprised. "Those things nearly killed me yesterday. Can you not keep them under control even here?"

The other man shook his angrily. "Those damn Radscorpions have been after our brahmin since we moved here. Not a week goes by that someone doesn't get poisoned trying to keep them out of the pens. Last week, they took my brother Jarvis. Razlo, our doctor, is looking for an antidote as quickly as he can."

"What if I were to wipe those pieces of crap out for you?" said John.

"Why the hell would you want to do that? You just said you almost died because of them, and you want me to show you their NEST?"

John ignored this. "If I wipe those things out, will you let me and Twilight both into town?"

"Twilight being the mutant." said Seth, awaiting confirmation.

"No, Twilight being the alicorn."

"Fine." said Seth without argument.

"Now take us to the radscorpion cave."

"There's no well in hell I'm going near those caves. But I guess I will show you the way."

"Well?" asked Twilight bitterly as John approached. He frowned at her.

"I hope you're ready for this," he said. "It's payback time."

"What?!" cried Twilight. "You mean Seth?"

"No, not him. The radscorpions."

"Radscorpions? Is that what they're called? Why would you want to go near them?"

"Seth told me what they were. And I'm going to hit their nest so hard, there won't be any more left in these parts to do what they did to me to anybody else."

"As much as I would love to do these people a favor, you haven't even fully recovered yet! You're going to die."

"No, I won't. Besides, if we can do this, they will let us BOTH into the town. The nest is that way," he finished, pointing.

"Fine, but we are not charging in without a plan."

"This has gotta be the cave," said John. "Look at that thing's skeleton at the entrance."

"I know," said Twilight, worried. "I don't want either of us to end up like that either. Remember the plan, don't put yourself in danger. You know, other than you're going into a cave full of deadly scorpions."

"Yeah, I know, I know. How many shots have you got left?"

"Just ten. I really hope I won't need them."

"You know that you will sooner or later."

"Yes, that's what bothers me. This was a bad idea."

"We're not going to turn back now. I'm going in."

Twilight watched him go into the cave. She put the bag down on the ground and started counting. She had decided that she would count to two hundred, and only then start to worry. It did work for the most part.

Twilight had counted to about one hundred and fifty when she saw John emerge from the darkness of the cave at a sprint.

"It's right on my tail!" he shouted.

The situation was too tense for Twilight to be confused by this expression. She braced herself against the side of the rock wall next to the cave and waited.

A second later John came out like a bullet. Twilight aimed her pistol at the ground in front of the cave and almost immediately the scorpion emerged.

BANG

The scorpion stopped moving unceremoniously.

"Are you ok?" asked Twilight.

"I feel AMAZING actually," said John, provoking a questioning look from Twilight, "From these things, UNSCATHED!" he cried, shouting the last word boastfully.

"What happened in there?"

"The plan worked perfectly is what happened!" he continued excitedly. "Get their attention one at a time, act like I'm trying to escape, and just when they think they've got me on the run, BAM! I killed two of them like that already. But this guy here," he said detesting as he kicked the scorpion corpse, "would not let me slip the knife through that armor of his."

"But we are not done yet," he continued. "There's quite a few more in there, but they are rather deeper in. If you don't come with me somewhat, you won't be there to help me"

"Ok," said Twilight uncertainly, "Just as long as the front is clear."

"Yeah, it is, these things are stupid. If they see you, they always just charge straight for you."

"Let us hope everything out here is 'stupid' then," said Twilight flatly. "If anything gets smart, you and I both will be walking into a trap."

"I'm sure you'll come up with something. Now come on!" John said excitedly.

Twilight followed him into the cave. It was, to her surprise, easier to see in than she anticipated. It was best not to attract attention with a light anyway. John held his hand up in a motion for her to stop. She did so, looking at him expectantly. He indicated the wall next to the passage, and Twilight nodded and braced against it.

It was quiet for about thirty seconds. Twilight could barely hear John taking steps on the stone as he proceeded. Suddenly his steps became much louder and more far more frequent; he was clearly running back. Twilight looked down the passage and cast a small light spell out of curiosity.

This illuminated John running down the tunnel. Suddenly he simultaneously and seamlessly spun around and crouched and hit the scorpion with a surprise thrust of his knife. Admittedly, this didn't much faze the scorpion, but John had already spun back around and was running away again.

Twilight couldn't help but be impressed. She now felt sure that the incident that John had told her about in the vault wasn't the only demonstration of agility he had displayed to his friends, and she could see why he would be their choice to scout the outside world.

Then she realized that that the scorpions truly were incredibly stupid as it fell for exactly the same trap that John had preformed moments before. This time the knife punched right through the armor, but the scorpion wasn't going to stop yet.

A BANG echoed through the cave.

Twilight let out a sigh as she confirmed that the scorpion had in fact been killed by her shot.

"What is with that light? whispered John. "For a moment I thought that was sunlight! Don't you think you should stop before the others see that?"

"Sorry, sorry!" said Twilight, extinguishing the light.

"This kind of 'run away' tactic takes such a long time to kill these things," said John. "But it's definitely better than being stung."

"Be glad you are fast enough for that to work! If we run into anything that can keep up with you-"

"Ha!" laughed John, a little to loud. "That's likely."

He didn't give Twilight time to respond. Instead he took off down another passage.

Twilight rolled her eyes and followed behind slowly.

Shortly later she heard John shout out, "Oh, HELL." and the sound of him running back. She tensed up. John came racing out of the passage, not even seeing Twilight. Twilight heard the scratching of what sounded like hundreds of legs.

"Or perhaps only 30 legs," thought Twilight in terror after watching the small swarm of scorpions go by. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she thought as she charged after them. She raised the pistol and fired her whole clip into the swarm. When it was empty, there was only two left, and the sun was shining down on her again. John turned and kicked a scorpion away. Twilight seized the other one with her magic and scrunched it into the ground as hard as she could, preventing it from getting up again, but she wasn't strong enough for this to kill it. John ran up to the struggling bug and, with the speed and ferocity of a fury, stabbed the thing three times, and it too was dead.

John promptly left to deal with the last scorpion. Twilight suddenly noticed something that revolted and terrified her. The back of the dead scorpion was moving, and climbing off of it were several "babies". They were coming right for her.

She let out a squeal and grabbed a nearby rock and used it to bash their guts out, which proved easy, as their armor had not hardened yet.

When the last one was reduced to a pile of slime, she dropped the tainted rock. "I can't believe I just had to do that..." she whispered.

John walked over to her and saw what she the cause of her upset composure. "Ugh! That's nasty."

"It... I had to do it," whispered Twilight, not moving her eyes.

John didn't know what to say to her. Feeling awkward, he decided to say "You wait here, I'm going to go check the cave one last time," said John. Twilight didn't argue.

As soon as John was out of sight, Twilight turned away from the dead scorpions and stared into the ground, her expression hardening. She didn't know how long she stayed like that, but before long John came back out of the cave and said "I checked the rest of the cave, there's no more of these things in it. Do you want to go back to Shady Sands now?"

He had barely let out the last syllable when Twilight replied in a stern voice, "Yes."

Twilight didn't notice, but John had hacked off the tail of one of the scorpions and he shoved it into his bag, which he then picked up and slung over his back.

"Are you going to be ok?" asked John.

"I'm fine" snapped Twilight.

Neither of them spoke on the way to Shady Sands.

Chapter 3: Vault 15

"Hello again Seth," said John to the town watchman. "I've got something to show you." He reached into his bag and pulled the scorpion tail out.

"BLEH!" exclaimed Twilight. "You took that thing with you?"

"It's proof that I took care of your little problem," John said, speaking to Seth.

"I suppose so," said Seth, impressed. "I didn't think you had the guts."

"So, we are both allowed to come in now, right?" John said in a civil tone.

"I did make you that promise," said Seth doubtfully. "But if there's any trouble, you're both out."

"Fair enough." said John bluntly.

"Wait, before you go about your business," said Seth, "would you see your way to Razlo, our doctor? I think he said that a tail is precisely the thing he wanted for his antidote."

"You have a doctor in town?" asked Twilight. "John, you should have been to see him before running into that accursed nest!"

"Hey, I did great, didn't I?" asked John smugly. "Who knows, maybe being in this state keeps me focused."

"That's not funny."

"Alright, alright," John said, throwing his hands up. "First stop, Doctor Razlo."

Razlo looked up at his two new guests. He looked at Twilight in surprise, but all he said was "May I help you?"

"I have a-" John began.

"My friend here," interjected Twilight, "has severe injuries from multiple scorpion stings. Can you help him?"

"Of course I can," replied Razlo in an apathetic tone. Let's see here..." He picked a device of some sort off of his table and scanned John with it.

"Great Brahmin!" he exclaimed, surprising Twilight. "This is very, very serious. It will cost you fifty caps."

"Fifty what now?" asked John.

"Caps, caps boy!

"What are caps?"

Razlo looked at John from top to bottom. "Has that poison caused you to lose your wits? Bottle caps."

"Why would I be carrying bottle caps?"

Razlo shook his head. "So you don't have enough money. I'm sorry, but my work ethic doesn't permit me to heal for free, you know. Come back when you have enough money."

"How can you do nothing when-" started Twilight, her voice raised. John held up a hand.

"How about-" said John as he pulled the tail out of his bag, "a radscorpion tail instead?"

"Let me see that!" said Razlo, snatching the tail away and examining it. "Yes, I can do something with this, as well as heal you for free for this great gift."

Twilight was taken aback, but said nothing.

"This will take a little time," said Razlo. "Come, relax in the back. You might have a slight headache from the junja juice as well."

Twilight Decided that she ought to leave for a while.

Twilight was wandering around the town, although "wandering" might be the wrong word to use. She didn't feel comfortable going anywhere without John, and she found herself near the entrance to the town. A woman had initiated conversation with her.

"Welcome to Shady Sands! My name is Katrina! I'm sorry I didn't manage to catch you earlier. My job is to greet... strangers..." The woman gave Twilight a funny look. "and to help them understand our village. We find that there are fewer problems if you listen to what we have to say."

"Oh, good!" said Twilight in genuine relief. In fact, she forgot about the bad mood that she was in. "I was afraid everyone here would treat me the way Seth did."

Katrina frowned. "I'm sure he was just trying to ensure that you are trustworthy."

"Perhaps," said Twilight nonchalantly. "So, tell me about yourself."

"Thank you for the help!" said Twilight to the man named Ian. Katrina had giving Twilight all kinds of insight about surviving in the wasteland, but directed her to speak with Ian for specifics about other settlements of the wasteland, specifically about two settlements; Junktown, and another town apparently known as "The Hub". It gave Twilight a small amount of hope, knowing that the wasteland was perhaps not as cruel and uncivil as she had imagined it. But the most interesting thing was that Katrina had given her exact directions to Vault 15, where she and apparently most of the whole town had grown up.

Unfortunately, Katrina had also mentioned "raiders" in that area. The prospect of crossing paths with a human trying to kill her was highly disturbing to Twilight, so she put it out of mind for the moment.

"Twilight!"

Twilight identified the speaker as John and looked around for him. She saw him walking to her.

"Razlo told me you had went out into the town. Did anything interesting happen?"

Twilight gave John a smile, at which he tilted his head.

"Yes actually!" said Twilight excitedly. "I was asking around for information, and it turns out that the people here actually used to live in Vault 15! I know exactly where we can find it!"

John stood blinking. "Whoa, seriously? We need to get going then!" He started for the town entrance.

"Not so fast!" said Twilight in a commanding tone. "We need to get supplies, remember?"

"Ah... yea, I suppose we should. We don't want you running out of shots for that pistol after all."

"I was hoping we could buy one for you."

"Oh," said John, uncertain. "I don't know, I really like the way I roll with the knife..."

"That thing is going to get you killed and you know it!"

"Okay, I get it." He looked around. the town. "I don't know where we can find anything like that though. Maybe we should check the other side of town?"

"Sounds like the best idea to me."

A few minutes later, they were speaking with a traveling merchant who was staying in town for the day.

"I need that hammer." said John longingly to Twilight. "Just imagine what I could do to-" he paused. "-anything trying to attack us!"

"John, I don't care how fast you are. You can't dodge bullets. You need something that won't put you right in the face of danger!"

"See, that's the beauty of this thing," said John, giving the sledgehammer an experimental swing. "I can reach much further with it."

"Hey!" shouted the merchant's bodyguard. "You break it, you're buying it."

Twilight ignored the guard and said to John, "You really are serious about this, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah! And besides that, If we buy another gun, we wont be able to get enough ammunition for both of us."

"I guess..." Twilight conceded.

"Well I'm going to do it." said John. He turned to the merchant. "Three flares and two knives for the hammer, a stimpack, a leather pack for my friend, and the box of ten millimeter."

"You seem eager to get rid of those flares," commented the merchant with a raised eyebrow. "They could save your life you know."

"Well, I would never remember to use them," rebutted John. "Besides, if I need a light, I happen to know a magical alicorn who can make one out of nothing!"

Twilight gave a John a look, and the merchant tried to decide whether the other man was trying to mess with his head.

"Suit yourself. By the way, I don't suppose you'd care to throw in a little something more for this?" The merchant produced a book titled "Scout Handbook". "I'm giving it away at a discount."

"Oh really?" asked Twilight, interested. "What is it about?"

"It was published pre-war," replied the merchant, now speaking to Twilight. "But it does still contain some relevant information about keeping yourself alive out there in the wastes. You can find a little bit of pre-war history in it too, if you're into that sort of thing."

"If this book is so great," interjected John, "Then why are you selling it at a discount?"

"Almost everyone has already read this issue." said the merchant plainly.

"I for one would really like to have a look at it," said Twilight.

"You have to buy it first," the merchant told her.

"Fine. I'll throw in one antidote," said John, withdrawing a red bottle from his bag.

"Where did you get that?" asked Twilight in surprise.

"Razlo let me have an extra dose, seeing as I helped him make it." He looked her directly in the eye and added in a lower voice, "I'm counting on not encountering as many scorpions out there. And on that book actually being of some use."

"Oh." said Twilight, a surprised look frozen onto her face.

"So how 'bout it?" asked John, turning back to the merchant.

"Yeah, it's a deal."

"HIYHAAAAA!" screamed John as he swung the sledgehammer out in front of him. "RHAAAGH!" he shouted again, spinning the weapon around his body in the opposite direction. He let it stop pointing out from behind him, holding onto it with only one hand. He grabbed onto the weapon with his other hand as he swung it overhead. "GAUGH!"

"Would you please stop that?" asked Twilight's exasperated voice. She was now wearing a large backpack after having undergone some difficulty. John had become bored within minutes of leaving Shady Sands and had decided to start swinging his new weapon around while shouting.

"I'm just getting a feel for it, Twilight," said John by way of explanation. "You wouldn't me want to start busting heads with a weapon that I've never used before, right?"

Twilight huffed in disbelief. "Then you should have thought of that before we sold your knife." Her expression changed to disgust. "It sound like you're enjoying it!"

"Why not? It passes the time."

"Why are you screaming?" demanded Twilight.

"Huh?" he asked in surprise, only just now asking himself the same question. "Oh, I dunno. I guess it keeps me focused."

"It's barbaric!" exclaimed Twilight, somewhere between disgust and concern.

"I..." John started, but stopped. I don't really enjoy killing like that, do I? he thought to himself. He said nothing.

After about sixty seconds of walking in silence, Twilight noticed him swinging the sledgehammer around again, but was refraining from making any noise. He immediately looked up at her and gave her an apologetic look, but made no effort to stop.

After a while, Twilight said "Hey, John."

"What is it?" he replied warily.

"That thing reminds me of a game we used to play back in Equestria."

"A game?" said John, surprised.

"Yep. Here, let me see the hammer, I'll show you," she said as they stopped walking.

John raised his eyebrows before holding it out to her. As soon as he let go, It fell to the ground head first, despite the purple aura surrounding it.

"Whoa," said Twilight in surprise. "Sorry, the hammers we use for the game don't weigh nearly this much."

"I rather doubt you hurt anything," said John dismissively.

"Ugh" groaned Twilight as she set the hammer on the ground again. "I'll have to find a couple of rocks to serve as balls first.

John watched her in mild interest as she scanned the area and picked up a couple of stray rocks.

"These are far from ideal," said Twilight as she set them down beside each other in front of her, "but they are the roundest ones I can find. I think you'll get the idea." She picked up the sledgehammer again.

She put a hoof on the larger of the two rocks and swung the hammer down at it as lightly as gravity would let her, causing the smaller rock to roll away slightly before settling in the dirt.

John looked back at Twilight. "I don't see the point."

"It isn't supposed to be practical, it's just interesting. I made the other rock move without actually touching it, or through the direct use of magic," she emphasized. "Don't you find that fascinating?"

"Not really," said John with a shrug. "You could make it go a whole lot further if you just hit it directly."

"Argh!" grumbled Twilight as she returned the sledgehammer to John. It was all she could think to say.

She saw John roll the smaller rock away with his foot. He held the hammer out behind him. Twilight watched.

John swung the hammer completely around using his full body weight, spinning in place, and then realigned its trajectory so that it would come down and hit the rock with maximum force.

Except it failed to do so. John felt the his arm muscles strain painfully as the sledgehammer tried to fly out of his hands from the lack of impact, throwing him off balance.

He managed to regain his footing before falling over, and then glared at his companion, currently on her back laughing.

"It's not funny!" he said to her sternly. "This thing is just a whole lot longer than the knife was, it takes getting used to."

Between giggles, Twilight managed to get out "Then maybe... you should... start practice on... the rocks instead of... swinging that thing through the air... like a feather duster!" She burst out laughing again at this. John turned back to the rock.

CRACK

Twilight abruptly stopped laughing and watched the rock fly out of sight.

"That was way farther than yours," insisted John.

Twilight was turning gloomy again, and John had taken notice.

"What has got you so down, Twilight?"

"I was just thinking about how much I miss all of my friends," said Twilight depressingly. "I could really use their help right now."

"You'll be see them again soon Twilight. I'm sure of it."

"Yeah," said Twilight, her tone unchanged. "It's a good thing none of them are here with me, actually. Nopony should have to experience this."

And yet I did this to myself, thought Twilight in disgust.

"I bet they are all wonderful ponies, Twilight." said John soothingly. "The wasteland is certainly no place for any of them. Or for any of us, for that matter. Nobody back home really knows what it's like out here."

"That's certainly the truth. I don't want them to know either."

"But I like to think to myself, I'm out here so that none of them ever have to be," John continued determinedly.

"Maybe you are," said Twilight in despair, "but what about me? I'm trapped here, and if I die here, nopony would know the difference!"

John blinked at her.

"I would know the difference Twilight. Although, I guess I'm not a pony." He instantly regretted saying that. "Come on," he said quickly. "You're helping me save everyone that I know. That definitely counts for something."

"I'm sorry," said Twilight. "I shouldn't have said all that." Twilight remained dreary as she said "I miss Equestria so much."

"Would you tell me about Equestria?"

"I guess so." said Twilight, less than enthusiastic.

By the time they reached Vault 15, John had heard several stories about Twilight's friends, and Twilight learned of life in the vaults. When they had grown tired of that, Twilight would read the Scout Handbook and share its knowledge with John. There was little else to do to pass the time. They had also not encountered another living thing throughout the journey.

Until now.

"I swear," said Twilight, seething, "if we run into any more scorpions after this, I'm going to..." She trailed off, not knowing what she would do.

"There are only two of them, Twilight. It wont be a problem."

BANG

John jumped and look at Twilight. "What are you doing?" he asked in suprise. The scorpions had both reacted and were coming for them.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

John looked at the dead bugs with his mouth open. Twilight had not missed a single shot.

"What has gotten into you?" he asked, his tone of admiration.

"I really HATE these things."

"Think you can shoot that well if we run into anything else?" asked John, grinning.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Please, of course. There is no logical reason that my accuracy would be improved just because of a- hatred for the target."

John frowned at her, but then shrugged. "Well, in any case, you've definitely improved."

"Thank you."

"So this is supposed to be the entrance to Vault 15?" asked John in disbelief, looking at the rusty metal shack standing before them.

"That's what we were told to look for," said Twilight.

John opened the door and looked inside cautiously.

"Well, I thought it would be better hidden," he remarked.

Twilight looked into the building and was surprised to discover that it contained nothing whatsoever aside from a hole in the middle of the floor. It had a ladder in it that led down into darkness.

"No time to waste," said John. He climbed onto the ladder and slid down into the hole, not even bothering to use the steps on it. Twilight looked at the hole doubtfully, but climbed onto the ladder.

"We're lucky I can fit down here," called Twilight as she came down the ladder. "This is a rather tight fit for ponies."

She heard an strange squeal from below. Quickly casting a light spell and sliding down the ladder, she stopped when she beheld the sight of John crouching over the bloody corpse of some creature.

"Oh, BLEH!" She shouted in a low voice, revolted at the abominable creature. "I didn't know the rats had 'mutated' this bad!"

"I've never seen these before. I don't think they are rats."

"I guess it doesn't matter what they are. Let's just hurry and find that water chip."

John put a hand on her back and pointed. Twilight looked and saw that the cave that they were in held many actual rats ahead.

"Should have figured," said Twilight with a huff.

"You know, I've never actually seen you do that," said John, watching Twilight float through the air while beating her wings. The backpack apparently did not prevent her from flying.

"I am not setting hoof in that- mess," snapped Twilight, trying to keep from looking down at the rat corpses.

"Why don't you do that more often?"

"I don't like to. I'm not actually that great a flyer."

"Oh," said John as Twilight landed beside him, her face frozen into a hardened expression.

"This is a vault, is it?" asked Twilight harshly.

"My vault is nothing like this," explained John. "This place has been abandoned for years."

"It does look as though the raiders must have stripped the place of anything useful," Twilight remarked, observing the broken computers and bare rusted corridors around her.

"Raiders?"

"Don't you remember?" asked Twilight urgently. "They've been causing Shady Sands all kinds of trouble!"

"Oh, yeah, that," said John dismissively. "I was a little more concerned with the scorpion problem at the time."

"Obviously."

John stuck his head through a doorway.

"Oh yeah," he said in a disgusted voice. "I already came through here. There's nothing in here."

"Don't you know where the water chip should be?" asked Twilight.

"More or less," replied John. "This place has a different layout than my vault though. We should be heading for the overseer's emergency supply cabinet, and that is on one of the lower floors."

"Is this the way down?" asked Twilight.

John looked at where her hoof was pointing.

"Oh. Well, it was. The elevator is- gone. Damn."

There was a metal thud as John smashed his fist into the wall. "DAMN."

Twilight peered into the chasm behind the open archway and mused, "I think I could actually get us down there."

"Really?" asked John curiously. "How?"

"You could get on my back and I could fly us down."

"Oh," said John. "Wait," he said suddenly. "We can do that?"

"Don't," started Twilight, pausing for effect, "get any ideas. I already told you, I'm a terrible flyer, and you definitely weigh more than I do. More than anything though, you can get around on your own just fine. This will only for a few seconds, so I think I can manage it. I will have to leave my backpack behind though."

"Sounds good. Are we ready then?"

"Don't see why not," she replied, removing the backpack and setting against the wall.

John slowly climbed onto Twilight's back.

"Ouch!" she cried. She looked up at him. "I kind of need to be able to use my wings, thanks."

"Oh, right," replied John, adjusting his legs so that Twilight had some room.

"Okay," said Twilight. "Hang on." She jumped into the elevator shaft.

As she floated down to the floor below, her eyes flew wide open and screamed at the sight of a huge version of the nasty mutant creature that they had encounter earlier. She tumbled to the floor in a panic.

John was up before Twilight was. It would be highly unwise to run deeper into the vault, so John held up the sledgehammer defensively, waiting for the rat to strike first, but it also stood its ground and hissed at him.

Fine, he thought, have it your way. He was interrupted by Twilight screaming again as more of the creatures came into view in the hallway, although they were smaller.

BANG BANG

John readied himself for a swing.

BANG

"AAAARRGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Twilight dropped her pistol in shock as she saw blood splatter out of John's back and she realized what had happened. "JOHN!" she shouted helplessly.

John had fallen forward from the bullet impact, but seeing the creature before him about to lash out, he plastered its body into the floor in a single overhead blow. He barely bothered to confirm that all of the rats-like things were dead before flipping around to Twilight.

"YOU. SHOT. ME!" he bellowed in rage.

"It was an-"

"ACCIDENT?!"

He was interrupted by two more rats charging through the hallway. He turned to them and angrily and waited for them to come to him, at which point he bashed them into the walls.

He looked back at Twilight, who was too paralyzed with horror to speak. John just stood there, seething in his rage.

Finally he said "Stay here." in a much lower, yet very threatening voice. "Don't you go ANYWHERE. DON'T follow me."

He ran down the hallway and was quickly hidden from sight from the darkness.

A tears began to flow from Twilight's eyes right away, obscuring her vision. A moment later, she heard John's bellows of rage and the horrible squealing of the rats as he inevitably ended their lives. After a while it stopped, and Twilight had no idea how long she sat, alone.

Chapter 4: Science and Technology

"GAURGH."

Twilight looked up instantly. She made out the form of John slumped over against the wall. She sat frozen to the spot.

"Never...," she heard him say. She listened with all her might. "ever... ever... shoot me... EVER... again." His voice had lost its fury, but Twilight could only stare, then nodded after several seconds.

"Now get this damned bullet out of me!"

Twilight got to her feet as quickly as she could. "This is going to hurt," she said in a strained, barely audible whisper.

John nodded and clenched his eyes closed as tight as he could. Purple magic enveloped the wound on his back.

"ARGH! ARGHGHHHHHGH" he screamed, biting into his vault suit in an attempt to muffle it.

The bullet clattered to the floor.

"Twilight," he said hoarsely after releasing his jaws from the suit, which he had ripped wide open.

He received no answer.

"The vault has collapsed on itself, Twilight. I can't get any further in.

Twilight stared at the pile of rubble that filled the room that John had led her to. They had come all the way here, but for nothing.

"There MUST be another way down!" whispered Twilight.

John held up a finger and shook it back and forth and said weakly, "Yeah, there's just gotta be. Come on."

He walked to the wall and put his hand on it, then walked toward the doorway with his hand sliding along the wall.

"You check the other side," he whispered.

Twilight did not hesitate to follow the order. She walked out of the room and trotted along the wall in the opposite direction. She walked into the first doorway she came across. The room inside was as scavenged and rusty as every other part of the vault. She walked through the room and confirmed that there was nothing that she had missed.

She checked the next room and got the same results. The third room she was about to come to the same conclusion when her eye settled upon an irregularity: a couple of locker in the corner. They rattled when she tried to open it.

"John!" she said in a loud whisper.

The man came running to Twilight. She said nothing, but indicated the lockers. He let a sigh, then dropped his bag to the ground. He pulled out a lock picking kit, which Twilight had come across when she had searched the bag before for medical supplies, but forgotten about. She did not dare ask John any questions.

John took removed a lock pick from the kit and slipped it into the lock. He fumbled with it for three whole minutes, and then, without warning, the lock unceremoniously clicked open. John flung the locker open.

Inside was a coil of rope and a leather jacket. John let out a sigh. He shoved the rope into the bag without attempting to keep it neat. Then he removed the jacket from the hook and looked at it closely.

"This is going to be hot out there..." he mumbled. "But it beats being shot." Twilight flinched, even though John had not looked at her or moved in any other way. He put one arm through a sleeve, and then the other. "How do I look?" he asked suddenly, whirling around to face Twilight. He stuck his arms out as though he were keeping his hands as far apart as possible.

"Messing with you would be a bad idea," said Twilight grimly.

"Yeah..."

He picked the other locker open. When the door swung open, he maintained his hard expression and withdrew the some unidentified objects from the locker. Two were round and grey, the other was a red box shape. He crammed these into the bag as well. It was starting to truly bulge. In one smooth movement he swooped up his bag and let it land with the strap over his shoulder.

He walked out of the room with Twilight following warrily. He looked around once, and then looked down at the floor. Twilight didn't need to ask to know that they had already checked every available room.

John said nothing. Instead he walked back into the room with the rubble.

"AAARGHHHHH!" he screamed, smashing into the piles of concrete with the sledgehammer. A shocked Twilight backed into the wall.

John let out burst after burst of screams and continued smashing the rubble with the sledgehammer wildly. Somehow, the weapon didn't receive any visible damage.

As quickly as it had started, John stopped swinging and set the head of the hammer on the ground with the handle pointing straight up. He rested his forhead on the end of the handle and his back heaved as he took in deep breaths.

"Let's get out of here, Twilight. There's nothing left for us here."

The next two days consisted of almost nothing but silent travel, only broken by their stopping to get some sleep, at which point John would suddenly stop and hold his hand up and then proceed to get comfortable in a suitable spot he had found.

"What is that over there?" asked John, stopping in his tracked. It was the first time he had spoken since they had left the vault.

Twilight had jumped slightly at the unexpected sound. She followed his pointing finger and squinted into the distance.

"I think that's a group of people." she said, slightly interested.

"Hmm. Let's go see what they're up to."

As they came closer, they heard a lot of angry shouting. Twilight motioned for John to follow her into cover behind one of the numerous giant stones jutting out of the ground of the wasteland. They peeked around the sides and watched the scene.

Two of the people were kneeling down, and the others were clearly shouting awful things at them. One of the shouting men made a gesture, and both of the kneeling figures stood up.

Suddenly one of them started to run as fast as they could. The shouts of the other men became much louder, loud enough that Twilight and John could hear the air filled with excessive overlapping cursing, most predominantly, a particularly loud raider was bellowing "FUCK YOU BITCH!"

One of the men fell onto one knee and whipped out a rifle.

A BANG echoed through the air at the same moment as a bloodcurdling female scream, and Twilight and John watched in horror as the fleeing woman fell to the ground.

Another BANG cracked through the air. The rifleman then got back to his feet.

Twilight and John looked at each other in utter shock. Twilight recovered first. "RUN!" she cried to him in her loudest whisper.

Twilight immediately took her own advice. She became aware that John had had come to be right behind her, and she looked back at him.

The mere sight of the raiders shrinking away in the distance made her wish that she had not.

Twilight collapsed into the ground when she couldn't stand to run any further.

"We're safe," said John his voice filled with hatred. "I'm sure they never saw us."

Twilight couldn't take the tension anymore.

"John," she said softly to him, half hoping that he would ignore her.

"I'm sorry," he replied immediately.

"What?" asked Twilight.

"I really exploded back in the vault Twilight. I shouldn't have let that happen."

"But I-"

"You have to start shooting in less than a second if you want to stay alive out here, Twilight. You know that by now. It was only a matter of time. Hell, if I was the one with that thing, I would have shot you at least ten times by now."

Twilight listened in silence and did not say anything when John stopped talking, so he continued.

"But seriously, if you ever shoot me again, I might just lose it. Just so you know."

"It wont happen again," said Twilight in a determined tone.

John's face softened. "Good, good," he said, petting her mane. Twilight didn't seem to mind.

He tensed up again suddenly, and Twilight silently winced as his still fist tugged on her mane.

John saw her look of fear and immediately let go.

"Sorry, Twilight." he said as apologetically as he could while angry. "Those raiders..."

They both remained silent for a long time.

Finally John spoke again. "I wish I had never have had to experience this- this disgrace! Mankind is more civil than this! We don't kill each other anymore! Humanity learned its lesson a hundred years ago!" He cried in despair. He paused before he said "In fact, those things are not human. The next time I catch any of those raider SHITS off guard, they're dead. They're so dead."

He turned to Twilight and asked her as gently as he could, "Are you going to stop me?"

Twilight burst out into tears, which she had been trying very hard to avoid doing ever since stopping. Even though her face was an out of control waterfall, her brain was working very hard.

If we all don't protect ourselves from those murderers, their crimes will continue unpunished, and they will continue to claim lives, she thought. And if we destroy them all before they can kill us, ultimately more lives are saved, good lives. But we will not become murders.

"No, John. I wont."

But we will become man-killers.

"John!" shouted Twilight excited from somewhere above him. John stopped opening ancient cabinets and stood up, looking up at the ceiling in surprise.

Twilight came trotting down a set of stairs and gave him a huge smile. "You won't believe what I found under the bed!"

She levitated the thickest book John had ever seen in front of his face, a little too close for his comfort.

"Really?" he said, taking a step back. "How could something like that have possibly survived for all these years?"

"I was wondering that too. There was a whole bookshelf in that room actually, but sadly-" Twilight's tone started reflecting her words. "They were all completely ruined and indecipherable. Maybe people have been here before and took the surviving books away. If so, they didn't look hard enough."

"So what book is that then?" asked John, who had not read the title.

"Its called the Big Book of SCIENCE!" squealed Twilight in delight, squeezing the book to her chest with her hooves. "This will be so cool to learn from a human's point of view!"

Even John was smiling now. "Wow, Twilight. I didn't know that it would mean so much to you. I always found it so boring."

"Boring?" asked Twilight in shock.

"I'm more comfortable with sticking with what I know."

"Bah," said Twilight playfully. "You really are just like my friend Rainbow Dash.

John was already wondering whether it had been a good thing that Twilight had discovered the old world science book. Of course it's a good thing, he thought immediately afterward. I haven't seen Twilight this happy, in... ever.

Twilight had been spending the last two hours sharing details about the book with John every three minutes or so. He had quickly tuned her voice out, and he had just been nodding as she talked. This seemed to work. However, his neck was getting a little sore.

Suddenly he heard her say the word "Equestria". He felt certain that she hadn't gotten that from the book.

"Wait, say that last thing again?" he said.

"I said, 'I can't believe that we've come so close to discovering these things in Equestria!"

"What do you mean?" asked John. As soon as he had asked the question he was sure that he would regret it.

"Because all it would take would be improving the magnification levels on microscopes! Weren't you listening?" Fortunately Twilight didn't wait for an answer. "I can't believe we've never realized that there was such learning to be found in the microscopic world! Did you know that everything is made up of really, really small things called atoms?"

Suddenly John's expression went dark, causing Twilight to recoil in confusion.

"Yeah, I've heard of them. They're what made the nukes so very bad!"

"What?"

"If you don't believe me, I'm sure that your book will tell you the same thing.

Twilight's shocked expression disappeared behind the pages of the book again. John relaxed in the silence while it lasted.

It didn't last long. After a while, Twilight started speaking to herself quietly, and John couldn't help but listen to her, even though he knew it wouldn't make any sense.

"Energy is equal to mass times... three hundred million...? meters per second..."

"SQUARED?" she screamed.

"Twilight!" shouted John. "What the hell?"

"Sorry!" cried Twilight in a near hyperventilating voice. "This is unbelievably... unbelievable!"

"What is?" asked John, annoyed.

"Do you have any clue how much energy a block of uranium with the same weight as me would give off if it undergoes 'nuclear fission'?"

"No?"

"It's... It's..." Twilight searched her mind for anything remotely of the same scale.

"It's way too much, I can't even begin to tell you how huge it is," said Twilight in frustration. "The things you could do if that much energy were able to be converted into magic..."

Suddenly it occurred to her. "It's enough power," she said, suddenly much quieter, "to destroy all life in the world..."

"Oh." said John surprised. "Well, yeah. Look around you."

"I am, John," she said with new awe in her voice. But it was awe of something terrible. "I am."

Her face buried itself behind the book once again.

"Twilight," said John. "Let me ask you something."

Her head leaned out from behind the book. "Of course, John. What would you like to know?"

"Your home, Equestria. You said that it's a perfect world, where nopony hates anypony?"

Twilight looked at him in great surprise at his use of those words, but she said, "Well, that's usually that's the case. I've never known a pony to ever kill anything on purpose. The dragons do, and a few other things, but they are rather violent by nature, and are carnivorous besides, so we can hardly blame them. Why are you asking?" she finished, concerned.

"And you do not have all of the 'scientific wonders' of the old world, correct? And you're friends, their lives are completely happy and care free?"

"Well, compared to life out here, absolutely. They wouldn't agree with me, but like you said yourself, they don't know what life is like in the wasteland," Twilight said worryingly. "But you said that it was the same case in your vault, right?"

"Not quite," said John with a sigh. "People in the vault sometimes die very strange deaths. The people who used to maintain our reactor lost their lives to radiation poisoning when there was some kind of leak. They died making sure that it wouldn't destroy the whole vault."

Twilight regarded John's words with grief, but he wasn't done.

"And then there was somebody who was killed by a malfunctioning robot when I was really small. And there are the rats that somehow get into the vault all of the time. Security gets to stay in practice by shooting the damn things, but sometimes people get bitten. And sometimes those bites lead to infections. And the rats are a result of the fallout from the nukes. You'll read all about that in the book too.

Twilight stared at him, not knowing what to say.

"And so my question is this, Twilight. Would you really want to give Equestria access to all this technology, when obviously everybody's lives would have been so much better without it?"

Twilight stood dumbstruck.

Finally she whispered to him, "I don't want to use knowledge to hurt anypony."

"And I know that you wouldn't. You won't have to. There are always evil ponies that, once they have it, they will abuse it."

"Holy shit Psycho! Those Junktown fuckers killed almost everyone!"

Around the raiders were the bodies of four other raiders and three guards from Junktown. They were all wearing leather armor, although the guard's armor was dyed a faded green. Around the bodies lay various weapons ranging from spears to a hunting rifle.

The raider named "Psycho" rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Shut the fuck up, I can see that."

"What the fuck are we supposed to do now? Hey, what the fuck is-"

BANG

The raider crumpled to the ground without making a sound, blood pooling around his head immediately.

"More for me," said Psycho snidely as he lowered his magnum. He walked over to a former companion and inspected the hunting rifle that he had dropped.

Without warning, he let out a pitiful scream as all of the air was expelled from his lungs with extreme violence and he fell face first into the dust. He was in even worse pain than he had ever been in in his life. He desperately struggled to get to his feet.

"You'll... pay... for... that..." he wheezed out. He stood up uneasily and saw the man right in front of him smash a sledgehammer into his chest.

Chapter 5: Gizmo

"You can come on, Twilight," shouted John. "They won't be a problem to anybody now."

Twilight was on her knees some distance away. She hesitated, but got to her hooves and approached John.

"Idiots were killing each other," said John, hatred in his voice. "They're not only evil, they must be incredibly stupid. It's almost a shame really, I would have loved to have ended them myself."

Twilight tried to block out John's last sentence.

"Anyway, help me out Twilight," John continued, crouching down to the dead raider. "We just struck it big time."

"Umm... Yeah, of course." She didn't move.

"You're not serious, are you Twilight?" asked John, not looking to her. He was focused on getting the raider's leather armor off. "This isn't stealing. Anything that these guys are carrying is fair game. And they won't be needing it anyway. And if we don't take this stuff, eventually some other group of raiders will happen upon it."

"You want to take everything?"

"Hell yeah. Junktown is just a little ways out there," said John pointing at an irregularity in the shape of the land on the horizon. "I said it once, but I'll say it again: great eyes."

Twilight moaned as the town seemed to sink even further into the distance as she watched. "I don't know if we can get there carrying all of this."

"We'll damn well carry as much of it as we can. If there's one thing I know, it's that the two things people out here want the most are weapons and armor." He pulled the armor completely off of the raider and let the body fall to the dirt with a thud.

After a moment, he heard Twilight call out "John!"

He hurried to her side and frowned at the body that she was staring at with her mouth hanging open.

"These people weren't raiders, John!" she said urgently.

"The hell, yes they were, I know what I saw!"

"No, that's not what I meant. These particular people were not raiders. I think they were security guards from Junktown! Look at how clean they are compared to the raiders, and how they've all got that same green armor!"

Now that Twilight mentioned it, John thought that the men did somehow look like they had at least been reasonable people.

"Oh. Well then... Bastards deserved what they got. I mean the raiders!" he shouted quickly upon seeing Twilight's face.

"ARGH!" he shouted into the sky. Twilight jumped at this drastic mood swing. "Dammit Twilight, Why didn't we get here just a minute sooner?!"

Twilight remained silent in shock.

John sat down on the ground. "It's nothing," he said to Twilight, as if replying to an unspoken question. "This is just what happens out here."

Getting up partially, he leaned over the security guard and peered into his face. The dead man returned a stare that disturbed John in light of the recent revelation about who they had been. But he didn't let it show.

"It's funny," John said ponderously.

Twilight listened intently upon hearing the tone of his voice. This was a chance to understand her friend a little better.

"I wonder who exactly they were. How long have they managed to survive out here before now? What if they have families that will never see them again?"

"If they do," Twilight interjected, "then we have to tell them." She indicated the distant town.

"Yeah, of course," said John. He closed the man's eyes.

John immediately jumped to his feet, afraid that Twilight had seen what he had done. "Come on, lets gather up these guns first, the armor is actually pretty massive."

Twilight watched him walk back to the raiders and pick up a long gun that she had never seen before.

"Hey, Twilight? What do you think of this thing?"

She looked at it critically. "If the size of it is anything to judge by, it probably hurts much worse than this thing." She started to hold her pistol into the air, but stopped halfway.

"You want me to use it."

"Of course I do. It's a bigger gun."

Twilight didn't speak, or take her eyes off of the hunting rifle.

John waited for her answer.

"That weapon," said Twilight tensely, "was used to murder a human."

After John recovered from surprise, he said "A gun is merely a tool. It does not choose to kill. That choice falls upon the one who wields it."

He held the rifle out toward Twilight.

She looked at him with a weary look in her eyes, but then they hardened. "Yes, of course... And it would be foolish to cling to this little thing." She held up the pistol.

A purple aura surrounded the rifle, but it resisted her will to move it. She looked up at John in surprise.

"Just don't shoot me in the back with it."

Twilight's expression changed to one of fear.

"I... was kidding," said John with a sigh. "But, that wasn't actually funny at all, was it."

"John, please don't joke about that. I meant what I said: It will never happen again."

John let out another sigh. "What are we standing around for, let's get this stuff picked up before more raiders show up."

"Ugh!" groaned Twilight as she forced the leather armor into her bulging backpack.

"Whew..." she said to herself. Fortunately, the weight of the bag's contents wasn't as bad as she had been expecting, nor would it impede her accuracy with a gun. John, on the other hoof, would have to throw his bag to the floor at the first sign of trouble. She looked over to him and saw that he had already given up on trying to cram anything more into his bag.

"This is it, right?" she asked him, looking around. They had managed to pick the almost all of the bodies clean of everything useful.

"Yeah, I guess so. The security guards get to keep their armor I suppose."

"I thought you were avoiding that!"

"I guess I kind of was," agreed John. "But it isn't as though they are naked underneath."

Twilight looked at him hard.

"Let's just get into Junktown before sundown." she said.

"Welcome to Junktown, strangers," said the guard in front of a huge metal box that served as the entry into the town.

"Are we allowed in?" asked John cautiously, indicating Twilight.

"It's not our place to get into other people's business," replied the man.

"We need to report an accident with some of your men," said Twilight urgently.

"Ugh..." moaned the man, putting his hand over his face and letting is slowly fall away. "You need to speak to the sergeant about that, I'm just the lookout." He pointed a thumb behind him.

"Alright," said John. "Have a good day. Hope... nothing causes any trouble for you."

The guard just nodded and fixed his eyes on the horizon.

John and Twilight stepped through the metal entryway.

"What did they build this place out of?" asked Twilight curiously.

"It looks like they salvaged a whole bunch of cars from before the war," answered John. He didn't say anything more. Just on the other side of the entry was another guard holding a shotgun.

"Are you the sergeant?" asked Twilight.

The man looked at her in surprise, but said "Right you are, Sergeant Lars at your service. I would ask if you have a crime to report, but you two only just came out of the wastes. So... how may I help you?

"Unfortunately," said Twilight sadly, "we're here to report the deaths of three of your guards. They were murdered by raiders."

"Dammit! The patrol? Those were good men!" Lars hesitated. "I take it that you two finished off the raiders yourself?" he asked indicating their bulging bags.

"That's right." said John. "I don't suppose you could direct us to the nearest spot to unload all of this crap?"

Twilight looked at John incredulously, but Lars answered with "Not a problem, head to the center of town and look for a place called Darkwater's."

"Sergeant," said Twilight urgently. "Your men died some ways off in that direction." She pointed with her hoof.

"Oh. Well, thank you. I guess I'll have to throw together a new patrol after all. I'll make sure those men don't sit out in the sun for too long."

"This is the place!" said John happily as he read the sign on the building in front of him, which read "Darkwater's".

"How ever did you guess?" asked Twilight sarcastically. John just smiled at her before opening the front door.

"Well howdy!" said a man behind the desk. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The man jumped at her voice, but said "Killian Darkwater at your service. What can I do for you today?"

"I hope you're in a buying mood," said John with a grin, dropping his bag to the floor. He pulled out a suit of leather armor and laid it out on the desk. Before Killian could say anything, John ducked down and pulled another suit out and placed it on his desk too. Twilight had pulled her backpack off and was also beginning to pile armor onto his desk.

"From the look of it," said Killian admiringly, "You two must have recently wiped out a whole party of raiders."

"Sort of," answered John as he set a couple of magnums onto the desk. "Some Junktown guards did most of the work, but they got killed. We just finished the job."

"Ah," said Killian darkly. "I see. That is most unfortunate. But it looks like you'll at least be financing their replacements."

"Can you tell me what this is?" asked John, ignoring Killian's last statement. He set a strange device onto the table. "I figured it must be some kind of medical equipment, but I need to know exactly what it's for."

"Where the hell did you find that?" asked Killian in alarm. "No, that's a stupid question. No surprise those idiot raiders would be carrying one of these." John's expression changed to worry.

"Listen here, this aint no medical equipment. FAR from. It's an incredibly addictive and incredibly dangerous drug called psycho. You inject yourself with that, and by the time you gain control of yourself again, you'll have murdered everything in sight, even if they weren't trying to hurt you. Or you'll wake up dead. You won't give a shit about if you get shot."

"What the hell do I do with it then?" asked John in alarm.

"Listen," said Killian in a whisper as he leaned forward. "You didn't hear this from me, but I bet you'll find somebody out there dumb enough to buy that off of you."

"You want me to sell somebody something that will ruin their life?"

"What they do with it is their problem," answered Killian. "It's up to you."

"Now then," Killian continued at a normal volume, "If that's everything...?"

"Oh, no it's not actually," said John, and he ducked into his bag yet again. He pulled out the two round objects and orange thing that had come from the vault locker and set them on the table.

"Ok, seriously, where the hell did you get these?" asked Killian.

"Deep inside a broken down vault. Now what are they?"

Killian shook his head. "You don't even know how dangerous these things that you've been carrying around are? This thing-" he motioned toward the orange box, "- is a time bomb."

"Oh, damn. Yeah, that's for sale too. Do those other things explode too?"

"Yeah, they do, but not until you pull out these here pins. They're grenades."

"Grenades?" said John uneasily. "How exactly do they work?"

"It's easy. When you pull out the pin, you have three seconds before it explodes. So as soon as you pull it, you throw the grenade at whatever is trying to kill you. If you're aim is good, it blows them to hell."

John hesitated. "I think I could handle that," he said. "Just so long as there is no chance of them going off in my pocket."

"No chance," assured Killian.

"Alright then. Now that's everything."

Killian drew in a large breath. "There's no way I have enough caps to cover all of this. I don't suppose there's anything around the shop that you need?"

"I'll let you know," said John, stepping away from the desk. "Twilight, keep an eye on the stuff."

Twilight nodded.

"Smart man," said Killian to Twilight.

"I know one thing that you could do to make up for all of this," said Twilight in a business voice.

"What would that be?"

"All of this leather armor would be nice, but obviously, I can't wear any of it. I bet you know somebody who convert a suit into something more my size?"

John froze in front of the shelf that he was browsing. Of course she would need that, you idiot! he shouted in his head.

Killian remained silent at the unexpected request for a moment, but then started stroking his chin. "Maybe. But I wouldn't get your hopes up, Miss. That kind of work isn't easy, and I'm sure that I would just wind up tearing apart perfectly good armor to little avail. Maybe you could get some kneepads out of it, but..."

"Ok, you don't have to sugarcoat it," said Twilight, deeply disappointed. "Just take them as they are."

"Twilight." Twilight turned to John, who had walked over to her side. "We can't leave you defenseless like this. I promise you, we'll figure something out, somehow."

"I'll be fine, John."

John gave her a look of concern before returning to browse the shelves.

Another customer walked through the door of the shop.

"Howdy there!" said Killian to the man. "You'll have to wait for a while if you decide to buy, we're working out a rather lengthy negotiation."

The man sneered at him and pulled a hunting rifle off of his back. "Gizmo sends his regard!"

BANG

Blood splatted from Killian's shoulder, who let out a small scream.

BANG

The guards who had been outside of the building came running through the door with alarmed expressions and their weapons at the ready. They stopped at the sight of Killian with a bleeding shoulder and Twilight pointing her rifle at the now dead man on the floor.

"Everything is under control!" Killian shouted. The guards backed away, but they did not holster their weapons.

"Excellent headshot, Miss," said Killian, who was slumped over against the wall. He had produced a pair of tweezers and was using them to dig into his shoulder. He yanked out the bullet with only a muffled groan.

John was still standing in front of a shelf, gawking at Twilight. Twilight remained in place and did not put her hunting rifle away. She did not say anything.

"Listen, thanks for saving my life," continued Killian as he injected a stimpack into the bullet wound. "It was a mighty brave thing of you to do. Looks like we got ourselves a situation here. I know Gizmo's behind this, but I need proof. You interested in helpin'?"

"I'm in," said Twilight coldly.

Killian jumped to his feet and opened a drawer in his desk. "You have to wear a recorder and tape Gizmo confessing, or, if he won't spill the beans, you can plant this wire tap in his office. Either way, we got him."

"Leave it to us," said John, who was now standing at Twilight's side.

"Alright, I owe you. Here's the bug and wire tap. Gizmo's office is in the back of his casino in the back of town. You let me know when it's done. And good luck."

John turned to the door and walked out of the shop. Twilight didn't follow right away, instead turning to Killian.

"Don't worry. You can count on us."

"I owe you," Killian repeated.

Twilight walked out of the shop and approached John.

"What's the plan here?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," admitted John. "One thing is for sure, it would be idiotic to walk up to Gizmo and ask if he sent that man."

"We should split up and ask people around town what they know about the man." said Twilight.

"I guess that's a start."

"Gishmo?"

Twilight refrained from rolling her eyes at the drunk man that she was questioning.

"He ownsh that thar cashino," said the man, pointing.

"I know," said Twilight, frustrated. "Can you tell me anything else about him?"

"Oh, he'sh a great guy. Before the casino , thish town wash shoooo borin'. I alwaysh leave empty handed, but one of these days, I'm gunna get lucky."

"Argh!" cried Twilight. She turned walked away from the man.

"Does dat mean you won't give me no caps?" he called after her.

She was getting nowhere. All that she had learned was that everybody in the whole town knew who this "Gizmo" was, and almost everyone hated his guts and didn't want to talk about him. The drunk man had been an exception, and she had thought that he might actually be able to tell her more.

She shook her head at her own gullibility.

"What the hell do you want?" shouted a woman in leather armor at John from across the hall.

He looked over at her and frowned. He stepped into a building called "The Crash House Inn", according to the sign outside. He had been approaching a woman at the desk in front of the door.

The woman at the desk sat heavily into her chair and looked down intently.

I have a really bad feeling about this, thought John.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, annoyed.

The armored woman looked insulted. "Who the hell do you think I am? We're the Skulz the biggest, badass-est gang in town! Of course, we're the only gang in town, but theres a good reason for that."

John noted a crashing noise from a room in the back of the inn followed by angry shouting. This woman clearly had friends nearby.

"And what is it that you do here?" he asked her, being careful to avoid upsetting her further.

"Whatever the hell we want. These days we mostly just booze it up and have a good time, although some of our members have a hobby of beating the hell out of people."

John tensely waited, but the woman did nothing.

"Do you do business with Gizmo?"

"What?" asked the woman, surprised. "Well, yeah, sometimes. We don't actually work for him, but sometimes he offers us special jobs, and he pays pretty good. He's cool."

"Okay, thanks."

The woman watched John walk out of the inn. Suddenly she remembered.

"Don't you come back here if you know what's good for you!"

"Twilight!"

Twilight turned to see John running down the street to meet her. She let out a relieved sigh.

"John!" she said as he slowed to a stop in front of her. "Please tell me that you have something. All I've learned is that this Gizmo must be nothing more than a raider who thought up a clever way to get people to give him everything they own. These people are all useless."

"Yeah, I've got something alright. Apparently, there's a gang called the Skulz in town. I had a little chat with one of their more courteous members." He ignored Twilight's look. "Turns out that sometimes they do jobs for Gizmo. And that gives me an idea."

"John," said Twilight, "I can see where you are going with this. It's actually a pretty good plan, but if we aren't careful, it will get you killed."

"Me killed? What about you?"

"This won't work if you take me with you John. Now listen up, you need to tell Gizmo exactly what I tell you."

John stepped into the casino and took a look around. There were roulette games all around him, but some of the dealers were standing by idly. Clearly, this was not the high point of business hours. Better that way, he thought.

He noticed two armored men standing on either side of a door. He stepped toward them determinedly opened the door without looking at either one. Neither guard made any attempt to stop him. He stepped into the next room.

To his surprise, this was not Gizmo's office. There were more roulette tables around him, but the only people in the room was a man sitting at a slot machine and a lone dealer who looked bored out of her mind.

He shrugged to himself and opened the next door. He closed it behind him, and then fully registered what it was that he was seeing.

His eyes flew wide open and he inhaled very sharply, but otherwise retained composure.

At the other side of the office sat by far the fattest man that John had ever seen, his chair almost as wide as the desk that he sat behind. At his side stood a man wearing some kind of metal armor, radiating menace.

"Who are you?" demanded the fat man. "I'm a busy man!"

"Gizmo," said John evenly. "I'm here about the job."

"I don't have any idea what you are talking about," said Gizmo suspiciously.

"Allow me to elaborate. I'm a prospective recruit in the Skulz. In order to gain their trust, I have am to complete a special job, given by you."

"The Skulz?" said Gizmo in surprise. "Those lay'bouts too busy partying to give you work themselves? I'm not surprised. What did they tell you?"

"If I fail, I'll end up just like your last man."

"Ugh, that's the job alright. Hmm..."

John waited in silence.

"Okay... alright, we can do this. But you work for me. You better know that nobody double crosses Gizmo and lives to talk about it." He inclined his neck toward the body guard. "You got me?"

"Got it," answered John. "What'cha want the shop keeper dead for?

"Huh, that's easy. I want him dead because he cramps my business. So, will you take him out?

"Sure, it's a job."

This is working out far better than I had expected, thought John.

"Good. Return with the dog tags that he wears around his neck as proof. And we never had this conversation, you don't mention this to anyone. No one double crosses me. No one."

"Izo!" shouted Gizmo to the body guard. The guard brought his fist to his other hand in a kind of salute. "Show this one the way to the door."

"You're back!" said Killian happily as John and Twilight walked into the store. "Did you get a confession?"

"I sure did," answered John.

"Which? Bug or tape?"

"Tape."

"Let's hear it then.

"That's the first time I've ever been happy to hear that man's voice," said Killian in relief. "Thank you so much friend. Now then, how about you and me finish up the rest of our business?"

John's eyes lit up in alarm.

"Where are the weapons?"

"I had to get them off of the table to do business with other people," said Killian quickly. "I totaled up everything, and I owe you five thousand, seven hundred and fifty caps. But I only have twenty-one hundred with me. Not only can you take your pick of anything in here worth the difference, but I'll also give you another thousand caps worth for your help with Gizmo.

"Two hundred rounds of .223, six stimpacks, a shotgun, and one hundred and fifty shells." said John to Killian, indicating the said merchandise that he had brought to the desk.

"And twenty-one hundred caps," added Killian. "It's a deal. Of course, I'm completely out of caps now, but I'll get them all back by the end of the month."

"Excellent," said John excitedly. He began stuffing things into his bag.

"What exactly is the effective range for this thing?" asked Twilight, picking up the shotgun.

"I wouldn't bother with it if the target is any more than about ten yards away," said Killian. "After that, that's what the rifle is for."

"Alright, got it."

"So, Killian," said John. "Maybe you could give us a little bit of information?"

"If I can," agreed Killian.

"Do you have any idea where we could get our hands on a functioning water chip?"

"A what?" asked Killian, surprised. John lowered his head.

"Sorry," said Killian apologetically. "I'm afraid I've never heard of such a thing."

"That's alright," said John. "I guess that means we will be on our way now. We'll have to try the Hub next."

"Hey, wait," said Killian. "Now that our business is concluded, I'm going to take the sheriff and a couple men to take down Gizmo. I could use another couple guns. Might be good for a laugh?" he suggested.

John flashed Killian a clenched smile. "Definitely. Let's go take that tub down!"

One of the two guards at the front of the casino drew his machine gun when he saw Killian and several other men filed through the front door, but his companion stopped him. Killian looked at them.

"This would be an excellent time to seek alternative employment," he said threateningly.

The two guards looked at each other for a moment and then holstered their weapons and raised their hands. They walked out of the casino without opposition from any of Killian's group. They gave Twilight a weird look, but quickly turned away and ran off into the town.

They proceeded through the next room and John opened the next door. He stepped through alone.

"Ah," said Gizmo, looking up at him. "I trust that you have taken care of the business that we discussed?"

"My apologies, Gizmo," said John as Killian came through the door behind him. The rest of the group came in behind him, including Twilight.

Gizmo gave John a stare that let him know that he would burn a hole through his head by looking at him if he could. "I knew that I never should have trusted you."

POW

Killian gasped as blood emerged from his chest, and then fired his own pistol at Gizmo. He was surprised to discover that John was already next to Gizmo's desk, with Gizmo's body guard right behind him.

Suddenly there was an explosion of blood and gore and a guttural howl as a swipe at Gizmo's stomach ripped right through his flesh and left a gaping pit. The enormous man fell face forward into his desk.

The other men stared in astonishment as the target was dispatched with such ease.

The body guard preformed a martial arts kick and sent John falling into the corner of Gizmo's desk. Izo raised his foot again, ready to stomp John into the ground.

BLAM

The body guard flew into the wall from the force of Twilight's shotgun. The metal armor he was wearing had saved his life, but it did not stop the rain of fire from the other men.

John groaned and got to his feet.

"Are you ok?" shouted Twilight in concern.

"Relax, Twilight," he said. "I've had worse. Just a stimpack, then I'll be fine."

"If I may," said Killian, "There is no need to waste a stimpack when we have a doctor right here in town for cheaper. Just look near the front of town for the hospital, it has a red cross on it. Ask for Doctor Morbid.

"Doctor Morbid?" asked John.

"Don't worry, he will patch you up good as new, despite what his name might imply."

"I'll keep that in mind," groaned John.

"Okay, thanks a heap again for all the help you've given us. I wish we could give you something more. Anyway, I've got to take care of things elsewhere. I'll send someone up here soon to clean up the mess."

After Killian and his men had left Gizmo's office, Twilight said to John "WHY are we still in this room?"

John Smiled. "That was our cue to take what we please." He swiped the gun Gizmo had used off of the desk in one swift movement.

"This thing isn't really that powerful, judging from the noise it made," he remarked.

"I'm getting out of here," said Twilight in disgust. "I'll be waiting outside."

John came out of the casino. He was wearing Izo's metal armor, not at all to Twilight's surprise.

"Did you get anything good?" asked Twilight, causing John to jump. He turned to her.

"I may have found this in Gizmo's bedroom," he said, pulling a book out from behind his back.

Twilight seized the book in excitement, but then her face changed to confusion when she saw what was on the cover.

"Guns and Bullets..." she read.

"Just what I need," she said and smiled at John.

"But now, we need to get you to that hospital."

"Yeah yeah..."

"JOHN!" screamed a horrified Twilight at the sight of her companion emerging from the hospital. He was splattered with blood from almost his head down.

"Twilight, I'm fine!" he shouted. "I just used a stimpack or two after all.

"WHAT HAPPENED?"

John tensed up. "Do. Not. Ask. We need to find Killian now!"

Author's Note

The Junktown gang is taken directly from the game. The name of the gang being similar to my username is purely a coincidence.

Chapter 6: Mutants

"Discord. I assume you are making progress?"

"Perhaps not as much as you would like, Celestia. I'll give you the good news first. I have pinpointed the signature of the world that our dear Twilight has been banished to."

"Discord," said Celestia warningly, "she has not been banished. This is no fault of hers." She paused. "You say that you have found her?"

"Yes. It is definitely a world of much chaos, but a truly distasteful kind if you ask me. What fun is it when everypony is dying when they could have been such delightful entertainment instead?"

Celestia glared at Discord.

"Ahem. And then comes the bad news. The borders between worlds is most uncooperative with my attempts to force it open. I am, after all, only one draconequus versus only an entire world!"

Discord snapped his fingers and a glass bottle with a cork appeared in his hand.

"It's like trying to pull the cork out of a bottle that has no air in it at all!" he said as he tugged on the cork.

"I see. Allow me to offer you some assistance then."

"I don't think that even you-"

"I do not refer to myself, although if ever I can be of assistance in this endeavor, I will gladly do whatever you require of me. But no, I refer to Twilight's closest friends, and yours too, I believe. The populous is largely ignorant of the absence of their princess, but naturally, her closest friends have been made well aware. They worry for Twilight terribly, and each one stands ready to do their part in bringing Twilight back. I believe that their friendship is the only thing with the power to return her home."

Discord looked at Celestia incredulously.

"I really should have expected you to say something like that. I don't see how this will help move Twilight between dimensions-" Discord paused. "-but I've been wrong before. Have them meet me in Twilight's room, where the wormhole appeared, at, lets say noon."

"Why don't you invite them in person?"

"Oh," said Discord in surprise. "Yes, yes of course."

"Good heavens, man! What happened this time?" asked Killian moments after John burst into his shop.

"Don't worry about me, the problem is already taken care of," said John quickly. "But you need to come see this. It seems that Doctor Morbid was more evil than even Gizmo was."

"What?" asked Killian unbelievingly. "Gizmo tried to have me killed!"

"Ah, well..." John trailed off uncomfortably and looked at Twilight, who looked back in confusion. "Doctor Morbid... was not satisfied with just killing you. There is a ladder in there that leads to a basement where... he's been hacking people up," said John, suddenly very upset. "He was running a butcher shop, a damn human bu..." John left the sentence unfinished and fell to the floor, crying.

"Damn it!" shouted Killian. "I've visited the man myself a couple of times and left fit as a fiddle! You two!" he shouted to the two guards in the shop. "Come with me."

Killian and the guards stormed out of the shop, leaving John and a shocked Twilight behind.

Twilight slowly approached John and sat down next to him. He abruptly stopped sobbing as hard, determined to not let Twilight see weakness.

He did however reach out to her and begin stroking her mane. "You were right, Twilight," he whispered. "If it could be worse, it is."

"What... could possibly be worse than this?"

"Don't say that," whispered John seriously. "Now we'll find worse for sure."

There was a pause. "When I first left the vault," said John, "I thought the worst thing a man could do to another man was kill him. But that is not the case at all. But there are some men who need to be killed." There was another pause.

"What do you think it will be next time?" John continued. "A whole town destroyed by raiders? Something worse?"

"I can't even think of anything worse," said Twilight sternly. "Nor should we. It won't do to think like that. Maybe this is an anomaly and it is the worst thing that we will see."

"Yeah, and maybe not."

There was another pause. Finally, Twilight offered up a reply. "Then we should appreciate the peace while it lasts, let the future take care of itself."

John didn't get a chance to reply because Killian burst back into the store.

"What a day..." he said wearily. "I don't know how you keep getting roped into these things," he said to John, not noticing the distressed state he was in, "but once again you have not only my gratitude, but the gratitude of the whole town as well. It seemed that Doctor Morbid has been pulling people that nobody would miss off the streets for some time now, probably since he first arrived in town. I really do not envy the man who has to clean this up. I'll have to pay him five times the usual to make it up to him."

Killian finally heard the other man sobbing. He paused to think. "I think it might be best for you to simply get as far away from this town as possible my friend. Don't take it the wrong way, I just think it would be best to put this incident behind you."

"We're not leaving tonight," answered John. "Not now. But you're right, I'm not staying in town. We'll be camping out in front of the town gate until morning if you need us."

Killian opened his mouth to argue, but then decided to instead say, "No need to worry about that. You won't be having any more trouble while you're here."

Twilight was standing in front of the hospital. She did not remember how she got there, but she was not wondering why, or thinking about anything else for that matter. Suddenly she noticed Killian and John standing in front of the building. She was sure they had not been there before. Upon close inspection, John was bruised all over and was hunched over.

Twilight tried to call out to him, but found that she could not, as she was rooted to the spot and unable to speak.

"You should see Doctor Morbid," said Killian in monotone. "It will be cheaper than using a stimpack."

Without a word John walked into the hospital. Twilight desperately tried to free herself from her frozen state and warn him, but she could not.

There was shouting and gunfire. Twilight finally managed to break free and charge toward the hospital. "JOHN!" She ran through the front door and was astonished to discover that the room was completely empty. Her eye was drawn to a ladder in the corner. She climbed down.

When she turned around, her eyes fell upon a bloody heap of flesh. She screamed and looked away. She came face to face with John's severed head.

She screamed bloody murder and flew into the air.

"You... Shot... Me..." said John's voice from the head.

The scene around her shifted and it became much darker. With sudden clarity, Twilight thought to herself frantically, I'm having a nightmare. None of this is real. But Princess Luna can't help me here! This realization threw Twilight back into panic.

As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she discovered that John's now in tact body was laying face first on the floor of Vault 15. Twilight realized that she was holding the 10mm pistol.

"YOU... SHOT... ME!"

Radscorpions suddenly appeared to be crawling out of the vault wall. They were approaching John.

"AHHHH!" shouted Twilight, springing off of the ground.

"Whoa there! Don't worry, you're safe," someone directly in front of her said. After a moment she realized it was Killian. She looked around and discovered that John was sleeping soundlessly on the ground a few feet away, despite her outburst.

"Killian," she whispered uneasily. "What are you doing out here?"

"Well, I know a bad dream when I see one, so I shook you awake."

"No, I mean- Oh, thank you. But, what are you doing outside of Junktown?"

"Ah. Well you see, I owe you and John both far more than just caps. So I'll be damned if I don't get this to you before you head out."

Killian turned around and picked up a piece of leather armor off of the ground. Twilight gasped when she realized that it had been modified for her.

"You did this for me?"

"Of course. I'll admit, we tore up more than we used to make that thing. It took three whole sets of armor. I didn't think we could do it, but after you and John helped our fair town out so much, I was determined to get you the one thing that you specifically asked for."

Twilight hesitated. "What do we owe you?"

"Not a thing, Miss Twilight. We owe you for everything that you've done already."

Twilight hesitated again. "You don't owe me, you owe John. He was the one who took out Gizmo, and he was the one who... took care of Doctor Morbid."

"Now wait just a minute," said Killian. "Don't sell yourself short. I don't think he would have been able to get to Gizmo like that without your help. So the whole town adores John and not you. But they don't understand him like you do. You watch his back, and he watches yours. I would give him a gift too, but we already gave him everything he asked for."

Twilight smiled to herself. "I guess you're right. I used to be the center of attention all of the time back at home, and it drove me crazy. Now that I'm not, I should be pleased, not offended. Thank you so very much for this."

"It's nothing, really it is. But I need to get going now, it's almost time for me to be opening my shop." Suddenly he let out a yawn. "Time for me to pay for staying up all night..."

"Goodbye Killian. I'll make sure to pass your kind words on to John."

"Keep him safe, Twilight."

Twilight heard John yawn and looked up at him. He opened his eyes and focused on Twilight in surprise.

"Twilight? Where'd you get the outfit?"

"It's a gift from Killian. He said the entire town is grateful to us for everything that we've done for them."

John groggily got to his feet. "I guess that makes sense. We only saved their asses from two madmen."

Twilight looked at John in surprise.

"Anyway, we shouldn't be hanging around here. The sooner we find the water chip, the sooner I can get back home and leave this place far behind."

But what about me? Twilight wondered to herself uneasily.

"So, next stop, The Hub," John continued. "They had better have answers for me."

Twilight awoke at the sound of loud deep voices. She moaned in annoyance at having her sleep interrupted for the second time in as many nights. She opened her eyes and scanned the horizon.

She froze when she saw several huge figures gaiting across the wasteland some distance away. They had now fallen silent. They didn't appear to have noticed Twilight or John.

Twilight rushed to John's side and pushed on his side urgently. John sprang awake and had his sledgehammer at the ready in an instant. He looked at Twilight in confusion. She quickly motioned for him to remain silent and then indicated the giant creatures.

John stared at them unbelievingly. Suddenly Twilight whispered to him, "Are those things human?"

"No. There's no way they are," he whispered back uneasily. "Human's don't grow to be eight feet tall and six hundred pounds. And they don't have green skin."

Twilight took another look at the giants and saw that they did in fact have green skin. At first, she had subconsciously assumed that it was a trick of the moonlight.

"Is there a chance that they are friendly?" she asked.

"Not a chance. So far, everything out here that isn't human out here has tried to kill us. And, just look at them. Would you really expect something that could rip your legs off to be friendly?"

"But what are they?"

"If I had to guess... Mutants," finished John in a stern tone. "That must be what happened to the people who weren't in a vault when the nukes hit."

"Where did they get those weapons? Look at the size of that one!"

John looked and saw that one of the giants in fact was carrying a giant gun that was the size of a child. "We need to get out of here," he said urgently. "Something tells me that they won't take the time to ask questions first."

"Do you think they're still intelligent?"

"A HUMAN!" bellowed one of the distant figures. His companions turned to look.

"DAMN, RUN!" shouted John. They both sprang to their feet and started running as hard as they could.

The mutant with the giant gun let out a roar as his gun rumbled to life. It started spraying bullets at John, but, fortunately, the weapon was not intended for such long range use. The weapon rumbled around in the mutant's unskilled hands and the bullets scattered so severely that they all missed the intended target. However, they did not miss two of the mutant's companions in front of him, who both seemingly immediately had blood erupt from their backs and fell face forward into the ground, with the bullets tearing into flesh further up their bodies as they fell. When John had disappeared out of sight, the roar of the giant gun died.

"STUPID!" shouted one of the other mutants. "HE GET AWAY!"

"IT ALL YOUR FAULT," accused the mutant with the huge weapon, annoyed.

Author's Note

Sorry that this chapter is a little short. The next chapter will have more exposition.

Chapter 8: Necropolis

"John," said Twilight cautiously.

John did not stop walking, only answering with "Hmm?"

Twilight hesitated. "Have you thought about what you're going to do if we... you know."

John inhaled deeply and slowly let the air back out.

"Never mind," said Twilight quickly. "It won't come to that."

"No," insisted John. "It very easily could. I've been thinking about it for a while now actually. If we don't get a hold of a water chip in Necropolis, I think I'll have to return to the vault... empty handed."

"Is there nothing that you could do?"

"Well, I don't like it, but I think we would have to evacuate the vault and try to make a settlement in the wastes. That's what Vault 15 did. They made Shady Sands. But a lot of people will die in the process. I will ensure that we keep our old home, if I can."

Twilight said nothing for a very long time. Eventually, when the sun was setting, she asked, "How far to Necropolis?"

John looked at the Pip-boy. "Not far at all now. We will be there tomorrow.

"When we were told that some of the ghouls had lost their minds," shouted Twilight to John, "I didn't realize that they would be like this!"

John swung his sledgehammer and caved in the skull of the last of the insane ghouls.

"I see what Harold was talking about," said John, huffing. "He looked like he had... mutated. These guys are just falling apart."

"John, look, there's more over there," said Twilight.

John looked and saw a group of about eight more ghouls.

"We can try talking, but if they start snarling at me, they're going to end up like these guys."

As John and Twilight approached, one of the ghouls noticed them and threw back his head and let out a strained howl.

"Here we go again," said John, readying his sledgehammer. The other ghouls were apparently oblivious to their presence, and only the ghoul that had seen them came running at them with a surprisingly fast hobble.

As soon as it was in range, John smashed the sledgehammer into its chest, throwing the ghoul through the air. It landed about eight feet back and tried to get to its feet. The other ghouls had finally taken notice of the commotion.

BANG

Now that the ghouls had seen them, Twilight fired a shot into one of their head's which exploded from the single shot, causing Twilight to scream in surprise and disgust.

Two ghouls reached John at the same time and tried to grab him, but the sledgehammer smashed into one ghoul and swiftly carried the creature through the air as it bore down upon the second.

"This is sad," said John. "Damn sacks of meat."

After all of the insane ghouls had been killed, John rested his head on his sledgehammer's handle.

"This is getting us nowhere, Twilight. I thought there was supposed to be ghouls in this place that will actualy speak to us!"

John looked up when he realized that Twilight was walking toward one of the ruined buildings. Standing in the doorway was another ghoul, which had apparently been watching the action.

"Heh," it said in a strained and raspy voice. "The ferals really don't like you."

"Thank goodness you're not one of them," said Twilight. "Wait, ferals?"

"That's what you call them when they lose their damn minds. Now, good day." The ghoul walked into the building.

"Wait!" said Twilight after recovering from surprise. The ghoul reappeared in the doorway.

"Look, I don't want to talk to you," snapped the ghoul. "Was just seeing what all the noise was. Just keep away from me."

"But, I was hoping you could help us?"

"You don't need help," said the ghoul. "I'm done talking to you." The ghoul disappeared into the building again.

"It's okay, Twilight," shouted John from behind her. "We don't need anybody's help. Look, there's all kinds of foot traffic here. That's gotta lead to the vault!"

Twilight put aside her thoughts and came to John's side to see what he was talking about. There were indeed countless footprints all around a manhole.

John pried the manhole off and climbed onto the ladder. Suddenly a smell hit his nose.

"Oh, hang on..." he said doubtfully, ignoring the disgusting stench as best as he could. He climbed down the ladder and disappeared.

With some difficulty, Twilight crawled down the ladder too and met John at the bottom. Her mouth opened when she saw where they were.

"This is a sewer," said John.

"UGH! said Twilight as she took in the surroundings. Her horn lit up for a moment.

"What did you just do?" asked John curiously.

"I'm keeping that stench out of my nose!"

"What?" said John, surprised. "You can do that?"

"Magic can do anything if you know how," said Twilight, trying to use a matter of fact tone and not come of as boasting. "And you have enough strength to cast the spell..."

"That is it," announced John. "I can officially no longer be surprised about anything."

A giant rat sprang from a dark corner.

It almost immediately met the head of a sledgehammer, traveling at high speed. The dead rat flew into the air from the momentum and back into the dark corner that it had come from.

"Wait don't shoot!" said a ghoul in a raspy voice.

John hesitated, then approached them. "Don't worry, I'm not going to attack you if you're not one of those insane ferals. Are you..." John trailed off as he eyed the group of ghouls behind the one who had spoken, as well as various chairs, tables, and bedding made from various materials.

"You can't seriously be living in this nasty sewer?"

"Thanks for not shooting first, or bashing our skulls in in your case." said the ghoul. "We don't think it's so bad. Can't smell a thing, see. Can I help you with anything?"

"Are you the leader here?" asked Twilight.

"I am the leader of a simple people who have left the surface because of others."

"Who, exactly?" asked John. "Give me names and I'll-"

"The surface of Necropolis," said the ghoul, cutting John off, "is controlled by Set and his ghouls. We are a more peaceable group than Set and his lackeys. I don't want you to hurt him."

"Hang on," said John excitedly. "You said that he controls the water? Maybe we should speak with him."

"No," said the ghoul firmly. "Set is a ghoul like us, but he has acquired a certain amount of power. He is an oaf."

"Would you care to elaborate?" asked John suspiciously.

"No."

"Well, okay," said John slowly. "But if this Set is so bad, why does he let you're group stay down here? You clearly oppose him."

"Set is afraid that he won't have enough people to defend Necropolis if ever we need to."

If you fight like the ferals, then you need all the people you can get, thought John, but he did not say this aloud.

"I know that you have a vault here. I need the water chip to save my people." John stopped and tried to gauge the ghoul's reaction, but the expression on his decayed face was nearly impossible to read. "Will you help me?"

"Hmm," said the ghoul. "Ever since the water pump stopped working, we've been getting our water from that place. I heard that it was a water computer that was purifying all of the water."

"Where is it?" asked John urgently.

"It's in the water shed up north of here," said the ghoul simply.

"Thanks," said John, who turned away.

"Hey!" said the ghoul, drawing John's attention again.

"You aren't thinking of taking the water chip away from us, are you?"

John hesitated and his expression turned hard. "My people," he said slowly, "Need that water chip to survive."

"With the water pump broken, that water chip is the only thing that lets us survive too," said the ghoul.

"I see," said John darkly. "It would appear that we are at an impasse."

"Wait!" said Twilight, acting before the situation escalated. She turned to the ghoul. "Is it possible that the water pump can be fixed?"

"That might be difficult," replied the ghoul. "The parts needed to fix the pump are lost in the sewers beneath the water shed."

"What?" asked John incredulously. "Why the hell would- never mind. But why is that so difficult, just go and get them!"

"The sewers are filled with monsters, and none of my people that I have sent to retrieve the parts have come back."

"Ah," said John. "Makes sense I guess. Okay, I'll do it. I'm more than capable of dealing with some overgrown vermin."

"Thank you," said the ghoul in relief. "When you get the parts, come back here. I can probably help you further with repairing the pump."

"Alright then. I will see you soon."

John turned to the tunnel that would take them north and started walking. Twilight watched him for a moment. She turned to the ghoul.

"Thanks," she said, and then quickly dashed off to catch up with John.

"More giant rats, who would have guessed?" shouted John.

He waited for the creatures to come to him. Twilight fired a couple of shots into a rat which fell dead before it could reach John. The other two giant rats came near and John swiftly bashed them both with the sledgehammer. He turned around and ran.

Twilight fired twice more and the rats fell dead.

"Not a problem," said John. "I think we made a wrong turn somewhere though, this is a dead end."

"It look's like those things have had other victims recently," said Twilight sadly, looking at the dead bodies of two ghouls. "I guess we should check them for anything useful."

"Oh, right!" said John, who thumped his head with his palm. "I didn't kill them myself, so I completely forgot about searching them!"

Twilight ignored this and started to search the dead ghoul in the back of the room. She lifted a strange pistol into the air.

"Argh, this guy didn't have anything," said John. He turned and saw what Twilight was holding. "Whoa, what's that?"

"I think I read about these," said Twilight. "I'm pretty sure it's an energy weapon of some sort. They are military grade and supposedly really hard to get."

"Energy weapon?" said John, confused.

"It mean's that it doesn't fire physical bullets. I think this one shoots beams of focused light."

"Huh?" said John. "That doesn't sound like it would hurt. Maybe if you aim for the eyes..."

"These beams of light are so concentrated that it would burn a hole through your skin," explained Twilight. "It could very well be effective when my other guns prove to be ineffective."

"Well, I do like the sound of that." Twilight didn't answer. John waited for a moment.

"Anyway," he continued, "we need to find the correct way out of this hell hole."

A manhole slid aside and John climbed out of the hole, followed closely by Twilight. He stood up and looked around.

"I don't see anything that looks like a water shed yet. Let's keep going north," he said.

Suddenly Twilight harshly whispered "Stop!"

John stopped and looked around, alarmed. He looked to Twilight in confusion. She indicated a nearby building and started moving toward it, moving as quickly as she could without making a noise.

John followed her. When they reached the building, Twilight pressed herself against the wall and leaned around the corner. She quickly drew her head away.

"Look!" she whispered. "There is a super mutant standing in front of the water shed!"

"No..." whispered John. He indicated for Twilight to move aside. When she had done so, he took her place and leaned around the corner. He saw the mutant. It had a long gun in its hands that John could not identify from this distance. The building behind it was rather larger than he had been expecting.

"That's a water shed?" he asked.

John carefully slid along the outer wall of the building toward the super mutant, hoping that it would not look his way. This was a feeling of discomfort that he was not very familiar with. The slowness of his progress left his mind focused on the fact that he was edging his way toward a giant who would probably kill him on sight. He much preferred the action of battle where his mind focused entirely on the fight and everything happens in a blur. There was no time for worrying involved.

Suddenly the super mutant shifted his head and looked straight at John. "Hey, you!" it said in a sharp voice.

John froze. His mind was screaming for him to run, but his body would not oblige.

"You not ghoul!"

Some of John's panic disappeared, replaced by confusion.

"Come here!"

Already John's racing mind was working toward turning this setback to his advantage. In the meantime, he did as the mutant requested and approached it, although he didn't get too close.

"You not ghoul!" repeated the mutant.

"Of course I'm not a ghoul," said John, who had somehow managed to calm himself. "Do I look like a ghoul to you?"

"Ha! You not fool Harry! You not ghoul!" said the mutant happily.

"Why would you care if I'm a ghoul?" asked John.

The mutant hesitated before answering. "Master wants us find humans. We take you back to Lou."

"Why would you be looking for humans here? This is a town of ghouls."

The mutant thought about it for a bit. "Loutenant send us everywhere. Not know where the humans are. We find them, and we tell him where. Master send army to bring all back to base."

"Army?" said John in shock. He quickly tried to return to his calm demeanor.

"But what if we don't want to go with you?"

"We hurt you," answered the mutant simply.

"Oh," said John, who was unsurprised. "Okay, but before we go, I just wanted to give you this."

The mutant didn't hesitate to take the object from John's outstretched hand. It brought it up close to its eyes to examine it, but then noticed that John had taking off running as far away as possible. The mutant let out a loud snarl.

BLAM

The mutant's head and hand exploded as the grenade that it had unknowingly accepted went off in its hand and the remainder of its corpse fell to the ground unceremoniously.

"What was noise?" came a super mutant's shout from within the building. "Harry?"

Another grenade arced through the air and landed inside the entry to the building. A mutant appeared in front of the door frame just as it exploded.

Much to John's astonishment, the a huge portion of the building itself immediately collapsed on itself.

Nobody moved until there was no more noise except for the sound of rubble settling. Twilight rounded the corner of the building that she had been hiding behind.

"Don't scare me like that!" she said in a shout-whisper.

"Holy hell!" whispered John to Twilight, as it was all he could think to say. They approached the collapsed building. Fortunately, the far end of it was still left standing.

"Are they all dead?" whispered Twilight.

A tremendous roar split the air, and within moments a super mutant threw climbed out from under a rubble pile and was on his feet. It was slightly bigger than a normal super mutant, but for some reason its fists were engorged to the size of its own head.

John started to run, but to his despair the mutant was more than able to keep up with him. He barely dodged a fist from the giant creature. While it wasn't particularly agile with it's swings, it was difficult to avoid a fist so big.

John quickly realized that he would not be able to get even one solid hit in on the mutant without practically guaranteeing getting clobbered. His mind was frantically trying to work out a way to lose the monster.

BANG

Twilight's hunting rifle's shot pierced the back of the thing's back, but did little to damage it. The mutant bellowed at John and continued to chase him.

BANG

The second shot proved as ineffective as the first. John started to fall into despair.

With sudden determination, he readied himself to give the mutant his strongest blow. He did a U-turn, throwing the mutant off.

PEW

John stumbled in astonishment when he saw a red beam appear from Twilight and hit the super mutant in the head, who bellowed in pain, louder than anything John had heard in his life. He fell to the floor in shock, sealing his doom. He did not attempt to get to his feet. Instead John merely lifted his head.

He gaped in astonishment. The mutant had given up on him and was charging at Twilight, whom John knew had no hope of outmaneuvering the mutant. Another laser shot from the pistol in Twilight's grasp and into the mutant's head, causing it to scream again. Its face had turned a sickly black. John scrambled to his feet.

The mutant jumped at Twilight and a hand closed around her whole midsection.

NO! NOOOOO!" she screamed desperately. Suddenly her senses exploded with pain and her vision went black as the mutant smashed her into the floor. She barely let out a scream of pain, as all of the air in her lungs had been forced out.

Time slowed down for the horrified John. Unfortunately, time slowed down his own movement as well. He watched the giant raise the Twilight's body into the air in preparation for smashing it into the ground again. She was still awake and was gasping desperately to get her breath. John tried as hard as he could to get to her in time to stop it, but, maddeningly, he could not make himself go any faster.

He watched in horror as the mutant pounded her into the ground again.

Only moments too late, the mutant came into reach of John's sledgehammer, which he swung with what he felt was greater than all his might. The blow smashed into the mutant's chest and it fell onto its back.

It roared angrily and threw Twilight aside like a forgotten toy. Before it could even start to get up, John swung the sledgehammer into the mutant's head.

It hit the mutant in the blackened part of its face. Charred pieces of the mutant's face fell out at the impact with no blood to follow suit. John had hit something vital, and he quickly realized the mutant was dead. It did not stop him from bashing it's skull one more time.

He dropped to Twilight's gasping form. "Twilight, Twilight! You're going to be fine!" he cried to her desperately. He frantically pulled Twilight's pack open in search of stimpacks. "Damn, where do you have them?" he asked her, not expecting an answer.

After digging through the pack with no success for a short time, he heard Twilight's hoarse voice. "I... think... I'll... be... fine," she wheezed out without tone.

John stopped digging through the pack and dropped down to look her in the eye. "The leather armor!" he cried. "Killian, you've saved her life!"

Twilight made no response. John continued. "I asked him about it and he said that it used to be an old design by the "Americans" to use in a sport that they used to play where they bashed into each other all the time! Built to protect the wearer from concussions and trauma!"

John suddenly smashed his foot down on top of the charred chunks of the mutant's face that had come out and ground them into the ground. When he lifted his foot, all that was left was ashes. While he had not been expecting this, it hardly mattered at the moment.

John sprang back to the pack. "Twilight, the stimpacks! Where are they?"

"That... pocket..." Twilight tried to indicate with a hoof, but it wouldn't quite listen to her brain's instructions. John picked up on her intent anyway and pulled the correct pocket open.

"Please let her not have broken anything," he muttered to himself.

"Ugh," moaned Twilight, who was now on her feet. "I don't get it. Stimpacks can repair tissue and stop bleeding, but I still have a dreadful headache."

"Can you walk?" asked John. Twilight gave him a look. "Sorry," he continued, "it's just that I don't feel comfortable here with ghouls and super mutants all around. We need to hurry up and find those parts."

"Alright," said Twilight. "I just hope you didn't bury the water pump with that stunt of yours. You realize that these building's are one hundred years old? They're already falling apart."

"Don't worry about it," assured John. "The pump is in the back and I only collapsed the area around the entry."

"You had better be right."

"But first, there's another manhole right here in front of the place. That is where we're supposed to find the parts."

John pulled the manhole off and climbed down the ladder.

"Oh, right," he said, his voice echoing out of the hole. "Uh, I guess you should find a building to hide in or something. Just keep that awesome pistol ready. This won't take long."

Twilight shook her head. She did want to go with John, but he was highly unlikely to run into any trouble that he couldn't handle on his own. But she also knew there was no way that she was going away from this manhole. She wanted to be within earshot just in case.

"Okay John." she answered.

About ten minutes later, she heard John's voice again.

"Twilight, you still up there?"

"Yes, I am."

"I'm coming back up!"

A moment later, John was crawling out of the hole. He pulled the bag off of his shoulder. "Look at all of this crap," he said. He set the bag on the ground and opened it.

"Whoa, what a mess," said Twilight, observing the contents. The entire mouth of the bag was filled with various scrap metal and electronic parts.

"Yeah, how are we supposed to make this work?" asked John.

"I don't know, but that ghoul in the sewer said that he would help us when we retrieved this stuff."

"Oh, that's right," said John, snapping his fingers. He looked at Twilight. "Uh, you stay here. Let me take care of it."

"Welcome back!" said Twilight happily when she saw John making his way out of the manhole that leads to the ghouls.

John gave her no answer. He got completely out of the hole and on his feet.

"Where is the ghoul?" asked Twilight. "Did he refuse to come help us?"

John opened up his pack, his face remaining expressionless. A moment later, he pulled out a book and held it up to Twilight in both hands.

Twilight didn't say a word, instead just looking at the book in surprise.

John spread out his hands and two more books fanned out from behind the first. They were all issues of "Dean's Electronics". Twilight's mouth hung open.

She took the books from John's hand and stared at them. She looked back up to John.

"Why," she said in a loud voice, "didn't he just give us these in the first place?" she finished happily.

Twilight took off toward the half ruined water shed. John ran after her.

They both started climbing on top of the rubble and carefully making their way toward the back of the building. It wasn't far.

"There's the pump," said Twilight.

"Hmm," said John. "Absolutely no way I can fix the damn thing, but that's why I keep you around!"

Twilight glared at John.

"Oh come on, I was joking! I'll guess I'll have to see what I can do."

"Ugh," grunted Twilight. This is too important, she thought. I'm not going to let a headache stop me now.

Twilight flipped the first electronics book open and said, "This will probably take a while. Take one of these books and help me find anything that will help."

"What?" asked John in surprise.

"Do it!" snapped Twilight.

"Aha!" said Twilight. John looked up from his own book and raised an eyebrow.

"There's a schematic for just this sort of thing right here in this book! We didn't even actually need the others!" she said happily. "Not to say I won't read them later. Now to fix the generator!"

"Good luck with that," said John. "I'm going to take a look around."

John left Twilight to her work and stepped into the back area of the water shed. A ghoul's voice suddenly cried out to him, "Hey you!"

John jumped in the air. He looked around for the source of the voice and, to his astonishment, discovered that there were three iron bar doors in the room and that there was a ghoul behind the one in the middle.

"Are you here to set me free?" asked the ghoul hopefully.

"Uh, I didn't know you were back here, but of course I'll let you go," said John.

"Thank you, thank you" said the ghoul. "What are you waiting for then? Do it do it do it!"

John approached the door and discovered that it was locked with a conventional locking mechanism. He smiled to himself.

Now this, I can do, he thought to himself. He pulled his lock picking kit out of his pack and easily picked the lock open.

"Oh, thank you so much again my friend!" shouted the ghoul.

At that moment, Twilight came through the door. "What's going on back here?" she asked.

John ignored her. The ghoul was in a rush to get as far away from the cell as possible. "Wait," he said to the ghoul. "Where is the water coming from?"

"That cell over there," said the ghoul, pointing to the right. "The old vault is down there. We've been getting our water from there ever since the pump broke. The glowing ones can be overly protective though. They won't let anybody in or out, and we've got to get that pump fixed, and these stupid super mutants don't care!"

"I just finished fixing the pump," Twilight announced.

"You did?" squeaked the ghoul in surprise. "Then we owe you big time! Um, now then, can I please get out of here?"

"Of course," said John, stepping aside to let the ghoul pass. It hurriedly hobbled past him and through the doorway.

"Come on," said John urgently. "We're so close."

He opened the door to the vault and crawled down another ladder in the ground.

When Twilight reached the bottom, she turned around and saw John standing over the dead bodies of two ghouls.

"John!" she exclaimed. "What happened? Ferals?"

"They moaned about how I was an intruder or something," said John quickly. "I was going to explain, but they attacked me!"

"Oh..." said Twilight sadly. "Right, the glowing ones. It had to be done," she said, as much to herself as John.

"Come on!" said John, who turned and jogged off into the vault. Twilight hurried after him.

The trip through the ruined vault was uneventful, but it was undeniably eerie when all of the resident ghouls started thanking them for fixing the water pump. When Twilight asked the ghoul how he knew about that, it explained that they could hear the pump working, even from the vault, and the two newcomers were surely responsible. Twilight and John said nothing more to the ghouls, even when they all gave their thanks.

John knew exactly where to go. He finally stopped in front of a computer, the only device in the entire vault that appeared to still be functional. John approached the controls for the machine and hesitated.

"This is it," he mused. "Everything since I left the vault has been leading up to this."

He punched a few buttons on the control panel. A small square thing extruded from a slot in the computer unceremoniously. John only waited a moment before grabbing it.

"That's it then", he said. "It's over. All we have to do is return to my vault. No more fighting, and no more stinkin' wasteland."

Twilight said nothing, not wanting to interrupt John. They wordlessly made their way out of the vault.

Twilight climbed out of the hole that lead to the vault. She was grateful that, hopefully, it would be the last time she would have to, as it was generally uncomfortable to climb. John was already on the move, but he had opted to walk around the rubble instead of climb it. Twilight followed.

"UGHRAGH!"

Twilight and John looked at the rubble in astonishment and it began to shift, but only barely. A piece fell away and revealed the face of a super mutant, buried deep under the remains of the wrecked building.

Chapter 9: Old Friends

"Hey! You!"

Twilight almost bolted upon hearing the mutant's voice. She hesitated and looked to John.

John watched the mutant carefully. He could see that the mutant was continuing to struggle in vain.

I can't believe I'm about to do this, he thought. He got down onto one knee (although it was in a position ready to run if need be) and peered at the mutant's face. The mutant temporarily stopped it's attempt to free itself to look back.

"Where are the others?" the mutant asked.

"Dead," said John coldly.

"Oh," said the mutant, sounding disappointed. It started to struggle again.

I should just kill this thing and hurry back to the vault, thought John. To his surprise, his feelings didn't like the thought very much. Eventually he rationalized that any attempted violence toward the mutant might enrage it sufficiently to break free. Better to just leave it here to starve to death.

"I suppose you want me to help you?" asked John viciously.

The sarcasm was lost on the mutant. It stopped struggling again and looked at John. "No. There is no chance that you can move this when even I cannot."

"You're trapped here," said John. "You're going to die."

"No. Master will send help."

Ah, thought John. Time to get to the bottom of this.

"Who is Master?" he asked.

"He tells us what to do. He makes the world a better place for everyone."

"But who is he?" asked John.

The mutant's face scrunched up in confused thought.

"Master told Lou Tenant what to do, and Lou told us."

"What is the master's name?"

"Master is his name. No other name is appropriate."

"Ugh," sighed John to himself. "Can you tell us where he is?"

"No. I have never seen Master. I don't know where he is."

"How can you follow his orders he doesn't tell them to you directly?" asked John incredulously.

"Master? Talk to me?" the mutant asked in astonishment. "No, Master too busy to give us orders himself. There are too many of us."

"How many?"

"I do not know. When I am with the rest of our kin, I could not count us all.

"Can you tell us where this Lou Tenant is then?" asked John.

"Base to the north and west. It will take you weeks to get there."

John became lost in thought and didn't speak any further. Suddenly, Twilight stepped forward.

"How did the master convince your kind to carry out his orders?"

John looked back at the mutant, as he was also interested in the answer.

"It's..." The mutant trailed off. "It's what we are for. Our purpose is to serve master. There is no other."

"But how can you know that?" asked Twilight.

"Uhh..." The mutant thought some more. Suddenly it came to a realization and began again, its tone one of petty triumph. "The nightkin! They are the most faithful to the master. As a reward, the master does speak to them directly. Each one hears the master speak in their mind."

"Every single one of these nightkin hears the same voice?" asked Twilight in a tone somewhere between suspicion and horror. "And it tells them to do the same things?"

"Every single one" assured the mutant.

There were no more words for a while. The mutant had given up on trying to free itself, and with nothing else to do, continued to look up at it's audience expectantly.

"Your master wants humans," began John. "Why?"

"Don't know. We do what we're told. Harry got mad when the ghouls told us that they were the humans from the vault here. Harry made us stay here to make sure they would co-orp... cor-oper..."

"Co-operate," finished Twilight. "You seem to be a bit... better versed than the other mutants we've seen. Why was Harry leading the group and not you?"

"Better versed..." said the mutant in thought.

"You're smarter than the others," explained Twilight bluntly.

"Oh. Lou put him in charge."

"And who," asked John, pausing for only a moment as he fully realized what he was asking, "are you?"

"What?" asked the mutant.

"You called your kin 'Harry'. Who are you?"

"Oh. They call me Sally."

"Sally?" said John, not believing it. "Are you a woman?"

The mutant gave John a look. "Womans are humans. I'm not a woman, I'm a mutant." It's voice made it clear that it thought that this was obvious.

Twilight had also noticed the feminine name, but had said nothing because of her general lack of knowledge about humans. However, she now asked the mutant, "But why do they call you Sally? Who gave you that name?"

"I don't remember." said the Mutant. "No, wait..." it said immediately after. "I do remember. Was human once. Don't remember why. Doesn't matter. Only Master matters now. I like it like this."

John stood up and looked away from the mutant. He looked at Twilight.

"We're leaving," he announced. He began to run away at a jog.

Twilight looked back to the mutant, who looked only slightly disappointed.

"Good luck," she whispered to it in a low voice, afraid that John might somehow hear. In fact, it was so low that the mutant probably didn't hear it either, but somehow, just saying the words relieved a knot that had been building in her stomach.

She started to ran after John, but she stopped to look at Harry's body. She noticed that the strange rifle was on the ground next to it. She picked it up and examined it. Laser Rifle, she thought.

She took the gun and lingered no longer. She ran after John, who had now slowed to a walk. When she was next to him, she slowed to walk beside him.

"Why?" asked John as soon as she had stopped at his side. He didn't wait for her to ask him 'what'. "Why did I talk to that thing?"

Twilight didn't answer him. John turned his head at her and repeated more sharply, "Why?"

"You wanted information," said Twilight hurriedly. "And you got it. And you got a little more."

John sighed. "They're turning us into them." He shoot his head to indicate that he didn't want to discuss the topic further. "Let's go."

John pressed onward across the wasteland relentlessly. Twilight was barely keeping up.

"John!" he heard her cry. He stopped and turned to her with an eyebrow raised, but he quickly lowered it when Twilight let herself fall to the ground."

"I can't keep up with you like this forever!" she moaned.

"Argh," muttered John to himself. Unfortunately, Twilight noticed and gave him a hurt look.

"I'm sorry!" said John quickly, but sincerely. "Sorry, It's just that we've got to get back to the vault as soon as we possibly can. Who knows if we'll wind up hitting a detour or something."

"I know, better safe than sorry," said Twilight.

"Open up your pack. Drop anything that you don't need."

"Everything?" asked Twilight.

"Keep one weapon and some stimpacks. And you're bottle caps I suppose. I can't believe how light those things are."
A minute later, a small pile of guns and ammo was on the ground. In her magical grip was the Laser Rifle, which she was considering carefully.

"Impressive," commented John at the Laser Rifle. "I forgot about checking the bodies. Can you handle it?"

Twilight fired the rifle once into a nearby rock the size of her own head, which split at the point where the beam hit it and left the inside glowing red for just a moment.

"It seems sufficient," said Twilight. "If we run into more mutants, I'll be glad I brought it. Bullets just don't seem to hurt them."

"So you're all good then?"

"I guess, but can't we take a short rest first?"

Twilight yelped as John scooped her up off of the ground and began running.

"This is not necessary!" shouted Twilight. "It's an insult to my dignity."

As quickly as he had started, John dropped Twilight to the ground.

"Alright," said Twilight, annoyed. "I get it." Without further warning, she bolted ahead of John. It didn't take long for him to catch up.

"I will never run another marathon," said Twilight, "for as long as I shall live!"

"Are you sure about that?" asked John. "You did better than I thought you would. I think it did you some good."

Twilight ignored him. "So, this is where your vault is?" she asked, looking for some kind of a landmark. It was difficult to see much, as it was almost midnight.

Twilight and John managed to make it all the way to Vault 13 in less than two weeks without incident, thanks to Twilight's inexplicable ability to sense trouble and steer clear of it. To John's amusement, she was still completely incapable of perceiving the thousands of people living underground nearby.

"The entrance is in a cave in that direction," said John, pointing. He hesitated.

"Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"I had better go alone. They won't like it if I come in with a stranger without them knowing."

"I understand," Twilight assured him. "I'll wait out here. After you explain everything to your overseer, we can figure out what to do with me then."

Relieved John put the reasons for her to remain outside out of his head. "I'll be back soon," he assured. "Even if they won't let you in, I'll come back, and we'll figure it out."

Twilight only nodded in answer.

John turned away from her. He closed his eyes and exhaled strongly. Finally, he opened his eyes again and walked to the cave.

John was quickly swarmed with security as soon as he entered the passcode into the console and the giant door opened. They checked him over with some strange devices, and one pulled away his sledgehammer. John let him. The security guard looked it over and then raised his eyebrows at John, but he handed it back. "He's clean," announced the security guard.

"It's good to see you too, Miles," said John sarcastically.

The security guard laughed. "Yes, yes, glad you are back, I really am. I just hope that you've got good news."

Miles walked away before John had a chance to answer him. For a moment, John was confused, but then he realized that it was best that the first person that should find out about success as well as failure should be the overseer. He walked to the elevator and stepped in, thankful that it would bypass the area where most of the residents lived. He didn't want to be swarmed with friends demanding news about the water chip.

When the elevator door opened, to his dismay, it revealed the last person he wanted to see.

"Carlos?"

Suddenly he realized that something was wrong.

"Whoa, nobody told me you were back!" said the other man nervously.

"What the hell are you doing up here in the middle of the night Carlos?" asked John. "This is administration."

John suddenly caught sight of the metal canteen in the other man's hands which he had failed to even try to conceal.

Carlos saw this and his eyes went wide.

John broke into a grin. "Oh, this is perfect!" he said happily. "The Overseer will hear about this. I was just on my way to speak with him. Payback's a bitch."

The other man screamed in rage and ran into the elevator and slammed his hand down on the button that would take him to the second floor.

Where the hell does he think he's going? John said to himself, amused.

"Twilight!"

Twilight's head spun around in the direction of the voice, which could not have been John's. It sounded nothing like him, and it was coming from away from the cave. It was also rather quiet, and after a moment, she doubted she had heard it at all.

"Twilight! Are you there?"

Twilight felt her own eyes bug out. "Discord?"

She took off running toward the voice.

She came to a stop in front of a black cloud, which had features in it much the same as the cloud that had brought her into the wasteland in the first place.

She didn't stop to think. She shouted out, "Discord!"

"Twilight! Is it you?" she heard Discord's voice reply from within the cloud.

"Yes! I can't tell you how happy I am that you've found me!"

"We're all happy. You're friends and I have been working very hard to find a way for you to come back!"

"Does that mean..."

Twilight hesitated. She considered the consequences of returning. She would see her friends again. She would be free from the grasps of the wasteland. But she would leave John forever, without ever getting the chance to say goodbye.

"Yes Twilight! Let us waste not another moment! The cloud won't last long. Try touching the cloud, just as you did when you were whisked away!"

Twilight was conflicted, but she also knew that she had to hurry. Who knew if there would be a chance to escape again.

She closed her eyes and jumped into the cloud.

And landed. There was silence. She opened her eyes again and took in her surroundings.

The wasteland. The cloud was behind her now. It had not worked.

"Discord, I can't! It won't pull me in!" she cried in despair.

"It won't? Oh no. Then it must be my fault! We must find a way to make the connection stronger!"

"Does this mean the cloud will evaporate away and I'll be left here again?" asked Twilight.

"I'm... I'm afraid it does," said Discord. "Hey!" he shouted from within the cloud in surprise.

"Twilight!" shouted Rainbow Dash's voice.

"Rainbow?" said Twilight, surprised. "I didn't know that you were here too!"

"We're all here, Twilight. We've all been working with Discord for three days to try to get this portal to open! We were this close!"

"Three days?" said Twilight in surprise. "But, I've been gone for weeks and weeks!"

"Um, no Twi, You disappeared five days ago."

Uh oh, thought Twilight.

"Twilight?" said Rarities voice.

Twilight threw her worries aside to answer her friend. "Yes?"

"I don't know what kind of terrible things are happening to you in there, but remember, we're here for you." Rarity paused. "Even if we're a whole world away." she finished firmly.

"Um, I want to say something too."

Twilight was surprised that Fluttershy had voluntarily spoke before every pony else had. "Yes?"

The cloud remained silent for a moment. Finally, Twilight barely heard the words "Be safe," come out in a whisper.

"I will, Fluttershy," Twilight assured her.

"Twilight," said Pinkie Pie, but not in a way that implied that she was waiting for an answer. "when we get you back, I'm throwing you the biggest 'welcome back' party ever. Because you are going to come back. Soon. I promise."

"Thank you Pinkie."

"Ah agree with Pinkie," said Applejack's voice. "We'll get you back soon, and when you do Ah'll make sure to give you the best grub you've ever had. I can't imagine you've found anything decent to eat... wherever you are."

"Well, not exactly," agreed Twilight. "Some of it is pretty good, but it's slowly making me sick."

There was a collective gasp from the cloud.

Twilight rolled her eyes, then realized that she was grateful that her friends didn't see the gesture. "That's not the worst of it by far. Much of this place is pretty terrible. But it's not all bad. I have another good friend to take care of me. Everything will be fine." She tried to convince herself of her own last words.

"Twilight," said Discord urgently. "The cloud is fading! If you have anything you need, you must say it now!"

Twilight frantically tried to think of anything that she could. "Make sure to tell everypony that I'm alright!" she said hurriedly. "And, I've missed all of you. This means so much to me, even if I can't see you just yet."

Twilight realized that the cloud had finally disappeared. She wondered exactly how much they had heard.

For the first time in three weeks, she started to cry.

Chapter 10: Quest for the Brotherhood

"Twilight!"

Twilight turned toward the cave and saw that John was approaching her. As he got close, she saw that his expression was grim.

"Is everything alright?" she asked, worried. "Are they going to refuse to let me in?"

John stopped in front of Twilight. "Well, yes, but that's irrelevant. After I gave a full report of our travels, the overseer made some calculations and came to a disturbing conclusion. The super mutants are without a doubt being created. And they are going to wipe out all human settlements. Including the vaults. I've been tasked with ensuring that that does not happen."

Twilight let out a long sigh. "I was afraid of this," she said. "Does your overseer not understand that you cannot possibly do this without an army behind you?"

"That's just it!" said John in frustration. "You're the only one with experience outside the vault!" he mocked. "We can't afford to lose anyone! You have to do this alone!"

John fell silent. After a moment, Twilight said, "Did you tell him about me?"

"No," said John, annoyance still present in his tone. "I was too pissed with the overseer to bother. He doesn't need to know does he? After all, he's throwing me to the wolves, a second time!"

"John," said Twilight, trying to calm her companion down. "Even if your vault won't help, the rest of the wasteland will. They have no illusions of safety. If we prove to them that the mutants will invade their homes, we can get them all to stand together to prevent it."

"Are you serious?" asked John unbelievingly. "You've seen those people. They'll never work together on such a large scale for any reason. They just won't trust one another. It's in their nature."

"I know. We'll just have to give them a little push."

John considered. "Alright," he finally said. "If you think we can do this, I'm right behind you. But there is just one thing."

"Yes?"

"The vault gets the same protection as everywhere else. I won't be able to live with myself if something happens to them."

"I understand," said Twilight reassuringly.

John nodded his head in relief, and then said, "Do you remember what Harold told us about fighting the mutants?"

"That we shouldn't do it?" asked Twilight, confused.

"Yes, because we don't have the equipment to. He said that some people called 'The Brotherhood' is properly equipped to do so."

Twilight's face lit up in understanding. "And they live north-west of The Hub. But, we don't know exactly where, do we?"

"No. But If we head in that direction, we'll have to find them eventually."

"Shouldn't we head to a town and ask for directions?" asked Twilight.

"No. That would be a detour of at least a few days."

"But what if the Brotherhood hides from us? What if we pass right next to them and still don't find them because we don't know where they are?"

"You mean 'what if they are in a vault?' We know where every vault for miles is, Twilight. Nobody but Vault-Tec had the power to build a whole settlement underground.

"I hope you are right."

"I do too," said John, now suddenly filled with doubts.

"Well, once again, we have no time to lose. Let's get going."

I'm forgetting something, said a voice in Twilight's head. She tried to recall what it was.

Oh, of course! I didn't tell John how I was so close to going back home. So close to seeing all of my friends and family and everypony that I care about again. And how close he was to having to do this alone.

Twilight hung her head. Perhaps it's best to not tell him about that just yet.

"We're lost."

"No, we are not lost," said John in frustration. "I can pull up the map on the Pip-Boy and see exactly how to get to the nearest town any time we like. The problem is..." he let out a huff. "That, for all we know, we're getting no closer to finding the Brotherhood."

"Do you think we might find them under all of that smoke?"

"What?" said John, confused.

"Look," said Twilight, indicating somewhere ahead. "Theres some kind of rocky outcropping in the distance, and theres smoke rising out of it. Don't you think that it might indicate at least a camp fire?"

John winced his eyes as he focused at where Twilight was pointing. "Hmm, thats definitely something, but I can't tell exactly what from this distance.

"Well, then lets get closer!"

"Whoa," said John. They had rounded the rock outcropping and were now met with a view very different than anything they had encountered in the wasteland. The sky had darkened unnaturally at some point, and impeding their progress was a large ravine. Twilight swore to herself that she could hear a strange noise coming from the depths. There was also smoke everywhere, spewing endlessly from the ravine. Despite the smoggy air, they could see one way across the ravine. There was an ancient rope and plank bridge not far away.

Unfortunately, there was a man in a brown robe standing in front of it, clearly intent on preventing anybody from crossing.

"He doesn't actually look dangerous..." whispered Twilight to John.

"You should know better than to ever assume that."

"Maybe if we talk with him, we can convince him to let us across."

"Do you want me to beat his face in while you distract him?" asked John seriously.

"NO!" replied Twilight in a raised whisper. "Not unless he tries something."

"If you say so. I was just thinking that it would be better to be safe than to be sorry."

"Attacking every living thing in sight is not a good way to be safe."

"Fine then, you talk to him."

Twilight rolled her eyes and approached the man.

"Look at him!" whispered John. "A wild-eyed man with an unkempt beard. His left eye looks like it's about ready to jump out of his head!"

"That's not his fault! snapped Twilight. "Oh, ugh..." she said sickly as they got closer. "Although, I don't think he's had a bath in years."

Just before she was about to greet the robed figure, He held out his palm and shouted "Stop!"

Twilight and John stopped immediately, both with a look of worry.

The robe figure spoke in a demented, dramatic voice. "Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, 'ere the other side he see!"

John looked utterly bewildered, but Twilight spoke back with surprising resolve. "Ask me the questions, bridge keeper. I'm not afraid!"

John gawked at her, but Twilight didn't notice.

"WHAT is your name?" asked the bridge keeper in the same dramatic voice. He didn't seem to be put off by the unicorn in the least.

"Twilight Sparkle!"

"WHAT is your quest?"

"To stop the mutants and return to Equestria!"

"How much weight can a person with a strength of six carry assuming he has the Strong Back perk?

Twilight was thrown off by this, but something in her head told her that she must not delay in giving an answer. Unfortunately, she had no idea what the answer was. So, she decided to try to buy some time.

"How many levels of the Strong Back perk does the person have?"

"I-" the bridge keeper stammered. "I don't know that! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHhhhhhh!"

Twilight closed her eyes as a natural reaction and felt blood hit her coat. She almost didn't dare open her eyes, not wanting to believe what had just happened, but she did.

"Did you do that with your magic?" asked John with slight panic.

"NO!" screamed Twilight hysterically. "I swear, I didn't do anything! He just... EXPLODED!"

Twilight tried her best to ignore the fleshy paste around her as she scooped the bloody robe out of the dirt with her magic and screamed at it.

"I didn't MEAN for him to die like that!"

"Whoa!" exclaimed John, his voice drowned out by Twilight's own.

"Why couldn't he just let us pass? He died because he couldn't answer a question? What kind of end is that?" Images of what could have happened to her back in magic kindergarten for getting a wrong answer began to flood into her head.

"Hey, uh, Twilight, what do you make of that?" John asked.

Twilight opened her eyes and looked at the robe, which had inexplicably turned purple, though still retaining stripes of brown at the borders. "What the hay?"

Twilight calmed down slightly, as she usually did when a practical problem was set before her.

"What is this thing made of?" Twilight said in confusion. "Feel it!" she commanded John, who did as she asked, eager to keep her mind off of the trauma.

"I don't see what-" he began.

"Try to rip it." said Twilight.

This wasn't what John was expecting, but he tried using his not insignificant strength to tear the robe in two, only to find that the robe was far stronger than he expected.

"How?" asked John, offering Twilight the robe.

Twilight took the robe back from John. "This smelly, filthy garment must be made out of some special fabric in order to have withstood the foulness of the bridgekeeper's body," said Twilight uneasily. "Look here," she said, pointing out a particular spot on the robe. "Oddly enough, it has plasma burns and scorch marks all over it, as if energy weapons were used against it... to no effect."

"But why is it purple?" asked John.

"I have no idea." said Twilight. "Maybe because..." She held the robe up in the air. It has something to do with me? she finished in her head, knowing how far fetched it would sound if she said it.

Before John could speak, Twilight continued, more excited. "This could actually work! Getting armor refitted for a pony is so hard, especially with anything harder than leather, but this might be just the thing! I could definitely fit into this!" Her eyes narrowed.

"After we wash it off..." Twilight trailed off, depressingly.

"People die out here all the time," said John. "It wasn't your fault. And, I bet you are right, that thing will probably save your life. It's what we have to do to stay alive out here."

"That's a terrible way to think," said Twilight.

"That's the only way of thinking that will keep you from becoming a corpse," John said gloomily.

"Wait," said Twilight suspiciously, dropping the robe in the dirt. Her horn lit up and released a flash of light.

"We should get out of here," she said urgently.

"What's wrong?"

"I thought maybe the robes had some kind of magic in them that killed the... poor man. They don't. Actually, the ravine itself does. It's the only magic in the whole wasteland that I've encountered, but it is evil. We need to get out of here." Twilight picked up the robes again, but continued to hold it away from herself in disgust.

"Oh," said John, worried. "Let's not waste any time then." He carefully grabbed ahold of the ropes of the bridge and began to cross.

"Cabbot."

Scribe Initiate Cabbot turned to the other door guard standing across from him. "What?" he asked in a bored tone.

The paladin of the Brotherhood pointed his minigun off into the distance. Cabbot looked and saw that there were two figures walking toward them.

Neither of them said a word as they waited for the newcomers. About three minutes later, the man in metal armor came to a stop in front of Cabbot. The initiate was trying to decide what to make of the other man's strange companion, which was a strange creature clad in a purple robe, but when the man began to speak, he had to give him his full attention.

"If you guy's aren't the Brotherhood, I'll eat my armor," said the man.

"Right you are," said Cabbot. The man, who had initially stopped in front of both guards, turned to face Cabbot. "What gave that away?" Cabbot continued, hefting his minigun.

The other man rolled his eyes, causing Cabbot to laugh on the inside. "I need to speak with your superiors. You must tell me where I can find them," the man said.

"Which superiors? The elders?" asked Cabbot, clearly amused. "I can't let you into the bunker at all, much less speak to anyone inside."

"This is a bunker?" asked the man, surprised. "You're entire organization is right here?"

"Correct," said Cabbot. He loved these conversations with the wastelanders that decided to try to talk with him. They would inevitably demand to be let inside the bunker, only to be denied. They would usually get mad, which was always funny to watch. Sometimes they would get violent though, and that was always annoying, and meant that he would have to spend a while standing over a corpse or two until someone from below arrived to clean it up. This man's strange companion did make Cabbot uneasy, but he knew that he had almost nothing to fear while wearing T-51 Power Armor.

"Maybe you don't understand," said the man. "Have you seen giant green brutes of men wandering around the place?"

Now Cabbot was interested. A couple of weeks ago, a scout team had come back to the bunker with a gigantic green man in haul. He had been told nothing about it, and had heard nothing of it ever since.

"I may have seen one," said Cabbot neutrally.

"Just one? Do you know that there are thousands of the brutes getting ready to wipe out every settlement in the wasteland?"

Now Cabbot was getting worried. Not that he believed the stranger in the slightest, but this was definitely not the average conversation he had with the wanderers of the wastes. And the man had proven that he had at least seen another one of the things that the Brotherhood was holding secret.

"That could be a problem," admitted Cabbot. "They won't be getting through us though, let me tell you."

"That minigun," said the man urgently, pointing at Cabbot's weapon. "They have more of those things. I've had a mutant shoot at me with one."

"You did not!" said Cabbot accusingly. "You can't have ever even seen a weapon like this!"

"I did. It shot out so many bullets I couldn't believe it, but lucky for me, that mutant was a terrible shot. Now, are you going to let me talk to your elders?"

Cabbot was uneasy. After a short conflict in his head, he decided that he had to stick to protocol.

"It's out of my hands," he told the man. "It doesn't matter what the problem is. Nobody gets in or out except for members of the Brotherhood of Steel."

"Then I want to join the Brotherhood."

"You would?" asked Cabbot in surprise. It had been a while since a wanderer had had the nerve to suggest this. "Uh, great! You can join. There's just one, ah, condition."

"And what would that be?"

"Not just anyone can join. The elder, um, he said you have to complete a... well... a quest..."

Cabbot ignored the look that he knew the other door guard was giving him.

"A quest?" asked the man in surprise.

"Yes. You have to go to the ruins of the Ancient Order. That's south of here. You wasters might know of the place as 'The Glow'. Uh, you've gotta go inside and bring back something that proves that you were there."

"How will you know if it's from this place?" asked the man.

"This place is high tech. There's things inside like you've never seen before. Oh, uh, it's also radioactive. Aheh."

"So that's all?" said the man. "I'll do it! Just show me where we're going."

Cabbot let out a sigh as the man pulled out a Pip-Boy and handed it to him. Cabbot put the coordinates into the machine and barely had time to bid the man goodbye before he and his strange companion were running off.

"Really?" asked the paladin. "They're giving him the 'famous' Glow quest?"

Cabbot merely snorted and shook his head.

"That man clearly doesn't understand what 'radioactive' even means," said the paladin.

"Yep. We won't be seeing him again."

"What if he actually had something really important? Thousands of those mutants?"

"If it was really important, we've already got all of the info we need. I'll mention it to someone, they can decide if we should worry about it."

Author's Note

Time to justify the bridgekeeper incident. The most important reason that it is here is that Twilight needs better than leather armor, but its just not possible to refit anything tougher for a pony in a reasonable amount of time. The bridgekeeper scene is in fact from Fallout 2, but it is unrelated to the plot, and the bridgekeeper's robes are in fact equal to combat armor in that game, just lighter. But my favorite reason is that I think Twilight would look amazing wearing those robes. They really do turn purple when you pick them up.

Chapter 11: Radiation Sickness

"So this is 'The Glow'?" asked Twilight.

"I suppose it must be," said John, peering over the edge of a gigantic hole in the ground. "I don't know why people would call it that though. It just looks like a pre-war lab or something that they built underground. There's not a normal entrance around here either, so it must have been top secret."

"But why is that hole there?"

"I don't know. Maybe a nuke landed here? It would make sense if this was a top secret place filled with technology. I do have to wonder how the people who launched it knew where to fire though."

"Ah, that would explain why it's radioactive. It's supposed to stay for hundreds of years. Um, should we be worried about that?"

"Nah," said John. "Radiation doesn't hurt anybody. The whole world is irradiated, plus we've been eating radioactive food all of this time. We'll be fine."

"Oh, good," said Twilight in relief.

"There's a whole bunch of burnt bodies down there," John remarked. "Probably from when the nuke went off and they were the people who worked here. And not all of them on the first floor. It looks like the explosion punched through to the third floor."

"But that's not what happened to the people up here," said Twilight in caution, indicating one of a few corpses that surrounded the hole. "These people look like they died from something else. This particular body hasn't been here for long. Relatively."

"Well, we had best be on our guard then, as always. Let's just get down there first?"

"Ugh, you want to ride on my back again, don't you."

"We need to, unless you want to go down there by yourself."

"Okay, alright. Hop on then."

When Twilight touched down on the first floor, John jumped off and held his sledgehammer at the ready, and Twilight brought out her laser rifle, but nothing came running to attack them. The structure was utterly silent.

"Okay," said John to Twilight in a whisper. "Let's stick together now."

"Of course," Twilight whispered back.

The entire structure seemed completely barren. Everything that John and Twilight could see was either a burnt human corpse or a piece of machinery damaged beyond recognition.

Twilight stopped to examine one of the corpses closely. There was very little information she could gather from it. She couldn't even tell if the body had been a man or woman. Whatever clothes it had been wearing seemed to have melded with its skin and been reduced to more ash. Twilight prodded at the body lightly with the stock of her laser rifle, but the ash did not fall apart like it did when she used the laser pistol on the super mutant.

Twilight ran back to John's side. "Found anything?" she whispered.

"Nope. I get the feeling we are going to have to go deeper to find anything that the Brotherhood would care about."

"Hmm," said Twilight. John looked at her expectantly. "Carrying you on my back really takes a lot out of me," whispered Twilight. "And I know that I'm going to have to at least fly us out of here again. I don't even like to fly for more than about half a minute by myself anyway. I think that I should fly down a floor by myself and scout it out." Before John could protest, she added, "If there's anything dangerous down there, I'll come right back."

"Okay..." said John slowly. "Just be safe. Remember, if you get killed, I'm trapped down here forever." John let out a laugh as Twilight rolled her eyes before running out of the room and throwing herself over the hole as she unfurled her wings. John watched her float down and out of sight before returning to his own task.

The next two rooms were empty too. Before he could enter a third, John heard Twilight shout from below.

"Twilight! Are you ok?"

"Everything is fine!" Twilight shouted. "Something just... scared me is all."

"Well I hope there really is nothing alive in this place," John shouted. "If there is, they've definitely heard us now."

"I'm coming back up!" shouted Twilight in slight alarm.

A moment later Twilight came shooting out of the hole and landed next to John, panting slightly and wide eyed.

"What was it?" asked John insistently.

"Well, you remember how I keep saying I'd love to see a robot?"

"Of course, how could I forget," said John sarcastically. Whenever Twilight decided to kill time by reading the Dean's Electronics book, it had been one of the more frequent remarks that came from her. "So there are robots down there?"

"Yes, there are, but they are all 'deactivated'. It's a good thing they are too. Some of them had shotguns, and some of them had some sort of weird weapon stuck on them that I couldn't recognize."

A robot with a shotgun? thought John. Really?

"But the creepy part," continued Twilight, "is that the ones with shotguns... They have brains stuck inside them!"

"What?" asked John in shock. "You mean like, living brains? From people?"

"Yes! They're sitting inside glass bubbles on the robot's head and it's disgusting!

"But," said John in confusion. "were they not all decayed or something?"

Twilight froze as she realized what John was saying. "No," she said thoughtfully. "They looked... pristine..." She shuddered.

Suddenly John felt like throwing up, and it was only with some difficulty that he resisted the urge. I don't get that grossed out! he thought in surprise. I didn't even see the damn things!

"Come on," said John, eager to get Twilight's mind off of the robot. "Let's hurry up and find something. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"I don't suppose a robot would suffice?" asked Twilight. "One of the small one's that doesn't have a brain in it?"

"No," answered John. "That would be too much to carry. We need to find something small."

John rounded the corner to the next room and stopped in his tracks. On the floor in the middle of the room was a suit of the Brotherhood's power armor, sprawled out on the floor. Twilight gasped when she saw it. John walked over to the dead brotherhood member and crouched down.

He tried to pry the helmet off, but it would not budge. He tried a few more places and discovered that no piece of the suit would budge.

There's no telling how long the body has been here without getting a look at it, he thought, but it can't have been here when the building was destroyed. Even this armor would not have stood up to a nuke. There must be some trick to taking it off.

He noticed that there was something clutched in the corpse's hand. Hellllllo John thought, intrigued. He removed the object, which turned out to be a holodisc. He immediately inserted it into his Pip-Boy.

As he read the contents of the device, he quickly realized that the information was a boring account of some expedition from the Brotherhood. But that didn't mean that it was worthless.

"Hey, Twilight." he called. "Do you think this will work?" He showed her the words on the Pip-Boy.

"It's an expedition that came here to the glow. The Brotherhood will know that they never came back. It will work." Twilight let out a moan. "At least, I hope it will work. I didn't want to say anything before, but I think I'm getting sick. Really sick."

"Oh, uh oh," said John. "Um, I'm not feeling good either, actually."

"There must be some sort of disease trapped in this place," moaned Twilight.

"Or it's the radiation," said John, his volume growing in alarm. "Twilight, we have to leave now."

"That's what I was saying."

"You can still fly, right?" asked John, suddenly starting to panic.

"Yes, that won't be an issue," said Twilight, causing John to sigh in relief. "I'll be just as miserable flying as I am on the ground."

John gave Twilight a sympathetic look, but he didn't waste any more time. He removed the holodisc and put it into a safe spot in his pack, and then climbed onto Twilight's back.

"Get us out of here," he said urgently.

John and Twilight both thrown up almost non-stop ever since they had left The Glow. They had tried eating some food, but it didn't stay down for longer than ten minutes. Neither of them had thrown up anything for a while since then, as neither of them had anything left in their stomachs.

And now Twilight had fallen unconscious. It occurred to John that he could be thinking thoughts such as 'Great, now I have over twice as much to carry,' or 'If she can't keep up, she gets left behind.' However, the only thought that John was truly thinking was "This is all the Brotherhood's fault. I swear, if they don't have a damn good doctor who will help her, I'm going to murder every last one of them."

He carefully scooped Twilight into his arms. She didn't stir.

It's a good thing that I only feel miserable thought John as his aching eyes glared at the two raiders who had decided to investigate him. Neither of them moved a muscle.

I don't have time for this! he thought angrily. He carefully set Twilight's still unconscious body on the ground. He did his best to let out a loud, intimidating roar. He succeeded in making it loud. Wow, I sound sick.

The two raiders looked at each other, and then slowly turned around and started to run.

Neither of them lived long enough to feel the back of their skulls crack open.

John ignored the bloody mess and scrambled to search the bodies.

He stopped when he saw his own hands. The skin was peeling off of his fingers.

John decided to thoroughly examine himself. I'm very nauseous. I'm fatigued. I can't stop throwing up, at least when I've had anything to drink or eat.

He reached up and grasped his hair with a hand. A significant portion came free in his hand.

My hair is falling out. My skin is falling off. I have got to look miserable. But however bad I look, I definitely feel worse.

John turned his attention back to the raiders, who seemed to have quite a large supply of pork 'n' beans.

He would be throwing it all back up again within minutes. But he didn't care. His stomach was demanding food.

Within seconds he had emptied the dry contents of one of the cans into his mouth. He didn't bother trying to eat anything more.

John returned to Twilight and hoisted her back into his arms. He gave her an examination. She didn't seem to be showing any visible signs of illness, other than an inability to regain conscious. She hadn't thrown up ever since she had passed out.

Maybe she's got the right idea, he thought. But somebody has to do the heavy lifting, another part of his mind said. John forced himself to stop thinking and only focus on making it back to the Brotherhood of Steel.

"Cabbot," said the paladin sharply. Once he had the initiate's attention, he indicated the man approaching the bunker. He was holding something purple.

As he drew nearer, Cabbot realized exactly who this was.

"Holy hell," he muttered to the paladin. "They must have gotten out of there while he still had time left!"

By the time John was almost within speaking distance, Cabbot realized that there was something very wrong with the other man. He shuddered as he took in the sight.

"Here," hissed John to Cabbot, "is your damn proof." He held up his hand to display the holodisc, then forcefully pushed it toward Cabbot, who was forced to rest his minigun on the ground as he relieved one of his hands to take the disc.

Cabbot was grasping for words, but John continued speaking. "Now, If you don't get my friend to a doctor right now, I am going to start killing people."

"You care more about that thing than-" said Cabbot before he was cut off.

"That thing is the best friend I've ever had. She's smarter than either of you, and even me, and I owe her my life."

"Cabbot," shouted the paladin angrily. "You shit for brains! Open the damn door and let them in!"

John felt himself coming awake under an intense light. He kept his eyes clamped closed as he groggily sat up. This caused him to notice that he was lying in a bed with sheets over him. It was the first time that he had been in a real bed in months.

"Hello?"

He heard someone approach, but they did not speak. There was a click, and the intense light above him lessened somewhat. It was enough to open his eyes.

There was a woman in faded red robes in front of him. To his surprise, she was bald, except for a ponytail that she let rest on one shoulder.

"I was hoping I would be here when you woke up," the woman said.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Vree." the woman replied. "But I am not the doctor. That would be Doctor Lori. Now then, who are you?"

"My name is John,"

"Full name please, you see you've been asleep for a couple of days while we administered treatment and we have had no name for the paperwork."

"John Griffon."

"Well, John Griffin, thanks to our doctors, you are no longer in a critical state. Some of them were afraid that you might be showing signs of ghoulification. I'm sure you are happy to prove them wrong. Let me be the first to warmly welcome our newest initiate to Lost Hills Bunker, home of the Brotherhood of Steel."

John narrowed his eyes. "You people tried to have me killed."

"Yes," answered Vree sadly. "I assure you, that decision was not mine to make, or things would be different. It was a scheme to keep the riff raff who are denied entry into the bunker from scheming up ways force entry. You were the first to succeed, and the elders have upheld their promise. Some, grudgingly."

"We. We were the first to succeed. Twilight and I..." John trailed off. "Where is she?" he demanded.

"She is in intensive care. Her recovery is not turning out to be as swift as yours."

"Will she be ok?"

"You speak of the creature as though it is your best friend," remarked Vree. "Indeed, Cabbot says you called her just that."

"You're changing the subject," said John angrily.

"I see," said Vree. "I will not lie to you. Around here, saving the lives of humans is our top priority."

"You bast-"

"That is," said Vree sharply, "It was until our team discovered that your friend's anatomy is quite alien to anything we've ever seen. She has all of the usual organs and such, but there is more to it. It would take too long to get into the details."

"You're giving her attention because she's different?" asked John in disgust.

"For the majority of the team, yes, that is exactly why," answered Vree. "However, I know an intelligent creature when I see one. Her brain is very much alive, and appears to be under very much stress, but the signs are there. I do not let intelligent beings die, Mr. Griffon. Especially not the best friend of one of our own. Doctor Lori specializes in treating humans, but I have a much broader understanding of medicine, and I am taking a special interest in your friend."

"I see," said John coldly. "Twilight is not a part of the Brotherhood, is she."

"No. The elders were clear on this. However, under your care, she is allowed to come and go as she pleases."

"Alright, I guess that's the best I could hope for," said John. "Um, Mrs. Vree..."

"Just Vree, please."

"Vree... I'm sorry for all the anger. You're doing your best to help Twilight, and I am... grateful."

"Thank you," said Vree, "If you don't mind, does she have a last name?"

"Twilight Sparkle," replied John, eager to be helpful.

"Thank you again." but then Vree's expression somehow turned even more serious.

"Unfortunately, I must inform you, that there are... complications. I have already told you that her anatomy is unusual. At first glance, you might think that she is largely unaffected by the intense amounts of radiation you both received at The Glow. I am convinced this is not the case. The rads are, without question, present, and we cannot use human treatment to remove them. Her body is having a terrible reaction to the radiation, but is reacting differently. Her brain patterns are going erratic, and it is getting worse."

Vree paused to gauge John's reaction. He could only stare back at her in shock.

"I need you to tell me anything that you know that might help. Especially concerning one thing in particular. To my surprise, her horn appears to have heavy neurological links directly to her brain. The tissue in that area is completely unlike anything in our databanks."

"She uses her horn to levitate things through the air without touching them," said John, speaking monotone. Vree said nothing, but she did hold up a tablet of some kind and stare at it. "She also can make it light up like a light bulb. She says that it's magic. She also says that she should be able to do much more impressive things, but for some reason, she just can't."

Vree didn't speak for a full minute. Finally, she said, "I believe you."

"You do?" said John in surprise.

"I do. This device monitors, among other things, your brain patterns, and I do not believe that you are insane or have suffered from hallucinations or altered memories. Almost all of the other doctors will be skeptical, but, somehow, your information makes sense."

"Will it help you help Twilight?" asked John urgently.

"Perhaps. These things take time."

"How much time?"

Vree stared back at him, making him feel uncomfortable.

"At least six weeks," she said, causing John's heart to sink. "Almost certainly more. Possibly less if we make a breakthrough. We have to devise a unique treatment for her. Ordinarily, this sort of thing would be extremely expensive. However, the doctors have decided to provide the service free of charge.

"If only to satisfy their curiosity," said John angrily.

He jumped out of the bed and landed on his feet with a thump. He was largely naked, but luckily he was wearing some sort of patient's shorts. "Get these cords out of me," he commanded Vree.

"Where are you going?" she asked in surprise.

John looked his body over. None of his skin seemed out of place, and he felt fine. He reached a hand up to his hair and tugged, and it remained firm. A good deal of hair was still missing, but presumably it would come back in time.

"I'm in good enough condition to go back into the wasteland?"

"Technically, yes," said Vree. "I'm surprised that you are so eager to leave."

"Twilight is going to be here for a very long time. I can't sit on my ass for six weeks with nothing to do but to... worry about her. I just gotta get out of here and... get out there and... argh!"

"Kill something?" suggested Vree.

John looked at her in surprise. "Yea, precisely. So how do I get out of here?"

"Wait one moment," said Vree.

"I'm not waiting!" shouted John. "I can't wait."

"It would be in your interest to listen to me," said Vree. John didn't protest, so she continued. "The elders have a special assignment for you."

"I can't say that I'm too interested in listening to them right now."

"Perhaps. But I think this assignment coincides with your own interests. It is simply to leave the bunker and to scout around for the source of these 'mutants'. They have no choice but to believe your claims of an invasion in the face of evidence that we have collected ourselves. And, in six weeks, when you return for your friend, the Brotherhood will have devised a plan to help you and to help the rest of the wasteland. The elders won't like it, but they will see the error of their ways. It will happen, I promise." Vree leaned forward and whispered, "I'll make sure of it."

"Thank you so much Vree. That actually means more to me than may you know." John paused. "I was more or less on that 'assignment' anyway. I don't suppose I get any of your fancy armor to help out?"

Vree laughed. "Power armor? No. But you should speak to Michael, on the top floor. Every Brotherhood initiate is provided with unique Brotherhood combat armor. It is superior to the variants you might find in the wasteland."

"Excellent," said John, a little more cheery. "Now, really, where is the elevator?"

"Do you not wish to bid your friend farewell before you go?"

John smacked himself in the head. "Of course I do! How could I be so inconsiderate? Lead the way!"

John stopped when he saw Twilight's form, asleep on top of some sort of monitoring table in a sealed room with a glass front for observation. There were a couple of Brotherhood doctors standing at their stations nearby. Vree nodded to John and he entered the room.

What am I supposed to tell her when she can't even hear me? John thought to himself. He stopped next to Twilight and decided to just let whatever came into his head out of his mouth.

"Twilight, you can't leave me now. I need you. I have so many reasons that I need you..." John grasped for more to say. He became aware of how awkward he felt. He also decided that he wasn't too interested in letting the doctors who were monitoring in on whatever he decided to say, so he the only thing further he said was "I'll be back for you soon, I promise."

He stood in the room for a couple more minutes before turning and walking out.

"Everything okay?" Vree asked.

"Yeah," said John wearily, looking back into the room.

He turned to Vree. "Elevator."

Twilight flew awake in an instant. She was on a table under a bright light. Strangely, the intense light didn't bother her, dispite having just woke up. Where is John?

She looked around. She did not recognize her surroundings. Where am I? There were a couple of people in strange outfits behind the glass door.

She got off of the table and walked up to them. The people didn't seem to notice.

"Hey!" she shouted. The people made no response. They didn't even look up from their work.

"Hey!" she shouted again, moving to tap the glass with a hoof.

She immediately felt that something was wrong. She looked down.

Her hooves were gone.

Her whole body was gone.

"What's going on?" she shouted in panic. She turned around and saw that her body was still lying naked on the table.

"No!" she screamed. "Am I dead? I can't be dead! I'm still right here!"

Twilight realized that she ought to be hyperventilating at this point, but she lacked the appropriate equipment to do so. She checked her own body over, feeling very strange as she did so.

It was still breathing.

It had definitely lost weight, and didn't look very healthy, but it was still alive.

Twilight realized that she was already referring to her own body as it.

On the plus side, she also realized that, in this state, she felt fine.

How am I seeing all of this? Twilight thought to herself as she calmed down. This doesn't make sense. It shouldn't be possible!

She looked around the room. There was little in it except for the table where her body was lying and some monitoring equipment. Her robe was nowhere in sight, but Twilight didn't worry about that particular detail much.

Suddenly she heard the door open. She turned to it, and to her immense relief, John came through it and into the room.

"John! It's you!"

John didn't react either. Twilight felt as though her stomach had sunk, only her stomach was about five feet away.

John stopped next to Twilight's body. "Twilight, you can't leave me now. I need you. I have so many reasons that I need you..."

"I'm right here!" she shouted. "Take me with you!"

Once again John didn't react. He didn't speak any further, but he lingered in the room for a little while.

"Am I a ghost?" shouted Twilight. "Can people see ghosts? Is any of this real?"

John offered her no answers.

"I'll be back for you soon, I promise."

Twilight gasped at John's statement.

"You're leaving me? But I don't even know where I am! Where are you going? What are you doing? Why are you leaving me?"

Twilight felt like she should be crying, only, of course, she couldn't.

Finally, John walked out of the room. Twilight chased him through the door, hardly surprised to discover that she passed through it as though it were not there.

John followed a woman in robes into the elevator. The door closed. "John!" shouted Twilight.

She flew into the elevator shaft and chased it up. To her surprise, there seemed to be no limit to how fast she could make her... perspective travel. It would accelerate however much she wanted. And she had overshot John.

She found herself looking out across the wasteland. She had come out of the Brotherhood bunker.

"I'm with the Brotherhood? How am I seeing this?" she screamed to herself.

A dream. This has to be a dream. It's the only logical explanation.

She gazed out across the wasteland in new wonder. What will happen if I wander too far away from my body? What if I went traveling around the whole world? Or even... If I flew to the moon? Would I lose my body forever?

Another part of her mind said I don't know, but I don't think I want to find out.

The door into the bunker opened up and the someone in a strange outfit stepped out. Twilight would have done a double take if she could when she recognized that it was John, now dressed in some sort of heavy armor. Twilight flew to his side.

"By the way," said the woman. "If you happen across any relevant samples or data, I would appreciate if you could bring it back here."

"Right," grunted John. Without further warning, he took off running to the north.

Twilight debated whether she should follow him, but she couldn't bring herself to lose track of her body. Her heart sank even further.

"For as long as I remember..." a deep and low voice boomed in Twilight's... hearing. She recoiled in surprise. "The fabric of this realm has only been rippled by myself. Others have walked it's waters, but none of their own will. But now, here is one who has stumbled in, without knowledge of where she is, or what she has happened upon, shouting like a newborn. Fitting."

Twilight hesitated. "Are you talking to me? Can you hear me?"

There was a short silence. "Yes. Yes."

"Who... and what... are you?" Twilight asked the open air uneasily.

"I have no name as you know it. There used to be those like me who, in their immaturity, turned the world of humans to ruin. And I, I am the only one left in this world with the power to save it, and perhaps... remake it. And who..." The voice changed to be inquisitive and curious. "and what, are you?"

Chapter 12: Out of Body Experience

"Princess Celestia," said Discord urgently as he appeared in a poof.

"Discord!" exclaimed Celestia in surprise. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Are you going to send me away in punishment?" asked Discord sarcastically.

"No. I assume that there reason you invited yourself in?"

"Of course," said Discord, returning to his serious tone. "I have news about Twilight. It's not exactly good."

"Is she safe?" asked Celestia quickly, abandoning her usual formal tone. "Has something terrible happened?"

"I'm not sure. It's probably not good news, but it might not be bad news either."

"Well?" demanded Celestia.

"Twilight appears to have entered a very strange state of being. I have no idea what is causing it. It could be because of a number of things. Chemicals, mind manipulation, or even something else that we have never seen before. She is in another world after all, and there is no telling what kind of strange things might happen to her."

"We have to do something. We have to help her."

"What do you have in mind?" asked Discord curiously.

"You managed to speak to her once before," said Celestia. "Make the connection once more, here and now."

"Now?" asked Discord in surprise. "But I'm worn out!"

"I don't have time for this Discord. Now."

Vree had barely stepped off of the elevator to check on Twilight when one of the doctors saw her and came running toward her with a look of shock on his face.

"Vree!" he shouted. "You need to see this!"

"What's going on?" Vree demanded. "Does it have to do with my patient?"

"Yes..." said the doctor. He scratched his head. "I thought that that robe was crazy, but this... I'm going to sound like an idiot if I say anything. Just come see."

Vree raised an eyebrow at the man, but followed his lead. She could already hear the voices of several of the team shouting in alarm. When Twilight's containment chamber came into view, she stopped in her tracks.

Twilight's body was floating in the air.

It was also sideways, and Twilight's eyes were still closed. The body was surrounded by a strange purple aura.

Last of all, it was slowly traveling through the room, moving in the direction of Twilight's head. Vree watched in silence as her Twilight floated closer and closer toward the glass. It collided noiselessly and stopped. After a moment, it started to spin around and take off on a new trajectory.

"Is the patient conscious?" asked Vree.

"We are almost certain that she is not," answered one of the more calm scientists. "It is difficult to tell, and we require your authorization to use any further equipment. We have also decided that this is a different phenomena than the floaters our scout teams have reported. I'd like permission to enter the room and preform some tests."

Vree considered for a moment.

She put a hand into the air. "May I have your attention please!" she shouted to the team. The scientists immediately stopped shouting and looked at Vree expectantly. "Noninvasive observation techniques only. Scientific curiosity is a secondary priority. Primary objective is to return the subject to perfect health. Tissue samples must be authorized by me, and used only for the purpose of testing radiation cures. Once exhausted, they will be disposed of via biohazard regulations. Finally, nobody enters that room without my permission."

"Vree..." said another scientist. She looked at him expectantly. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Magic," answered Vree in complete seriousness.

"We're scribes, and scientists, and doctors, Vree," replied the scientist as he put the palm of his hand on the side of his head. "The word 'magic' is not in our vocabulary."

Twilight didn't want to trust the mysterious disembodied voice. On the other hand, it might be capable of hurting her somehow, and she didn't want to antagonize it. It would be best to tell it what it wanted to know.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm an alicorn from Equestria." Her voice quivered in fear.

"Alicorn... Your kind is unfamiliar to me, as I expected."

Twilight wanted to shy away from the booming voice, but it seemed to be all around her. There was nowhere to go.

"Tell me, Twilight," continued the voice. "How did you come to be in my domain?"

"I don't know!" whimpered Twilight. "I fell unconscious and when I woke up, I was... like this!"

"Curious. I have seen your form before, alicorn. You have power unlike any other creature in this world. You have potential. Whether you know it or not, your very presence here says much about you."

"What do you want from me?"

"You have potential, but you are weak. Do you know why?"

"You mean why can I use so little magic?" said Twilight in surprise. "I do not know. Do you know why?"

The voice did something close to a growl. "It is not your place to demand answers of me, intruder."

Twilight wasn't concerned about leaving her body behind now. She picked a random direction and started speeding away.

Even as the scenery around her blurred, the voice said, "You are trying to escape me. You will find that that is impossible here. But I am not your enemy."

"How do I know that?" asked Twilight.

The voice grumbled, and then said, "In order to facilitate the gain of your trust, I will allow your question. Come."

Unbidden by Twilight, she shot up into the air. The scene below her quickly began to blur. When she came to a stop, she saw that she was many miles above the ground.

"This is as far as my influence reaches," said the voice. "It grows by the day. What do you see?"

Twilight looked. There wasn't much to be seen.

"I don't see much. The wasteland seems to go on forever, except for the coast to the west. The only thing of note that I can see from here is the cities. I can't tell if they are inhabited or not."

"It was green once," said the voice. "Plants used to cover the surface, so thick that you could often not see the ground."

"I know," said Twilight. "Where I am from, it still is."

The voice was silent for a moment. "You have seen," it said. It seem to be pleased. "You also confirm my suspicions. You are not from our world. The whole of the Earth was consumed in atomic fire, and there are no paradises left."

"Why are you showing me all of this?"

"You have seen what the world once was, and you have seen it as it is now. What do you think?"

"It's terrible," said Twilight. "Most of it anyway..."

"It is chaos," replied the voice disapprovingly. "Men build communities, men tear those same communities down. Men willingly end each other's lives for the sake of greed, revenge, thrill, and lust. Anyone willing to cooperate with his fellows does so with selfish motivations."

"Do you really believe that?" asked Twilight quietly.

"There are few who work for the better of the group, and they are quickly eliminated by others with the mind to only destroy. Those who work to make an honest living are plagued by many bad fortunes caused by their ancestors, long ago."

"So, you believe that there is no hope for these people," said Twilight darkly.

"Not as they are now. The world was broken, and they must change, or they will die. I have engineered that change."

"What could you have," said Twilight critically, "That could possibly put an end to all of these problems?"

"You have been educated in basic microbiology," said the voice. "Good."

"How could you possibly know that?" demanded Twilight in surprise.

"You cannot hide anything from me. Now, behold."

Twilight gasped as an image of something she recognized appeared before her. It was a picture that she had seen in one of the human science books. A picture of the contents of a drop of water.

But this image was animated.

"See how these ever so tiny creatures struggle," said the voice. "Not one lasts for long. Their existence is spent trying to outmaneuver, outsmart, outgrow the competition. Ignorant of greater things."

"But that's nature!" said Twilight, confused. "You can't change that!"

"It was nature herself that, finally, after so long of refining, created the solution."

The scene rapidly dissolved and was replaced by the image of a jellyfish.

"An early example," said the voice. "Unrefined. Yet, so much life converged into one, cooperating for the greater good, and never in conflict with each other."

"Never?" asked Twilight weakly.

"Rebellious members are immediately dispatched. They are akin to criminals."

"And you believe this is the solution to the problems that the world faces today?" asked Twilight, shocked.

"Yes."

The scene shifted again. A man appeared in it's place. It was an image of John.

"These small creatures unknowingly achieved knowledge and complexity beyond their slightest understanding. And they did it through Unity."

"People don't work like that though!" shouted Twilight in shock. "They are independent! They make their own choices!"

"The Unity is not restricted to humanity alone. However, you are correct. Humans are unsuitable for the unity. They require a change. I have the change that they need, and I have the power to unite them under me, for the greater good. I am the master of our future. I am The Master."

"Vree!"

Vree rolled her eyes at the scientist. "What is it this time?" she demanded, looking up from her personal desk. "I've been trying for over a week now to figure out what to tell the Elders, but your little crew keeps interrupting me!"

"We're your little crew, Vree. You won't even let us do a thing without your say so."

"Fine, what's the matter?"

"Remember how I said you wouldn't believe it when the patient first started floating around the place?"

"Yes, what of it?"

"Even considering that," said the scientist uneasily, "you're not going to believe this."

Vree sighed. "Alright, I'm coming!"

"Would you mind explaining what the hell is going on?" Vree demanded from the only scientist left in the observation room, the shock in her voice evident.

He looked like he was wearing a prewar outfit, complete with a baseball cap, but it was in flawless condition. This was not the only strange thing that was happening. All of the chairs in the room were animated and slowly hopping around. One piece of observation equipment had apparently turned into a magazine press and was spitting out magazines onto the floor. The fan that one of the team had brought was now sitting in the air at a ninety degree angle, flying like a helicopter. There were also several scorch marks across one wall.

Vree looked inside Twilight's room and saw why. Nothing seemed to have transformed, but there were a lot of scorch marks on those walls too, and the glass separating her from the observation room was mostly shattered.

Twilight's unconscious form was still in the room. There was a bright light on her horn and a bolt of red energy shot out of it and seared another wall.

"We've got a situation here!" shouted the scientist.

"No shit!" replied Vree, trying to think.

"The subject has become more trouble than she is worth!" cried the scientist. "My robes are ruined! I insist that she be terminated! After extracting genetic material for cloning."

"NO!" screamed Vree at the man. "It is most important that we restore health to the patient, despite the... difficulties."

Another bolt of energy shot out of the other room and hit the scientist square in the chest.

"UGH" shouted the man as he clutched his chest.

"Are you okay?" cried Vree in sudden sympathy.

"Yeah... uh..."

The scientist reached into the shirt pocket of the T-shirt he was currently wearing.

He pulled out two long slender objects that gleamed bright yellow in the light.

"Those were my pens!" shouted the scientist. Suddenly he realized exactly what had happened. "Holy hell..."

He turned to Vree. "Umm... Maybe we should keep her around after all... But not here, we need to confine her or something. You do you realize, it's going to be next to impossible to make observations now?"

Vree nodded. "We'll make do. Maybe it will stop, but I'm not counting on it. Call the team back in. Make sure they are wearing their radiation hazard suits. We're moving the patient."

Twilight's eyes would have flown wide open, if she had them. "YOU!" she bellowed. "You're the source of the mutants! You're the cause of the problem!"

"The only problems humanity has are self inflicted," replied the Master. "I am the master of the solution. My creations are the arms which make it happen. I speak, they obey. Unfortunately, many of them are incapable of hearing my wishes directly. So I found those willing and able to convey my will to all. The Unity will certainly be... uncomfortable. However, it will be insignificant in comparison to the next level of greater understanding. It is inevitable. But you, you can escape the suffering. With your power, you can stand at my side and gift the unity with complexity that even I never conceived of."

"You... are insane!"

Twilight wanted nothing more than to get away from this madness. Once again, she accelerated herself forward as fast as she could, but she could not escape the Master.

"I had thought that you, of all creatures, would be more understanding. You are not so different than the humans. Afraid of change, afraid of what you don't understand. But consider this: without undergoing the unity, all life on Earth, not just humanity, will continue in dreadful chaos, and will finally come to an end."

"I don't believe that!" shouted Twilight, who was currently wishing that there was a rush of wind to drown out the voice.

"I don't expect you to. Stop your struggle, alicorn. You shall behold more."

Twilight was once again whisked through the air at blinding speed against her will. When it stopped, she had no idea where she was. She looked down.

"John!" shouted Twilight in despair.

John didn't respond. His eyes were fixed on something about ten feet in front of him. He hefted a strange weapon that Twilight had not seen before. It appeared to be similar to his old sledgehammer, but the handle was solid metal and the head was much thicker. This did not concern Twilight at the moment.

Twilight looked around and was horrified to see that John was utterly surrounded by countless abominable creatures and a several super mutants. There was at least forty of them.

"No!" she screamed. "Make them stop!" she demanded of the air. "Tell them to leave!"

The answer did not come from the same voice. It was the voice four voices at once, including a gruff sounding robot. "Submit."

Twilight didn't answer. She looked down in horror to watch the scene unfold.

"Dammit all, where the hell did you all come from?" shouted John, looking around at the monsters surrounding him. He had been drawn to the area to investigate an abandoned caravan. Last time I'll ever make that mistake, he thought.

There were a few super mutants that appeared be able to control the creatures somehow. The creatures themselves were mostly hideous. The worst ones were masses of arms, legs, and even heads (sometimes not just one) stuck onto an unrecognized pile of flesh. There were also long, flat creatures with massive holes in their heads for their mouth, which was lined with a few teeth.

No way in hell I'm getting out of this alive.

"Human!" shouted one of the mutants. It was carrying a super sledgehammer similar to John's own. "We surround you. Come with us, and you live."

"Hmm," said John as he took off his backpack and set it on the ground, where he began to search through it. The super mutant didn't seem to care. "So either I come with you and you kill me, or I stay here and you kill me."

Here I am at death's door and I'm as calm as the brahmin being led to the slaughter.

"We not kill you if you come with us," said the mutant with a suspicious smile. "We promise."

John pulled something out of the bag. "I would, but you see, I have to go see a friend soon, and if I go with you, I won't be back in time to say 'hey'."

This confused the super mutant long enough for John to have a moment of himself. He pulled the safety pad off of the dose of psycho.

Twilight would kill me if she ever found out that I never got rid of this.

He pulled a piece of the armor on his arm aside to expose a sliver of the black leather that held the hard plates on.

I guess now, she'll never know.

Author's Note

I hope the dialogue of the master is believable. I decided to have him hide his identity until he had explained his plan. Have you ever tried to speak for something that thinks that it is basically infinitely superior to the one that it is talking to?

Chapter 13: Warning Shady Sands

There was a sudden outburst of roaring and horrifying shrieks around John and he jumped to his feet with his super sledgehammer in hand, but he hesitated in confusion at what he saw.

The creatures and mutants alike were attacking each other.

Not every single one though. There were a few were advancing on John, and none of their fellow monsters were in their way.

John smashed his super sledgehammer down upon one of the crawling abominations. The super sledgehammer had been designed to multiply any force sent through it, so it cleaved through the creature's soft head with relative ease.

"One!" roared John triumphantly. That's right! he shouted in his mind, which was already becoming altered by the psycho. I'm going to take as many of you down as I can, and I'm going to remember exactly how many!

A shotgun went off and hit John in the chest. Fortunately for John, shotguns are especially ineffective against heavy armor, and it would leave him with only a large bruise. It did draw his attention to the mutant who fired at him.

Even as John was running at the mutant, two hunting rifles went off and hit him in the back, having considerably more success in piercing the combat armor. John yelped as each shot hit, but he didn't feel the pain for any longer than the initial sting. He closed in on the mutant and swiped at it's jaw with an uppercut, which landed and forced the mutant's head up with sufficient force to snap its neck.

John ignored the gunfire and screams around him and turned his attention to one of the other mutants that had shot him. It was about to fire again.

Suddenly a splatter of blood erupted from its arm, causing the mutant to drop the hunting rifle in surprise and pain. John watched as the mutant turned and leapt on another mutant with a hunting rifle with its bare fists.

Unfortunately, in John's hesitation, several crawling things had surrounded him, cutting off any escape routes he had. The ones with tentacle tongue like appendages were trying to use them to knock him off of the ground.

They succeeded. Within a second John's vision was completely obscured by the fleshy monsters that were crawling on him. A couple of them were trying to bite through his armor, while another pair were trying to constrict his legs to death, which was actually more effective.

John released the sledgehammer and made a desperate attempt to sit up, which he was able to do after throwing one of the creatures aside, but he fell over on his knees awkwardly, as his legs were still being held captive.

He reclaimed his super sledge from the dirt and, knowing that he didn't have room to swing with force, grabbed onto the head of the weapon with both hands and jabbed the handle into one of the creatures constricting his legs. It let out a hair raising scream until the weapon was pierced into the creature, killing it.

With the other abomination gone, John was able to swing the hammer sufficiently to knock the last one away, but he almost lost his grip on it because of a layer of slime and blood that caked the handle.

Three

Now free, he looked around to discover that the other abominations were swarming around the remaining super mutants. None of them were paying him any attention.

This will be easy. John raised the super sledge as he ran toward a mass of the monsters.

Twilight observed with intense relief as the last abomination was brought to its bloody death. At first it had been overwhelming to attempt to influence the minds of so many, as the Master did, and twice she had almost let John die. However, after only a minute of fighting, the attackers had lost sufficient number for her to keep the remaining monsters away from John. Of course, this did not prevent him from speeding up the process of killing each and every one. John had lost count of the number that he had slain, and after they were all dead, recounted. He included every corpse, including the ones that had been killed by its own kind instead of at his own hands. The final count was forty-two.

Part of her mind was troubled that the Master was apparently incapable or unwilling to intervene and stop her attempts to save her friend, but it was overshadowed by another part of her mind that took control of her mouth.

"You don't touch my friends," Twilight hissed venomously. Not you, not your... minions, nobody. If you want to get to him, you're going through me first."

There was no response. Suddenly Twilight's fury gave way to panic as she realized that she had no way of knowing 'where' the Master was or what he was doing.

"DO YOU HEAR ME?" she bellowed into the air in rage.

Suddenly she felt her vision go black. The last thing that she saw before losing consciousness was John standing on a super mutant and screaming into the air in triumph.

Eventually the psycho wore off and John began to feel the intense pain of multiple bullet wounds in various places on his body. Evidently, he had not even felt half of the times he had been shot. Fortunately, he was also thinking more coherently, and remembered not to use a stimpack until the bullets were removed. Thankfully, the entire fight had taken place near the remains of a caravan, and all of the goods had been left behind, which meant that the mutants were almost certainly to blame.

Using a medical kit, John eventually extracted each bullet, and then used a stimpack on each wound. Finally, when he was no longer fighting for his own survival, he turned his thoughts to his mission, but all the while kept removing items and examining them from the truck bed that had served as a cargo hold for the caravan.

He had been completely unsuccessful in locating the source of the mutants, but they were without a doubt in high concentration in the area. The only good thing to come out of the trip so far had been claiming the super sledgehammer from an unsuspecting lone mutant. He had no idea why it had been alone, but didn't argue.

But perhaps he could turn this incident to his advantage. He might not be able to locate the mutant base, but he could start warning towns about the immanent invasions. Of course, nobody would believe him without proof. The corpse of an actual super mutant might be sufficient, but he would be incapable of transporting a half ton monster across the wasteland.

But the caravan had given him an idea. If cleared out, there would be sufficient space inside the truck bed to lay a corpse inside.

It was past sundown, but John had finally prepared his presentation for the civilizations of the wasteland. He had found the least damaged super mutant corpse and, with difficulty dragged it up onto the truck bed. He decided against taking the body of the abominations, as they had all been mutilated beyond recognition. Even before I killed them, he thought.

He had also used a length of rope from the caravan to create a way of pulling the rig without getting too uncomfortable. It would still take effort to move, but it allowed him to keep aware of his surroundings and to quickly drop it if trouble arose.

There was only one more thing to do before deciding which town to visit first. The corpse would decay without intervention. He would make an early return to the Brotherhood of Steel.

Twilight suddenly became aware again. Everything was black and she was unable to move. For a moment she wondered if she had been returned to her own body, but she quickly decided that this was not the case, as she could feel nothing.

"What is this?" shouted the Master's voice. "What have you done?" Twilight felt sure that the Master was afraid, which pleased her, but she was still completely confused. "You cannot have done this, I ensured it!" Twilight saw the darkness begin to brighten, slowly.

"Clearly," said the Master, "I have underestimated your power."

Quickly, Twilight's surroundings were brightened so that her surroundings were white. But more importantly, somehow, Twilight sensed that the presence of the Master was gone. It was replaced by a strange feeling of warmth that Twilight experienced around only one being.

"How did you find me here?" Twilight asked in astonishment.

"You are in such distress." replied the rich voice of Twilight's mentor. "I had to find you. Your assailant is powerful indeed. I will help you if I can, but I can only stay for a moment."

Twilight's hopes were crushed into despair. "There are so many relying on me to save them!" she cried. "But without my magic, I feel so... helpless!"

"Indeed? I suppose I should not be surprised at the lack of magic in this dreadful place. But Twilight, remember."

"Remember what?" said Twilight, eager to acknowledge her teacher despite being unable to see her.

"Remember that, no matter where you are, even if all of the magic is gone from the world, you always have the strongest source of magic inside you."

Something in Twilight's head clicked.

"Of course!" she shouted. "How could I possibly have forgotten? I am unworthy to be your student!"

"No Twilight, you are worthy. But you have not been my student for some time. It is you facing these perils, not I."

"I... thank you."

"Twilight, my time here is coming to an end, and you must still escape."

"Oh, of course! What can I do?" asked Twilight urgently.

"You aren't going to like this. Turn this monster's tricks against him. It might be the only way."

Without warning, Twilight's surroundings faded to black, and Twilight knew that she was alone with the Master once more.

She was prepared for the master's mental attack. She resisted it with difficulty, and finally reversed it back the way it had come from.

There was an eerie groan. The Master was stunned by the surprise attack. Twilight knew that it might be her only opportunity. She willed herself to invade the Master's mind.

Humans settled in the town 'Shady Sands' are originally from Vault 15. They are prime targets for FEV infection, and the Town is relatively defenseless. Invasion force will arrive in five days.

Twilight recoiled from shock when she realized that she had stumbled upon the Master's immediate plan. She could feel the Master had recovered however, and was looking for her. The only escape was to tunnel deeper into his mind.

Twilight was suddenly in an unfamiliar, dark room. There were several super mutant corpses on the floor. She felt herself moving and she saw that she had moved to one of the mutants and set a combat armor clad foot on it. A human foot.

For some reason, she was watching the world through the eyes of a human.

The man started to check his gun. Twilight was unable to tell what he was thinking, but after a moment, the man turned his head around and looked back at another man. Twilight did not recognize him.

"Coming, Harold?"

'Harold' was clearly uncomfortable. "Just the two of us?" he asked. "We came in here with a group of half a dozen, and the mutants have killed half of us already! I still don't like how we let Mark go back all by himself, not after a gun wound like that."

"You know the mission," replied the man that Twilight was seeing through unsympathetically. "Eliminate the source of the mutants. If we turn back now, it's a failure. You and I, we're the best of the best. We can get through this, even where the others failed."

"Maybe you're right Grey," replied Harold. "I still think we're going to die, but we're not going down without a fight, right?"

BLAM

"Maybe you might die," replied Grey, shouldering his sniper rifle as Harold turned around in astonishment at the mutant who had fallen dead in the passage behind him. The mutant's eye socket was torn to a bloody mess.

"You would be dead already if not for me," Grey continued. "But stick close, and you might just get out of here alive."

Harold let out a sigh. "You're right. You're always right."

The two men walked to the next door. Grey walked to a console next to a large metal door. She tried to comprehend as Grey hacked the computer, but she was unable to follow along at his pace. All she was able to tell was that the encryption was probably of the highest quality. The door opened.

"What the hell is all of this?" asked Harold in wonder. He started to step forward, but Grey shot out a hand and stopped him. Harold backed away and let Grey go through first.

Grey moved through the door silently and began scanning the large circular room. Twilight noticed a large area of glowing green substance on the floor, but Grey did not focus on it. He used his scope to efficiently scan the areas far away.

Eventually he said, "All clear."

"What the hell is this room?" Harold burst out. "And what the hell is this over here?"

Harold walked over to the green on the floor, which, now that Twilight had time to study it, it was in fact a circular tank full of an unidentified green liquid inset into the ground, and the top was open.

Grey crouched down and got a good look at the substance.

"If I didn't know better..."

Grey did not continue, and Twilight could sense his uneasiness.

Suddenly something large and metallic hit Grey in the back, and he fell forward into the muck with a scream.

"Richard!" shouted Harold.

Twilight's vision was completely obscured by the green glowing slime.

"This exchange has come to an end," rang the Master's voice through the air, cold rage apparent in its voice.

The world around Twilight began to fade once more. Twilight panicked.

There was a discharge of magic.

Twilight found herself standing in Shady Sands. The master was gone. She was no longer in danger. She could feel herself again. A quick examination confirmed that she was in her own body, and very much awake and in fine condition. She even had her robe on. The only downside was that her backpack of supplies was gone.

Her magic had worked.

Not only had it worked, but the distance between her body and her destination had definitely been a record teleport for Twilight. Unfortunately, she was sure that she would never manage this again, as she had been in special circumstances when selecting her destination.

She couldn't container herself. Twilight let out a squee of joy and bounced on alternating hooves. Suddenly she realized that she was being stared at by quite a number of the townsfolk, who were muttering to themselves.

No time for celebration, she thought, I have to find whoever the leader of this town is right now.

"You have to believe me!" shouted Twilight to the man called Aradesh. "They look like this!"

Twilight's horn lit up and a life size image of a super mutant appeared in the air beside her.

Aradesh did not change his expression. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just cannot bring myself to believe that these... creatures truly exist at all, much less are coming to this town in force."

"How can you say that?" demanded Twilight. "What if you are wrong?"

"I do believe that you believe what you are saying," said Aradesh assuredly. "But... forgive me... Maybe you have spent too much time in the desert sun?

"Maybe I have. Listen, just keep everybody on high alert for a week, and if I am wrong, you can go back to your normal lives!"

"It makes no difference. This town is a peaceful one, and we are not armed for war. What will come, will come."

"Argh!" shouted Twilight. "You don't have weapons? How do you expect to survive out here?"

"We won't," said Aradesh simply. "The Damned Great Khan raiders prey on this town always. As we become weak, they grow strong. It is only because they wish to let us rebuild, only to steal away our hard work again, that has saved the town from being destroyed. If anybody had been willing to help us deal with the problem, we might be in a better state to defend ourselves."

Twilight thought for a minute.

"So," she said finally. The only people in the area who are well armed are these Great Khan raiders?"

"Yes."

"Where are they?"

"Their camp is about a day's travel south," replied Aradesh. "But you must avoid them if you value your life!"

Twilight ignored him. She was already rushing out the door.

"No! Wait!" shouted Aradesh. He pursued her as far as the door, where he stopped. She was heading toward the town entrance.

Chapter 14: Reinforcements

Now that Twilight was walking the wasteland without a task that requires her immediate and full attention, Twilight let her mind consider her situation. She quickly became uncomfortable at the prospect of being alone. Of course, she had been alone for an indeterminate amount of time now, but she had at least had her attention occupied throughout the entire duration. She had been missing John's presence ever since he had left the Brotherhood bunker, but now, she realized that if she were attacked, she had nobody watching over her. Not only this, but she was also unarmed. Of course, now that she seemed to have recovered her magic, she would not be defenseless, but she was far from invulnerable, particularly if she were to be assaulted by multiple foes.

Twilight had been exercising her magic as she was thinking. At the moment, she was trying to see how many pebbles she could levitate individually at a time, as a way of testing her ability to sustain multiple spells at once without worrying about using much power. She grimaced as she realized that she would probably be required to use magic violently, and more directly than just levitating a machine that did the killing for you. Twilight had never formally studied such uses for magic. There were several spells that could be adapted for the purpose, such as levitation and fire lighting, but spells built for the specific purpose of destruction of life were forbidden to almost all ponies except for a special division of the royal guard, whom were trained to use such skills when peaceful solutions were not an option and the regular guard was unable to handle it. Such cases were very rare. Twilight herself did have access to such knowledge when she was in Canterlot, but she had avoided it.

Twilight tried to think of ways that she could use magic to kill. As she did so, a pit formed in her stomach. The moment she directly killed anything with magic alone, her magic power itself would be responsible for the spilling of blood, innocent or not. However, if she did not, she might not live to see the next day at all. She pushed her doubts aside and tried to concentrate.

The most direct way of killing an animal would be to telekinetically constrict a specific area in their brain. This could easily be preformed non-lethally as well, as it depended on how long she kept it up. It would take several seconds to cause the victim to faint, but it would also leave the brain starved for nutrients, which, if they did not react very quickly, would render the victim unable to resist. If she did not release her grip after they had fainted, they would quickly die. Hopefully, leaving her assailants unconscious would always be an acceptable solution.

Unfortunately, the problem with telekinetic spells was that the effort involved would go up exponentially with distance, much like a human holding a jug of water straight out with their hands. If their arms were able to stretch out very far, they would quickly lose the ability to hold the jug up at all. She would have to be fairly close to the target for this method of attack to not leave her exhausted. Additionally, physical obstructions between Twilight and the target would also increase the effort required. Twilight estimated that, for her to be able to effectively attack a super mutant's brain, she would have to be within arm swinging distance.

Lighting fires was a relatively basic skill, but, again, effort would increase exponentially with distance. In theory, it should be possible to create a ball of magic and have the fire feed off of it, which would be more efficient at carrying the spell across a distance, but she would have to create a new spell to preform this.

Maybe I will try to figure that one out later, she thought.

Twilight did however know how to cast a spell that would carry force through the air. Creating a shockwave that would be strong enough to kill anything without being too unstable to control would be very difficult however, and also highly inefficient, as it would apply force across the entire surface of the target and not focus it in a very small area the way that bullets did. However, she felt sure that she could easily use the spell to knock the target to the ground, without actually hurting them. This pleased Twilight, as it was another non-lethal solution.

Twilight was satisfied that she would be able to deal with any threats that presented themselves, and she was also quickly growing weary of such violent thoughts. She turned her thoughts toward her unusual experience with the Master.

Richard Grey. Before it had even come to an end, Twilight had deduced two options: that the scene that she had witnessed was from the Master's own memories, or that the Master could see the mind of the man. This seemed unlikely, as the Master should not have control over the minds of humans. However, Twilight also could not help but feel that the whole scene was already familiar to her. It had something to do with the other man, Harold.

It did not take Twilight long to make the connection. The reason that she was familiar with the incident was that she had heard the story told by the 'man' himself. "Harold?" she whispered incredulously.

That broken down creature was the same as the man who had fought his way into the core of a military base crawling with super mutants? That is unbelievable! I could pull on his arm and it would fall off!

And yet, as she recalled, this did actually make sense. Although it was not in Richard Grey's memories, Harold had claimed that something inside the base had forced him to transform into a miserable living corpse. Twilight had seen several machines of unknown purpose inside the core room, but the only thing that she could think of that was suspect for causing Harold to change like that was the green slime.

Richard should not have been able to survive falling into that stuff. If it had been acid, it would have killed him within seconds. It had to have been some sort of mutagen, which meant it must have been highly radioactive. After all, how else would it have effected Harold if he didn't even touch it? But if that's the case...

Would actually falling into the pool itself cause a stronger effect?

The Master was definitely something more than Richard Grey had been, as was evident by his telepathic abilities. However, Twilight was also certain that the amount of radiation required to produce such a severe mutation would have been many magnitudes higher than any living thing could survive. It was possible that the Master engineered the ability himself somehow afterward. One thing was certain however: if Twilight's theory was correct, the Master was at least as far from human as Harold was.

It also meant that Harold himself might be able to provide some information about the Master. Unfortunately, finding out would have to wait.

"Hey, you guys, come look at this."

The speaker was a Khan with a mohawk haircut. He was standing near the edge of the Great Khan base, studying a strange purple thing that had appeared in the distance. Two nearby Khans approached him and squinted their eyes.

"What the fuck is that?" asked one.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" replied the Khan with the mohawk.

"Whatever it is, it's heading this was," said the last Khan.

"What. The. Fuck."

Twilight rolled her eyes and said "As much as I-"

"What. The. Fuck!" The Khan with the mohawk pulled out a pistol, but did not aim it at Twilight. Upon seeing this, his companions did the same.

"As much as I enjoy you referring to me with profanity, I am in quite a hurry. I must speak to your leader!"

"Listen freak," replied the Khan, "I don't know what the hell you are, but you don't just come walking into the base of the Great Khans and ask to see the boss."

"I don't have time to argue with you. I'm moving on." Twilight started to move around the Khan, but he raised his pistol and pointed it at her head.

"Didn'tcha hear me, you animal? You'll see the boss over my dead body."

POW

Twilight screamed as she felt the impact, but the bullet had been completely stopped by her hood. An expression of rage flashed onto her face.

The Khan suddenly dropped his gun and clutched his head with both hands. "UARGH!" In moments, he was laying on his side, motionless.

"Damn..." said one of the other Khans, neither of which had taken action. "She sure showed you." The Khan turned to his remaining companion and said "I don't know about you, but I think that anybody who can kill you just by looking at you has every right to see the boss, right?"

"Yeah..." was all that the other Khan could manage.

"For your information," said Twilight in frustration, "He's not dead. He will be awake before long, but he'll probably have a big headache."

"You have shown him mercy?" asked the Khan that was willing to speak. "I suppose that is your right, no matter how unusual."

"I need to speak with your leader," Twilight reminded them urgently.

"Garl? He's over that way. Look for the really big building."

"What is this?" demanded Garl to nobody in particular upon seeing Twilight enter his room. "Somebody has ten seconds to explain what the hell this is all about!"

"Please," answered Twilight fearfully. Garl appeared to be even more frightening due to a strange metal hat that he was wearing. It did not cover his face at all, but in the back it stretched down to protect even his neck, and there was a strange symbol on the forehead. "You are all in great danger, but you must give me time to explain!"

Garl stared at Twilight unbelievingly. Finally, he said, "Okay... you have thirty seconds."

"Do you know what a super mutant is?" asked Twilight quickly. She didn't bother to wait for an answer. "There is a hoard of them heading this way, and they want to kill or kidnap every single human they find! They look like this!"

Twilight magically conjured up the same image of a super mutant that she had shown to Aradesh. She waited for about ten seconds, and then blurted out, "Are you still timing me?"

Garl hesitated before answering, but did answer "No." He put a hand on his goatee thoughtfully. Out of nowhere, he shouted "GWEN!"

Twilight tensed up, but Garl did nothing. A moment later, a female Khan with long black hair entered the room. She did a double take upon seeing the image of the mutant, but answered Garl with "Yes, Garl, what do you need?"

"Fetch Petrox," he commanded. Gwen raised an eyebrow, but left the room.

"You," said Garl to Twilight sharply, pointing at her. Twilight tensed up again.

"Keep that hologram thing going. When Gwen returns with Petrox, you are not to say a word."

Twilight was confused, but she nodded quickly.

About two minutes later, a male Khan came running through the door with Gwen following after. "Petrox!" shouted Garl.

The other man stood stiff and carefully replied with "Yes?"

Without a word, Garl pointing in Twilight's direction. Petrox slowly turned his head to follow, and when he saw the image of the super mutant, his face was immediately drained of all color. He did not move an inch for several seconds.

"Oh," he said in relief. "Fake." The color did not return to his face. He turned back to Garl.

"These are what you saw?" Garl demanded.

"Yes," replied Petrox quickly.

"You swear it?"

"If those things aren't what I saw, I'll shoot myself in the foot," said Petrox confidently, yet weakly.

"Would you go as far as to say that you would shoot yourself in the head?" demanded Garl.

Petrox looked at the other occupants of the room, then back at Garl.

"No."

"HA!" exclaimed Garl in a roaring voice. "Smart."

Garl turned to Twilight and said "Petrox goes out further from our base than most. Recently, he insisted that he happened upon a whole army of giant green men. If not for this, I would have dismissed you for a lunatic, probably killed you."

"You saw them?" Twilight asked Petrox in astonishment, ignoring Garl's last phrase. "Where were they? How many were there?"

"He said that they were south east of the camp quite a ways and heading east," answered Garl. "They were clearly not heading in our direction. And that brings up a great question. How do you know that there is another group heading our way?"

Twilight hesitated before answering, but she could feel Garl's impatient gaze burning into her skull.

"I saw them myself," she lied. The room was silent for several moments. Twilight decided that she needed to say more. "Actually, I must tell you. The army is certainly coming to your camp, but they will be wiping out Shady Sands along the way." She stopped with that, her hearth thumping against her ribs painfully. She would have to come up with a very good reason for the Khans to make their defense at Shady Sands, and quickly.

Garl stroked his beard. Nobody else dared to speak. Finally, Garl said, "You know, I actually believe you." He turned around to face the human occupants of the room and held his arms out. "And it would not do to allow somebody else to raid our little town, would it? Petrox, how many mutants were there in the group you saw?"

"At least a hundred," replied Petrox.

He turned back to Twilight. "If I find out that you are wrong about this, you will personally pay for wasting my time. And that town too, for wasting our time."

Tears began to appear in Twilight's eyes. She was about to give Garl a heart-felt stream of thanks, but she thought better of it and instead said "I understand."

"Everyone!" shouted Garl, turning toward the Khans, who all stood at attention. "Leave me and..."

Garl turned toward Twilight. "Here we are, running to aid that town for your benefit, and I don't even have a clue what your name is."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle," said Twilight quickly.

"Hrmm." Garl turned back to the Khans. "Twilight and I have some things to discuss. I want everybody else out of this room. Gwen!"

"Yes?" asked Gwen.

"Spread the word. I want every damn Khan ready to move by nightfall. We're going to have ourselves a little vacation."

"Wait!" shouted Twilight, who then recoiled as she realized what she had just done.

Garl was looking at her impatiently. "You see the thick skin on that thing?" Twilight asked, indicating the mutant. "It's as tough as a metal sheet. I know from personal experience."

Garl raised his eyebrows at Twilight, then turned back to Gwen. "Tell the men to leave their pistols and SMGs behind and to bring their best rifles instead, along with every ounce of AP shot they've got. Bring all the explosives, traps, whatever the hell! The heavy stuff, don't hold back! Go!"

The Khans quickly vacated the room, leaving Garl alone with Twilight.

"Twilight Sparkle," he said, drawing her attention.

"You do not know what it is like to have been born a raider. Raiding is what we do, and sometimes it turns us into animals. If a Khan were to desire to be anything else, they would not know how. They can hardly go waltzing up to civilized people and be like "Teach me your way!" That would be an incredibly stupid way to be shot. Ever since I claimed power from my father, I have tried to teach the Khans the true value of fighting with honor, but sometimes, I suspect that I make no progress. If this is... for real, if they are bringing the fight to us, then the Great Khans have never had a worthier fight. Hell, we'll probably lose most of our people really," Garl snorted. "But we will have our honor."

"Um..." replied Twilight.

"Oh, and there is also a small matter of some prisoners from Shady Sands. We won't be leaving anybody here, so they are free to go."

"Prisoners?" asked Twilight, surprised.

"Slaves, really," answered Garl. "But not any more. They had better be grateful, lucky bastards. Huh."

"I think," said Twilight, "that the whole town will be grateful for what you are doing for them."

"So what? We aren't doing this for them!" Twilight did not reply for fear of how Garl would react. Garl began to stroke his beard. "But, you are right, they will probably be plenty happy about that, won't they? The Great Khans, defenders of the weak and helpless!"

Twilight stared at Garl, not knowing what to say.

"Nah, that doesn't roll of the tongue right, but maybe I'll come up with something."

Twilight did not like traveling with the Khan hoard in the least. There were about six hundred Great Khans, they made entirely too much noise, and were usually unpleasant to listen to. She had wanted to keep to herself, but Garl had insisted that she travel with him.

Fortunately, the trip to Shady Sands was only one day. As the hoard approached the town's wall, Twilight could see some commotion in front of the entrance. Eventually, as they were drawing near, a large white sheet was raised up onto a pole that stood outside the entrance. Garl grinned.

The front section of the army of Khans grew thinner as the Khans began to line up at the entrance. Twilight could see inside the town. The streets were completely abandoned. She felt sorry for the guards who were stuck at the entrance.

When they had reached the middle of town, Aradesh burst out of his home. He hesitated, but then ran toward Twilight, trying his best to ignore the Khans.

"What have you done?" he asked Twilight in shock. "The entirety of the Great Khans are here! You have brought ruin to us all!"

Before Twilight could think of anything to reply with, there was a shout from behind her. "Father!"

Twilight turned around in shock as she watched one of the former slave women force her way through the crowd of surprised Khans. Aradesh's eyes went wide.

"Tandi? This cannot be!"

Tandi finally pushed through the last of the crowed and embraced her shocked father.

"What are the Khans doing here, my sweet daughter?" asked Aradesh.

"Well," replied Tandi uncertainly. "They said that they are here to fight, but nobody would tell me why. What is going on?"

Aradesh did not get an opportunity to respond, as Garl pointed toward him and shouted, "You! With the accent! What's for dinner?"

Author's Note

Fun fact, this is not consistent with the canon story of Fallout 1. In canon, the Khans are simply known as Khans, not as Great Khans. The Vault Dweller completely wipes out the original Khan gang, except for one survivor, who founds the New Khans, aka the Great Khans. In my story, the Khans do survive, so I decided to call them Great Khans from the very start and created my own explanation for their future. In order to facilitate this, my Khans are something of a hybrid of the raiders that they were in Fallout 1 and the tribe of "honor" that they are in New Vegas. In the game, Garl is downright brutal, but that would not work for what I wanted, so I gave Garl's personality to his dead father and turned him into a more reasonable person.

Chapter 15: The Attack

"Damn this gun!" shouted Garl's voice. "Damn this gun! Damn this stupid, piece of shit gun!"

Twilight walked into the building to see what Garl was so upset about.

There were only two people in the room. Garl was standing over a table with a long rifle that Twilight had never seen before on it. He was appeared to be jabbing a knife into the trigger mechanism. Gwen was leaning into the corner of the room and watching, her expression unreadable.

"You, Twilight!" shouted Garl, making Twilight jump. "Do you know how to fix this damn thing?"

"Possibly," answered Twilight carefully. "I am fairly certain that I should at least be able to discover what the problem is. It may not be possible to fix it without spare parts, though."

"The problem is that the damn trigger is stuck as hell!" shouted Garl.

Twilight approached Garl. Garl groaned in frustration one last time and threw his hands up. "I'm done with this shit. You figure it out."

Twilight picked the rifle up in her magic and tried the trigger. Sure enough, it was completely immobile.

"So..." said Garl. "You're a witch."

"A what?" asked Twilight, stopping her examination to give Garl a confused look.

"A witch. Like out of those damn stories we tell our kids. They kill people with magic."

"I- I'm not a witch!" Twilight insisted. "I'm an alicorn!"

"Whatever you want to call it," said Garl dismissively. "Of course, I'm pretty sure the witches in the stories are supposed to be old human women with warts on their noses and stuff."

Twilight ignored this. "I have figured out what the problem is," she declared. "This trigger mechanism has been worn away with age, and there is debris inside obstructing the trigger's movement."

"How can you tell?" asked Garl.

"With... magic."

"Ah. So, witch."

"Which what?"

"You. Are. A. Witch."

"... Oh."

"So, can you fix it?"

"The debris is clinging to the metal. I can rub it away, but it's not easy. How old is this gun?"

"Technically it's over one hundred years old," said Garl. "It's pre-war. Most sniper rifles these days are manufactured by a group down south called the Gun Runners, but they keep their merchandise very well protected. But the caravan that my father raided and found that thing on the body of a guard wasn't a Gun Runner caravan."

"You murdered a traveling merchant and their guards?" asked Twilight, aware that this should not have surprised her.

"Of course we did," answered Garl. "Usually the weapons that they carry are nothing more than SMGs or hunting rifles or the like, but this one time, one of the guards was armed a little better than usual, for whatever reason. It's not often that you get a score like that. As tribe leader, my father naturally claimed it for himself."

"And... your father gave you this gun when he died?"

"In a manner of speaking," said Garl with a nasty grin. "I challenged him to a duel to the death. Fists only. And I murdered him. I won leadership of the tribe that day."

Garl stopped and looked at Twilight's horrified expression, then burst out laughing.

"Stick to traveling alone," he said to her between laughs. "You wouldn't last a day traveling with a group before someone stabs you in the back."

Twilight still did not respond.

"Anyway," continued Garl, his laughter dying down, "if you get that thing fixed before these mutants show up, feel free to use it yourself. I'm going to just stick to my good old reliable rifle. Dunno why I even bothered dragging that old thing out. Never could even use it properly. But you sure as hell better give it back after this is all over."

Twilight nodded and then turned her attention back to the sniper rifle.

A moment later, there was a strange, low noise. "What is that?" asked Twilight with concern, looking back up.

"That's Petrox sounding his Brahmin horn," said Gwen. "Which probably means that we have company."

Twilight's eyes wen wide, and then she pried on the debris in the trigger mechanism once more. It popped free. Using her magic, she pulled a grey lump of unidentified material out of the sniper rifle and tried the trigger again.

BLAM

Garl whirled around at Twilight and raised his eyebrows.

"You didn't tell me that it was loaded!" cried Twilight.

"Well," said Garl, "it works, at least. Grab that ammo under the table there, and then come on. Let's go see what the commotion is about."

Garl disappeared out of the door frame, followed closely by Gwen.

Twilight looked under the table and found the shoulder bag full of ammunition. She had to wrap it around her torso twice for it to not drag into the ground. When she was finally ready, she dashed out of the door.

There were khans all over the rooftops of the buildings. A few that were lucky enough to have scoped rifles had large groups of other khans trying to peer through the scope.

"Holy shit..." she heard one of the Khans say. And then another.

In fact, quite a number of the Khans appeared to believe that this phrase was the most appropriate thing to say under the circumstances.

Twilight flew up and toward the main entrance to the town, which was barricaded with metal sheets and reinforced with piles of debris. Most of the people around her were ignoring her for once. Instead, they were all focusing their attention on the enormous green men lumbering toward the town. Twilight could see that some of the townsfolk had managed to acquire weapons and were waiting fortified positions, such as behind makeshift cover that had been prepared, or simply behind the corner of a building. Twilight landed on Aredesh's rooftop.

She fumbled with the sniper rifle and brought it up to use the scope. She gasped in surprise at how far the scope zoomed in. She could clearly see the forms of dozens of individual mutants as they marched on. They did not appear to be conforming to a particular formation, but the mutants at the front all were holding large tubular weapons.

"The mutants in the front are carrying missle launchers!" she shouted. "They're going to blow the walls up!"

"Shit!" shouted several Khan's who were standing on makeshift scaffolding behind the walls, who immediately began leaping down.

"Everyone stay where you are!" shouted Garl's from an a location that Twilight could not determine. "If you run, I will shoot you myself."

"And what the fuck," shouted a random Khan, "are we supposed to do about rocket launchers?"

"Shoot them, you idiots! Shoot their weapons to shit! What are you morons waiting for? Shoot the shit out of those things!"

Suddenly several rifles began going off at once. Through her scope, Twilight could see that the mutants were reacting to this, primarily by breaking into a sprint toward the town, but no visible damage was being done. Twilight marveled at the mutant's speed. Even carrying weapons that probably weighed as much as a person, they could attain speeds much greater than their usual lumbering gait would suggest.

Twilight realized that she should probably be joining the rest of the Khans. Garl had given good advice. She attempted to steady the crosshairs on one of the mutant's weapons. Although she was able to keep a quite steady aim, it was still nearly impossible to target the mutant's launcher as it shook back and forth on his shoulder.

Twilight tried timing the mutant's swinging motion. When she felt quite sure that she had aligned the sniper rifle with the spot that the launcher would be, she fired.

The gun kicked back much harder than she had been expecting. She silently ridiculed herself for not remembering everything that she had read about the weapon. She had no way of determining whether or not her shot had done any good.

Suddenly, her vision was filled with fire, and shortly after, she heard the sound of an explosion. She looked away from the scope to watch as the mutants blundered into the minefield that the Khans had set up.

Most of the mines that the Khan's had placed were placed ahead of the front entrance of town. It was a gamble whether or not the mutants would try to approach from that direction, but they had listened to Twilight's advice. The mutants had, as predicted, chosen a straight forward assault. They had been expecting to rush into the town with little resistance and massacre or kidnap unarmed humans. Instead, they were in for an all out battle.

Many of the mutants stopped the forward charge and hesitated. This caused one to be pushed forward by his over-eager comrades and fall face first into another mine, which exploded and enveloped the mutant in fire.

The rifle shots had never stopped, but Twilight could now see that the Khan snipers were landing several hits on the mutants, judging from the way that many of them dropped their weapons to clutch at various parts of their body in pain. This spurred the mutants back into action. As the enraged and slightly injured mutants ran forward, apparently not caring about their probable demise via explosion, the rest of the mutants followed their lead.

The launcher carrying mutants fired their weapons at the town's wall.

There were several cries of "Look out!" from the Khans on the wall. The distance had been great enough that a number of the missiles ended up flying overhead, but some exploded on the wall, blasting apart the concrete and sending everything in the explosion flying.

Twilight's heart sank even as she continued to fire the sniper rifle at the mutants. Although the mines had managed to kill or cripple a significant number of the mutants, there would be no stopping the remaining portion from pouring into town like ants.

Twilight's next shot caused the missile launcher that the targeted mutant was holding to explode. Twilight watched in awe at the bloody mess she had caused.

Well, that was lucky, she thought. I hope my luck doesn't run out too fast.

The mutants finally reached the wall and began climbing over the wreckage with surprising agility. Some stopped to fire their weapons. Twilight suddenly was aware of a minigun showering the area around her with bullets. Panicked, she leaped off of the rooftop and retreated further into the town. She didn't dare attempt to fly now, as that would certainly draw attention to herself and would result in her death.

Twilight scrambled up a ladder on the side of another building. This particular rooftop had an elevated portion which she could take cover behind. Twilight grimaced when she saw the corpse of a khan lying facedown on the rooftop, a grim reminder that, even with cover, she wouldn't be safe. But, of course, at the moment, nowhere in all of Shady Sands was safe.

Swarms of Khans were jumping out of hiding spots and ambushing mutants that were charging too deep into the town. The mutants didn't go down without taking at least one khan with them, however, and quite frequently more than one. The khans had to simply hope that the mutants chose to go after the guy next to them and not themselves.

Twilight didn't see any more mutants holding missile launchers. The ones who had been carrying them were now all either dead or had forsaken their weapon for something that worked better in the close quarters of the town. Twilight took aim at a mutant that she saw was about to run into another Khan ambush. She watched the Khans jump out at the mutant from behind a building and start firing their weapons. The mutant stopped to howl in rage as it revved up it's minigun.

BLAM

Blood exploded from the mutant's head as it was violently forced into the ground. The Khans looked up at Twilight in surprise and signaled their thanks before returning to their hiding places.

Twilight stared in astonishment for a moment. More than any other weapon she had seen, the gun in her grasp apparently scoffed at the mutant's thick leathery skin.

Suddenly she realized that the mutants were taking notice of her. A group of eight had managed to get close while she had been preoccupied. Twilight watched in horror as a pair of giant green hands grasped the edge of her building. The moment the mutant's head appeared, she fired.

The mutant's head actually visibly split open from the point blank shot. Twilight tried to shake the image of the resulting gore out of her head as she turned to deal with the other intruders, but, to her horror, three of them had managed to completely climb up and the rest were following suit.

The nearest mutant was brandishing a sledgehammer over his head, preparing to beat the life out of Twilight.

Time seemed to slow down to a fraction to Twilight. She lifted up her weapon to fire off the last round left in the gun at her assailant. However, a small, temporarily ignored part of her mind wondered Is this what it is like before a pony dies?

The sound of Twilight's rifle firing seemed dull and low to her ears. She watched in morbid fascination as she followed the bullet's flight path and watched it embed itself in the mutant's face, causing another shower of blood. The mutant fell forward, barely missing Twilight, instead falling on the tip of her gun, pinning it to the ground.

Twilight barely cared in the moment, however. She had already fired off the last round. Something far more interesting was holding her attention instead.

When the body of the mutant fell forward in slow motion, it had slowly revealed a man standing behind it. The man was unlike anyone else Twilight had encountered in the entire wasteland. His clothing suggested that he was neither a Khan or from Shady Sands. She had no idea who the man was or where he was from. She would have remembered a man wearing a brown fedora and a tan trench coat.

And she knew that he had not been anywhere near that spot a moment ago.

The strange man did not look at Twilight. Instead, he raised his arm and pointed a magnum revolver at a mutant.

The bullet made a much bigger mess of the mutant's chest than Twilight had expected.

Without hesitation, the stranger aimed at the next mutant and fired again, with a similar result.

And again.

And again, and again, and again.

And Twilight was surrounded by mutants that had been turned into mangled bodies.

Twilight blinked. Suddenly, thoughts returned to her.

Where did that man go?!

She rushed to the edge of the building to search for the man in the streets below, but he was nowhere to be seen. She blinked a few more times.

Argh! I must have missed what happened! I think my brain just shut down for a moment there! I'll bet my perceptions were altered as a result!

What other explanation for what just occurred makes any sense?

Chapter 16: Not Among Friends

"ARGH!"

Twilight awoke with a start, unsure as to why she felt the need to scream like that. The first thing that she became aware of was that she ached all over.

She forced her eyes open and her heart stopped.

A super mutant was staring at her from the other side of a set of bars.

And she was the one who was locked in.

"You're awake," said the mutant. "Good."

Twilight scrambled to her feet, never taking her eyes off of the mutant.

"Where am I?" she demanded, trying to conceal her terror and display confidence that she didn't really feel. "How did I get here? What happened?"

"How did I get here?" sneered an unseen speaker in a mocking, sarcastic tone. Twilight warily looked around, but failed to find the speaker.

"Stop showing off," said the mutant, apparently not speaking to Twilight. "This isn't a game."

To Twilight's astonishment, another mutant appeared out of thin air next to the first one.

"I'll tell you how you got here, pony creature," said the second mutant. "You were out in the wasteland, all by yourself. I snuck up on you with my stealth-boy and injected you with this stuff that Loutenant gave me, and you passed out. And then I hauled you all the way here slung over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes."

"What are potatoes?" asked the first mutant, confused.

"You don't remember about potatoes?" asked the second mutant. "They're sort of... They're... How you say..."

"Potatoes are essentially round, brown vegetables that are filled with starch," said Twilight. She then wondered why she was interjecting into the conversation.

"There, you see?" said the second mutant. "Potatoes." He turned to face Twilight. "And now here you are."

"And where is here?" demanded Twilight. "I remember being in Shady Sands. But I don't remember what happened after the attack. I... I think we won!"

"Yes, you won alright," said the second mutant. "That entire detachment is pushing up daisies. You're lucky we aren't big on revenge, otherwise... Well."

"We are currently inside Mariposa military base," said the first mutant.

"Don't tell her that!" shouted the second mutant.

"She isn't going anywhere," countered the first mutant. "And, besides." He turned to look at Twilight. "This base is filled with hundreds of mutants. Even if you were to bust out of there, one of us will kill you before get anywhere near escaping."

"Yes," agreed the second mutant. "Just remember that. Both of you! No funny business, and we won't have to kill you!"

"Keene," said the first mutant in frustration, "shut up. Every mutant is loyal to our cause. That includes me."

"So you say," spat the second mutant.

"What do you two want with me?" asked Twilight.

"Ah!" said the second mutant. "Yes... I have a special message for you, Twilight. It's from... The Master."

Twilight felt her blood go cold.

"The Master says that, whether you are willing or not, he will get what he wants from you. It would be much less... unpleasant if you were to cooperate."

Twilight gave no answer.

"Just remember you two, you had better watch what you do and say..."

There was a strange electrical noise and he suddenly vanished into thin air again.

"Because you never know when I'm watching you!"

Twilight didn't speak for two whole minutes. Finally, she whimpered, "Is he still there?" She didn't know why she was saying this to another super mutant.

"Keene isn't here anymore," said the first mutant confidently. "He likes to try to make me think that he might be, but I know him. He's gone. There's no telling when he'll come back, but for now he's grown bored talking to me."

Twilight didn't speak.

"I'm sorry about him, by the way. He shouldn't be treating you like that. But, he's a nightkin. Nightkin are unstable, and they don't trust anybody except for The Master. They can hear The Master's voice in their heads, you see. But, because 'normal' mutants such as myself can't, that makes them very suspicious of us."

"What did he mean that The Master is going to get what he wants from me?" asked Twilight.

"Actually, we already have," said the mutant. "Already have what we want from you, I mean. Body scans. Flesh sambles. Genetic information."

"That explains why I feel like a badly put together jigsaw puzzle," said Twilight. Suddenly she realized the full meaning of what the mutant had said. "Genetic information? Why does your master want that from me?" She hesitated, trying to remember. "You're going to integrate my DNA into the unity!?"

"Well, yes and no," said the mutant. "You are unique. Irreplaceable. If you die, all we have left is your corpse. And a corpse is not enough for what we hope to achieve. Nor are we willing to risk dipping you in mutagen and seeing what kind of a mutant comes out. Not when you are the only of your kind. It's a shame, really. You'd be a perfect specimen. I bet you'd make a fantastic mutant.

"However, right now, at this very moment, there is a tank on the premises that contains an embryonic clone of you."

Twilight felt as if her stomach had dropped through the floor.

"A clone?" she whispered. "You're creating a brand new pony out of my DNA just to torture it and run experiments on it?"

"A thoroughly unpleasant business, yes," agreed the mutant. "Personally, I wouldn't have gone to such extreme measures. But, then again, I am not the Master. And if The Master thinks that this will create a better future for mutants, then it will."

"A better future for mutants?" cried Twilight. "What about the future of the humans? Do you care nothing about the humans? You used to be human!"

"Yes, I was once a human," answered the mutant. "The virus that turns us into what we are was designed to improve the subject in every way. Stronger. Smarter. Better. I approve of the change."

"Wait just a moment," said Twilight. "Stronger, I can believe. I can see without a doubt that mutants are way stronger than humans. But smarter? No. Not in my experience. Other than you, every mutant I've ever encountered was... stupid!"

"It's a side effect of the transformation process on subjects with excessive exposure to radiation," said the mutant. "Which is why I said that you would be ideal for mutation, assuming that your slightly alien physiology doesn't interfere with the virus. Humans from the wastes are far from ideal for the process, and they make stupid mutants. Most of them have trouble even remembering what their names used to be. If we didn't need numbers, I would say we should never have mutated them at all. But The Master requires them for cannon fodder, and if we must have dim-witted mutants to achieve the unity, then so shall it be. Mark my words though, it will bite us in the ass one day."

"You are rather better spoken than any other mutant I've... 'met'," said Twilight.

"We wouldn't want some idiot guarding you, would we? You might convince him to let you go, or something. But, you are right. I'm what you might consider to be one of the elites. I was born in a vault. Which means that the virus worked as intended, and I'm one of the smartest mutants around."

"But... you confiscated my gun, yet left me with my robe? Why?"

"Why not?" asked the mutant, confused. "It's just a robe. We're not trying to antagonize you. That would counter against the goal of convincing you to cooperate willingly."

"I... Suppose. But, back to the topic at hand! What about the humans who don't want to be a mutant?" demanded Twilight.

"Nobody disapproves of the change after the transformation has taken place," answered the mutant.

"Because they're brainwashed!" cried Twilight.

"True enough. But the evidence is there, whether you like it or not. We're completely immune to radiation and extremely hard to kill. My kind is better equipped to survive the wasteland than humans are. There can be no argument about that. Humans had their chance. Now, we will have ours."

"What do you mean 'humans had their chance'?"

"The war. The bombs. Humanity assumed the role of caretakers of this world. They failed. Humans have proved that they are not capable of living on the Earth without bringing ruin."

"And you're just going to kill them?" asked Twilight in astonishment.

"If they oppose The Master, then we must. There are some humans that assist The Master willingly, and they are allowed to stay human. You would get a similar privilege, if only you cooperate with us."

"And you really think that just because mutants are stronger than humans, they can do a better job at governing the world?"

"No, The Master governs us. And there will be no more war. No more fighting. Everyone will just... get along."

"Mutants are fighting humans in the wasteland every day!" cried Twilight.

"The humans force us to kill them. Most humans won't embrace the unity. They have to be killed. Peace must come later."

"Why am I debating this with a super mutant?" cried Twilight. "You'll never understand! The Master already owns you!"

"The world outside," countered the mutant, "it's chaos. Hell on Earth. And it was made that way because of human shortcomings. You can't deny that."

Twilight said nothing.

"So, if you don't want to live in a world like this one, some changes have to be made."

"You are right," said Twilight. "But your master is going to make the wrong changes."

"It might not be perfect," said the mutant, "but it won't be like the wasteland that is out there today. Are you telling me that you would rather live in the world as it is right now than in the world of my master's vision?"

"Yes," said Twilight Resolutely. "If it's a choice between chaos and the kind of order that the master has in mind... Then I choose chaos."

"Then I guess we are at an impasse of opinions," said the mutant. "I stand by what I said before, however. I bet you would make a great mutant."

"Hey," said Twilight.

"What's on your mind?" asked the mutant.

"Do you remember what your name is?"

"My name is Marcus."

Author's Note

For those of you who have played Fallout New Vegas, but not Fallout 2, you are probably familiar with Marcus the mutant, but in New Vegas, he isn't very outspoken about his opinions. In Fallout 2, he is much more assertive about his questionable opinions, although he is friendly to the player regardless. He doesn't specifically appear in Fallout 1, but it is implied that he was present during its time, so I am using some artistic license about his role in it.

Chapter 17: A New Development

"Listen up you idiots!" bellowed a very loud and gruff voice from the intercom. "We have four intruders in the base, on the second level. They're tearing this place apart! Capture them if you can, but kill them if you must!"

"Damn it," muttered Marcus, who hefted a minigun off of his back and, without a word to Twilight, rushed out of the prison block.

Which left a Twilight sitting in her cell, uncertain what to do.

If there is someone attacking this base, she thought to herself, then this is my chance to escape! I could force the door open, but that would likely be my doom if I accidently bump into a group of these mutants!

Suddenly, she heard the sound of a pressure release and saw the door to the prison block open.

In stepped three figures in power armor.

Before Twilight could get ahold of herself and say anything, one holding a minigun spoke.

"What the hell?" said the voice of a man, his voice altered by the helmet he was wearing. "Isn't that the purple unicorn thing that was making all that weird voodoo shit in medical?"

"Might not be," remarked another of the men, holding a gatling laser. "It could be another one created at this place. We've seen some pretty weird shit here."

"You're the Brotherhood of Steel!" cried Twilight.

"... Yeah, that's the medical subject alright," said the minigun wielding soldier. "How the hell did you wind up here? The security feed just shows that you vanished into thin air!"

"... I'm sorry, what?"

"She doesn't remember about that, dumbass," said the soldier with the rocket launcher. "She was out like a light the whole time!"

"Oh yeah."

"What are you talking about?" asked Twilight.

"Well, apparently the new guy brought you into the base while you were unconscious, and..." The soldier hesitated. "Well, there was some weird shit going on. Shit flying through the air, stuff being transformed into other stuff, and then you finally vanished into thin air."

"All of that really happened?"

"I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't seen it, but I did."

"Well, let's get her outta there. Can you use that thing to shoot the lock off?" said the rocket launcher carrier, nudging the man with the gatling laser.

"You're shittin' me, right?" replied the man.

Suddenly, there was the sound of metal being ripped.

"No need," said Twilight, letting the jail door fall to the floor with a bang.

"Well, that's convenient," said the soldier with the gatling laser.

"Hold on for a minute, I need to get my rifle."

Twilight lit up her horn and the locker opposite of her cell burst open with a snap. Twilight withdrew a long sniper rifle from inside as well as her carrying bag.

"That's scary," muttered the minigun soldier. "Hey," he continued. "I don't suppose you know anything about computer security? These two are idiots," he finished, motioning towards his companions.

"You couldn't get into the system either," pointed out the man with the rocket launcher.

"Maybe?" said Twilight uncertainly. "I've read the procedures, and I have hacked a couple of surviving terminals in the wasteland, but I'm not so certain about military grade encrytion..."

"Listen," said the gatling laser soldier. "If you can get into the system and turn those damn robots against the mutants instead of firing at us, we just might make it out of here alive. Not to mention, maybe we can figure out what the heck happened to John while we're at it."

"John?" cried Twilight.

"Oh, duh," said the man with the minigun. "The guy who brought you to Vree, he's leading the strike team here. Or at least, he was. Lost track of him a ways back. Friend of yours?"

"Get me to that terminal, now!"

"Now what do we have here? I've been told you wish to divulge information of the utmost importance. I do hope so."

John considered the super mutant in front of him carefully. The mutant obviously had numerous implants, and was apparently the 'Lieutenant' of the base. He was hideous.

So, when he had found himself cut off from the others and been forced to surrender...

Why the hell was he now face to face with the leader of the base fully armed?

"I might have some information," John began. "But not for someone as ugly as you."

"What a splendid sense of humor. Pity I don't have one. So ... the location of your Vault, if you please."

John looked around. The room was full of super mutants. With weapons. Big weapons.

There was no way he was getting out of this alive.

He looked back toward the Lieutenant.

"On one condition, pal."

"Conditions? How delightful. Go ahead, amuse me with your... condition."

"Put a bag over your head so I can stand being in your presence."

"An insult. How droll. I'd define that word for you, but that would be a waste, wouldn't it. Let's get to your two choices: You can tell me what I want to know. Or I can do it... my way."

"Well... Too bad. You won't get it."

The next thing John knew, the ugly super mutant's fist collided with his head.

"Hey! What you do?" cried the voice of a mutant.

Twilight whirled away from the terminal and looked at the mutant.

"I gonna-"

The mutant collapsed head-first.

"I don't have time to deal with you right now!" cried Twilight nervously, turning back to the terminal.

The force of Lieutenant's blow sent John reeling back.

But it didn't actually hurt.

Power armor is officially the best thing ever, thought John.

As soon as he had regained his balance, he looked back at the Lieutenant, who said, "Feel better now? Since torture is such a crass, yet oddly satisfying and effective technique, I'll ask you once more nicely. Where... is... the Vault!"

"Seriously? Is that the best you've got?"

The Lieutenant smashed his oversized fist into John's power helmet once more.

Once again, other than sending him reeling, this had almost no effect.

"How was that? In a more... chatty mood?" said the Lieutenant sinisterly. "Now where were we? Oh, of course... the Vault."

"Are you a freakin' idiot?" shouted John.

Suddenly, the robobrain bots at the far end of the room opened fire, filling the room with lasers.

"Shit!" screamed John, who immediately smashed his super sledge hammer (which inexplicably had not been confiscated) into the Lieutenant's chest, throwing him into the wall, before running for the door.

To his confusion, none of the other mutants payed him any mind.

Judging by the screams of pain and rage, the robots were attacking the mutants.

"John!"

John turned and, to his relief, saw that the soldiers from the Brotherhood were running down the hall.

"There you are! Where the hell did you disappear off to?" one asked.

"Just got a little lost," muttered John vaguely. "Did you guys sick the robots on the mutants?"

"Nah, that was your friend."

"My friend?" asked John in confusion.

"Oh, yeah, right. We found Twilight being held prisoner here. Once we busted her out, she got to the nearest terminal and worked some magic- in more ways than one- and figured out that you were down here with mutants crawling all over the damn place. So we figured you could use some help."

"Twilight's here?"

"GRAAAAH!"

Instinctively, John shot away from the sound of the super mutant who had wandered through the doorway and found itself behind him.

"Shit!" cried out the man with the rocket launcher, firing his weapon at the monster.

It exploded in a gorey paste.

"God DAMMIT!" screamed the man with the minigun. "Would you please refrain from firing that thing in narrow hallways! If it wasn't for our armor, we might be dead right now!"

"I didn't see anybody else doing anything!"

"You didn't give us a chance!" screamed the man with the gatling laser.

"It's not my fault that it takes time for those stupid thing's you two are lugging to rev up!"

"Alright, alright, shut up for a second!" screamed the man with the minigun. Thankfully, the others obliged.

"Alright, according to the layout that we have of this place in our data, the mainframe is on the next floor down. As much as it pains me to see our heritage destroyed, we have no choice but to try to reach it and activate the self destruct sequence. That's the only way that we can be sure to shut this place down for good!

"Now then, it sounds like we're missing a hell of a fight! Let's get in there and kick some mutant ass!"

"Jeffy?"

Twilight frantically turned away from the terminal again.

There was another super mutant in the room. It was bending over his fallen brethren, prodding him with a giant finger.

"Jeffy, what happen to you?"

The super mutant looked up and saw Twilight.

"Hey, you! What're you-"

The mutant collapsed on top of it's comrade.

"There's the mainframe!" cried the minigun wielding soldier.

"Whoa," said John. "That's a big computer."

"Let's hope we can get actually get into it..." said the soldier with the gatling laser.

John approached the controls.

"Oh, thank god!" he cried.

"You've cracked the code?"

"No, the last user left it logged in."

"Alright! So, what have we got?"

"Files, files, files..." said John, scanning through the contents of the giant computer.

"Wait a sec, actually, let me give it a try," said the man with the gatling gun.

"Well, okay," said John uncertainly.

A moment later, the soldier shouted out, "Damn it!"

"What now?" asked the soldier with the minigun in exasperation.

"I can't start the self destruct sequence. It requires special authorization, and I can't get past security!"

"Crap, we should have brought Twilight down here. But she's still on the third floor making the robots to shoot the shit out of these freakin' muties."

"I hope she can take care of herself," said John in a worried tone.

"She said it wouldn't be a problem," said the soldier with the gatling laser dismissively. "Oh, hey, what have we here?"

"What is it?" asked the man with the rocket launcher.

"Apparently, this mainframe can establish video communication with any other terminal in the building. If I can figure out which terminal Twilight is at, we can see if we can get her to help! I think it's this one right here!"

A monitor came to life and showed another room.

There was nobody on screen.

"Are you sure that's the right terminal?" asked the soldier with the minigun.

"I'm pretty sure?"

Twilight looked back toward the terminal in confusion. She was certain that there were voices coming from it. She stepped back in front of it and gasped.

Four men in power armor were gazing back at her.

"I told you!" said the soldier with the gatling laser.

"Twilight? Is that you?"

Twilight gasped and stared at the monitor.

"John?"

"It's me Twilight! Holy hell, I never would have thought I would find you in a place like this!"

"Erm... Sorry if this is awkward, but... Which one of you are John? I can't tell who's who, and I can't tell who's speaking when, so..."

Twilight trailed off as one of the soldiers in power armor pulled his helmet off.

"John, it's so good to see your face again! I didn't think I would ever find myself in a place like this either. But if we don't hurry, we might never leave! The security is on red alert, and there are force fields up all over the place! I've been trying to turn them all off!"

"Is that what you were doing when we called you?" asked the soldier with the rocket launcher.

"Erm... sort of?" said Twilight vaguely, looking over her shoulder at the mountain of mutants piled up behind her, out of view of the camera.

"Look, Twilight, we need your help," said John. "We're here at the mainframe, but we can't start the self destruct sequence without the right credentials!"

"Oh! I might be able to help with that. I think that I can take remote control from here if you authorize it from your end."

There was a beep from the mainframe and a countdown timer appeared on all of the monitors.

"There, I think I did it!" cried Twilight's voice. "Did it work?"

"Oh, shit," remarked the soldier with the minigun.

"That's not very long," cried John. "Not at all. Twilight, get your ass the hell out of here!"

"But what about you!"

"We'll make it out, I swear! Go!"

Twilight let out a sigh of relief as she heard the metallic clomping of power armor approaching the front gate of the military base.

"Twilight!" cried John.

"You're all okay!"

"Twilight, you stupid fuck, we're not clear of the explosion radius yet! We have less than sixty seconds left!"

Before Twilight could react, John had thrown his arms around her and heaved her over his shoulder and took off running, intent on not stopping until the military base was a smoldering hole in the ground.

First, they saw it. The entire military base seemed to instantly be enveloped in rapidly expanding fire and smoke. And then they heard the enormous, earth shattering 'KABOOM'. And finally, they felt it as John was thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion.

Twilight watched in awe.

"Did... I do that?" she asked meekly.

"Yeah..."

"... Are the others okay?"

John struggled to his feet and looked around.

"There!" cried Twilight in relief, pointing as three more figures stood up a short distance away.

"Is it over?" wondered John aloud.

"No..." said Twilight sadly. "Not yet."

"I hope Marcus managed to get out okay..." Twilight whispered.

"What was that?" asked John.

"Nothing."

Three years later:

"This job sucks ass."

"Just be glad that you didn't accidently fall into that green crap like that other guy did. I heard that they took him back home for observation."

"Would you two shut up already? I know Mariposa is a shithole, but believe me, you have no idea how valuble the stuff here could be to our goals."

"Oh yeah? How's that?"

"It's classified."

"Pfff. Figures."

"Look, you walking cans, you do your job, I'll do mine."

"Yeah, yeah, escort douchy scientist through the remains and sit on our asses."

"Good boy."

"It's a good thing this search and sweep op is almost done. I'm going to be so glad to finally get back to Navarro instead of this irratiated shithole."

"Shut up, I hate it here too."

"This is the place. Terminal is on the fritz. Maybe you can beat it into submission with your oversized forehead."

"What did I say about letting me do my job?"

"Whatever."

"... There. Got it. Damn pre-war tech..."

"... Okay, What the fuck is that thing?"

"Another mutation subject, most likely. Curious that it was so well shielded. You two... do whatever, I'm going to see if I can get the terminal talking."

"Whatever."

"... God Damn! The fuckin' thing's still alive!"

"Are you freakin' kidding me?"

"No, I'm not 'freaking' kidding you, look at the damn thing! It's staring at me!"

"Huh. Well, imagine that."

"Why the hell would the mutants go to such trouble to keep this thing alive all this time?"

"Maybe they thought it looks kinda cute."

"You did not just say that word."

"Well, look at it. It's a tiny purple... baby unicorn thing. Suspended in a life support pod, granted, but still!"

"It's a fucking mutant, you idiot."

"Well, sorry for speaking my mind."

"That is not to say that this is not a remarkable find. I had better put together a report for Commander Patterson immediately."

Author's Note

Fear not, the next chapter will return back to the point immediately after Mariposa Military Base is destroyed. From here on, I will probably frequently write in 'flashforwards' into the ending portion of the chapters so that you don't have to wait for forever to get a taste of what happens with this newest development.
Apparently, it officially took seventy-four years for the Enclave to locate the remains of Mariposa Military Base after it's destruction. I have bumped it down to a mere three years. The rest of the timeline is unchanged.

Chapter 18: Revisiting Harold

"Well, now where do we go?" asked John. "Do we go back to the Brotherhood? Hunt down any mutants in the area that escaped the explosion?"

"Mariposa might be gone," began Twilight, "but The Master is still out there somewhere. Unless The Master is taken care of, all we have done is delayed our destruction."

"Delayed it?" asked John in surprise. "What do you mean? The vats of that mutagenic green slime are destroyed. No more mutants, right?"

"Perhaps," answered Twilight uncertainly, "But their Master won't take this defeat sitting down. I'm certain that he will find a way to retaliate eventually. Maybe even reproduce the FEV virus that was in the mutagen."

"Hmm," said John. "Come to think of it, I remember a mutant or two talking about a 'Master' of some sort. Are you sure that he wasn't in Mariposa?"

"I'm certain," said Twilight. "While I was imprisoned there, the mutants took orders from a mutant they called 'Loutenant'."

"I met him," remarked John. "He acted smart, but he also thought that it was a good idea to stand near me within swinging distance."

"There is more that I haven't told you though," continued Twilight. "This is going to sound... Well, it's going to sound crazy, but while I was unconscious at the Brotherhood's base in Lost Hills, I was contacted by a voice claiming to be 'The Master'."

John gave Twilight a skeptic look.

"Are you certain that this wasn't just a dream, or something?"

"I am," answered Twilight confidently. "With good reason. While The Master was attempting to brainwash me, he accidently revealed that he was in the process of launching an attack on Shady Sands. Afterward, I managed to escape from The Master by physically teleporting myself to Shady Sands."

"Teleportation!" cried John. "You said that you could only manage to use a teleport spell as a last desperate resort. I guess that is what this was?"

"Not quite," answered Twilight. "But I'll explain that later. The point is that when I teleported to Shady Sands, I informed them that an army of mutants was coming to destroy their town. The very next day, I was proven to be correct."

"Damn," remarked John. "That is pretty strong proof. So, where do you think we should go?"

"We need to go to the Hub. We need to find Harold. Harold is our best chance for a clue as to The Master's location."

"What? Why?" asked John in confusion.

"Because I learned something else when I was communicating with The Master. He used to be a human named Richard Grey. Harold knew Richard. He was there when Richard fell into a vat and presumably transformed into a monster. Harold might know something that can help us figure out where Richard Grey went after that."

"Huh. Imagine that," remarked John. "Very well, to the Hub it is. Are you ready?"

"Yes. The sooner we get there, the sooner this will all be over."

"I don't suppose you could just teleport us there?" asked John hopefully.

"I'm afraid not. Such long distances are beyond my power. I think the only reason that I was able to teleport my body from Lost Hills to Shady sands was because of the fact that my... mind, sort of, was in Shady Sands already? I don't honestly know for sure. I do know, however, that I can't do it again."

"That's a shame. Well, come on then."

John began walking away. For the first time, Twilight realized that the power armor that her friend was clad with was making noises of hydraulic machinery at work with every step. With the addition of the suit, John probably weighed at least half a ton, and made him at least seven feet tall. In fact, nearly equal to the weight and height of an average super mutant. The suit also granted strength similar to a super mutant too, now that she thought about it.

It was nothing short of intimidating. Any raiders they encountered would have to be insane to try to kill him.

Of course, I wouldn't be surprised to find that the raiders ARE that insane, thought Twilight.

"You know," said John, "I know for a fact that your story is true. I went up to Shady Sands myself to warn them of exactly the same thing, only to find that the town already knew about it and had repelled an attack already, with the help of the Khans, of all people. There wern't very many of them left though. Apparently their leader got killed in the attack and the remaining Khans don't know what to do with themselves."

"Garl died?" said Twilight.

Why am I sad about this? she wondered. He admitted that he has murdered dozens of innocent people, and even his own father!

And yet, in some strange, small way, he was something of a comrade to me and to the town of Shady Sands, despite his past. He was arguably the most responsible for the town's very survival.

And now he's dead.

But at least he got his wish. He did die an honorable death.

After some more thought, Twilight realized that she must have been aware of Garl's death at one point, but she was unfortunately unable to remember the final details of the battle thanks to a certain super mutant drugging her. She would not have dared try to leave with Garl's sniper rifle if he was still alive, especially since he had basically threatened her if she didn't return it.

I suppose that the rifle really is permanently mine now.

"Twilight!"

"Hmm?" asked Twilight, snapping out of her thoughts.

"Look, up ahead. Floaters. Six of them. They haven't seen us yet."

Twilight looked. "Ugh. I see them. Disgusting creatures."

"Should we try to avoid them?" asked John. "Or do you feel like taking out the trash?"

Twilight considered.

"Actually," she said, "I'm hoping you'll let me take care of them this time."

John looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

"I want to test a new spell. This is a perfect opportunity."

"A spell?"

"Watch."

Twilight's horn lit up and suddenly a ball of energy grew in front of her and ignited before launching at a floater.

The fire ball collided with the monstrosity and immediately every square inch of its body ignited.

A mere instant later, the thing exploded in a fiery explosion (thanks to its gaseous interior), which engulfed the other floaters and triggered a chain reaction of explosions.

"Holy hell," cried John. "I didn't know you could do that! You sure took care of them!"

And now I've finally done it, thought Twilight in melancholy. I've finally killed something with my magic alone. At least I did so in order to remove six murderous tape worm freaks from existence. If there any kind of creature I hate, it's giant mutant parasites.

"So you just came up with that spell one day?" asked John. "I've never seen you do that before."

"I didn't have the power to do it before," said Twilight. "Let me explain. In Equestria, every living thing produces magic in relatively small quantities. Everything. From the blades of grass to apple trees, from bunny rabbits to gryphons-"

John snorted in mild amusement.

"Yes, I know, your last name is Griffon, but I'm being serious. From rabbits to gryphons to all kinds of ponies, all of them produce magic. When they have an excess of magic, the excess is released into the air, so to say. As a result, the very environment around everypony in Equestria is a giant reservoir of magic. In order to access it, one only needs to provide a mere spark of their own personal power. But because I am not in Equestria, and there is no magic in the air, I was forced to rely on the magic manufactured by my own body for one hundred percent of my power. The fact that I was able to do as much as I did is actually quite astonishing.

"Now, I mentioned something else before. When I used my magic to teleport to Shady Sands, I wasn't drawing on the very last of my magical strength for a desperate escape, as you implied. What actually happened is that I... Let's just say I had, an epiphany, of sorts. Even though this world is very nearly a magical dead-zone, I realized that I've had a way to access magic from Equestria this whole time."

"You're drawing magic from another world?" cried John.

"Well, yes. You see, my five best friends in Equestria share a very special bond with me. A magical bond even. And it can cross any distance without growing any weaker at all. It transcends space itself. Even with me being separated from my friends by an entire dimension, the bond is still as strong as ever. But I didn't realize until recently that I could use that bond to have my friends, who are all in Equestria, send me Equestrian magic."

"They can do that?" said John in astonishment. "Wouldn't something like that leave them exhausted?"

"Negligibly. The fact that there are five of them to spread the load between helps greatly. And also, only the pony casting the magic suffers from the 'burnout', as it is called. Burnout is similar to muscle fatigue, only it applies to the mind and the horn instead. I could cast spells all day long and my friends probably wouldn't notice a thing."

"Remarkable," said John. "Is there some kind of magic bond between you and I too?"

Twilight suddenly looked down in embarrassment. "Probably not," she admitted. "You're not a native of Equestria, and magic is completely foreign to this world. And, even if there is a bond between you and I, you don't have a way of channeling it."

"That's alright, I'm probably too stupid to understand your magic anyway."

Twilight knew that John was just trying to be humorous. It didn't stop her from saying, "John! You're not stupid! Don't even joke about that!"

"Hey, take it easy!" said John. "If I didn't make fun of myself, it would actually hurt when anybody else makes fun of me instead."

"That's a terrible way to think!" cried Twilight.

"Terrible world," countered John. "All things considered, seems pretty appropriate."

Twilight considered.

"Well, I guess at least you aren't succumbing to depression. Very well then, continue with the non-sense!"

"Is that an order?"

"I mean, carry on with the non-sense if you want to. ... Wow, I sound like Fluttershy all of the sudden."

"Relax," said John. "We're together again on another adventure. It will be just like old times!"

"Except now we're a terrifying giant metal man and a pony who can throw fire."

"We can dive into a deathclaw nest if you're feeling lucky."

"No!"

John let out a laugh.

"See? Like I said, just like old times."

"I wish we were at the Hub right now."

"So do I, but the truth of the matter is that the Hub is two weeks away."

"I just hope Harold has some information for us when we get there." said Twilight.

Two weeks later:

"Harold!" cried Twilight. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"Why, if it isn't the purple pony," said Harold. "Um, who's your friend?" he asked nervously, pointing a decrepit finger at John.

John pulled his helmet off. "Name's John Griffin. I believe we've met before?"

"Oooh," cried Harold. "Good grief, boy, you know that you're liable to scare everyone half to death with that getup?"

"Works for me," said John dismissively. "Better than having every other guy sizing you up to decide if you're worth mugging."

"Very true," said Harold sadly. "Can't say I expected to ever see you two again. What can this old mutant do for you two?"

"We were hoping you had some information for us," explained Twilight.

"Ah, I see. This isn't a social call then."

"Well, no..." began Twilight in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, it's just that we're terribly busy trying to stop armies of super mutants and we haven't really had the time to-"

"Super mutants?" said Harold. "I thought that we drove them off already! Some giant men in power armor came and... Huh, one of them was you, wasn't it?" said Harold, turning to John. "You already gathered up the town to drive the mutants off. Don't tell me they're coming at us again!"

"No, nothing like that," assured Twilight. "As a matter of fact, the super mutants are hopefully gone for good. What we need is for you to tell us everything that you know about The Master."

Harold stared back at Twilight with a blank expression.

"The Master?" he said in confusion. "Is he some sort of sex therapist? I could use one of those."

John saw Twilight's horrified expression and decided that she wouldn't be ready for talking any time soon.

"No," said John in frustration. "We're looking for the master of the super mutants! Do you not know anything about him?"

"Didn't know that they had a master," said Harold. "Huh. Wonder who it is? Maybe things would have turned out different for Richard and I if we had known."

"No, I-" John cut himself off and shook his head. "Harold. Do you know what happened to Richard Grey after what happened at Mariposa?"

"That's the name of that old military base!" cried Harold happily. "I tell you, it was drivin' me absolutely crazy not being able to remember!"

Harold frowned.

"Unfortunately, me and my atrocious memory are going to have to disappoint you. The last time I saw Richard was when he fell into that green muck. I asked the fellows who rescued me about what happened to him, but they never saw him, and I never heard anything about him ever again. So, if Richard knew anything about this 'master' of yours, that knowledge died with him. I'm sorry."

John sighed. "Alright, Harold. Thank you for trying to help anyway. We'll find The Master one way or another."

He looked to Twilight, who still appeared to be horrified.

"Come on, Twi, let's get some real food while we're in town and not have that wasteland crap for at least one day. We'll worry about what we're going to do after that."

Twilight silently nodded and followed John out of Harold's house.

"Mister Patterson!"

Commander Patterson sighed and set down his paperwork and looked toward the artificial outdoors enclosure.

Inside was the young purple unicorn that been recovered from Mariposa four years before, and she had spent nearly every moment of her life in the artificial outdoor enclosure ever since. It was designed to make one's pet feel at home in their natural environments. Of course, Patterson had long since realized that the pony was something more than an exotic pet from the moment she started to learn how to speak. Never the less, she seemed to be perfectly content eating the enclave's preserved pre-war grass that grew in her enclosure.

Of course, artificial enclosures like the one in his office were definitely not cheap, but the funding had not been hard to acquire once Patterson proved to his superiors that the pony was at least as intelligent as the sapient deathclaws, which were also held on the base. Several enclave officers had a passive interest in the pony's development. Some even came into Patterson's office just to have a conversation with the purple pony. He wasn't entirely sure that he approved of that, but he never tried to stop them.

According to the computer logs from Mariposa, she was already three years old at the time of her retrieval. That meant that she was seven years old now.

The computer logs had identified her as subject Twilight Sparkle. Commander Patterson had no idea how the super mutants had come up with such a code name for their creation, but he saw no particular reason to change it. Somehow, it seemed appropriate.

"What is it, Sparkle?" he asked. If the pony insisted on calling him by his last name, he would do the same to her.

"Do you want some coffee, Mister Patterson?" asked Sparkle, her voice muffled slightly from the glass separating her from the enclave commander.

"What?" said Patterson in bafflement, a state that the pony put him in too many times for his comfort.

"I said, do you want some coffee, Mister Patterson?" repeated Sparkle.

Suddenly, to the commander's shock, he noticed his coffee mug floating in the air in front of his nose.

He screamed and shoved his feet against his desk, rapidly propelling his rolling chair away from the mug.

"I didn't mean to scare you!" cried Sparkle. "I just wanted to show you that I can really do it! I told you I could do it! You didn't believe me before, but I can do it! I don't know how I can do it but I can really make things fly!"

"You're making this mug fly?!" cried Patterson.

"Yes! Isn't that great!"

"Uh, yes, great, great..." muttered Commander Patterson as he scooted his chair back to his desk, slowly, his eyes not leaving the mug.

"Could you please put my cup back down?" said Patterson. "I don't want it to accidently spill."

"Okay. Sorry for scaring you."

The mug floated back down and settled on the desk. Patterson stared at it for a moment, and then reached out and grabbed it. It didn't resist.

"Sparkle... Did you're horn feel funny again when you did that? Just like the last time you claimed to be 'performing magic'?"

"Yes, it did. Do you know why?"

"No... But I think I might know a way to find out."

"You do?"

"We don't know anything about what this is. It could be dangerous. I think it would be in both of our best interests for me to let the medical boys finally take a good look at you."

"We're going to the doctor again?" cried Sparkle excitedly. It was the only time that she ever got to see the rest of the base, despite her occasional requests.

"Yes, we are."

The door to Patterson's office opened and a man in a white lab suit approached Patterson's desk.

"It's about time," said Patterson. "You realize that I took Sparkle in at nine in the morning. It is now seven in the evening. So what the hell has been the hold up? I see that she's not with you. Is there a problem with her?"

"There is no problem, commander," answered the doctor. "These things just take some time."

"So, what have you learned then?"

"The telekinetic abilities that she exhibits definitely correspond to the energy surges in her horn. Our educated guess is that this ability was engineered by that freak of nature that the first generation mutants refer to as The Master. Mutation alone does not explain how such an ability came to be."

"Fair enough," said Patterson. "but it can't have taken you that long to figure all that out."

"Ah yes..." answered the other man hesitantly. "There is a small... complication."

"Complication?"

"Yes, of sorts. You see, we have been measuring her brain activity and energy patterns as she performs levitations for us. One of our men took a look at the scans and decided... that..."

"Spit it out, decided what!"

"He decided that the effects of young Sparkle's energy surges could be... amplified by... Hooking her up to a tesla coil."

"WHAT?" bellowed Patterson, standing up.

"God dammit you people! Are you insane? Are you trying to kill her?"

"Understand that the greatest possible safety precautions were taken."

"Damn you all, I don't care! That's not what I took her in for, and furthermore, it's downright deadly! There is a reason that tesla armor has so much metal in it, you have to protect against power surges! GOD DAMMIT, you tell me she's alive right now!"

"She is fine, sir!" answered the other man assuredly. "In fact, other than giving her a headache, she suffered no ill effects."

Patterson didn't say anything. He remained standing and glared daggers at the scientist.

"But the interesting thing is, she did somehow manage to launch nothing less than a beam of protovoltic energy from that horn of hers."

Patterson glared at the man incredulously.

"Explain."

"She hit a piece of equipment on the other side of the room," said the scientist. "It was EMP shielded. All the same, it is completely destroyed. Not only is the circuitry fried, but a part of the casing actually melted."

"Don't you go pinning this shit on me!" cried Patterson in anger. "I'm not paying for it! You dumb-asses are the ones who decided to mess with this crap!"

"Sir, you misunderstand! The higher ups were... mostly pleased with the result. They wanted to know if we could crank up the power. And we can."

"You want to build protovoltic energy cannons for the troops, don't you?" he said.

"Negative. We do not have an understanding of how young Sparkle is manipulating energy in the way that she does, nor do we have the ability to find out without performing an autopsy. The higher ups don't want us damaging our only specimen of this species on a risk that might not pay off in the end. They have something else in mind."

Patterson looked the scientist in the eye.

"In order to 'crank up' the power, you'll have to attach her to a nuclear generator, right?"

"Now you're getting the idea, sir."

"And you can't have a mobile nuclear generator hooked up to a person- or a pony, unless that nuclear generator happens to be a full fledged suit of power armor."

"Precisely."

"It would have to be severely modified, of course."

"Naturally."

"You and the superiors want to turn her into a super soldier."

"You have the right of it sir."

"I see... I need to think about this. Can I at least go get the poor thing?"

"Affirmative, sir. Just be aware, somebody will be stopping by tomorrow to... talk about this."

"Right. Whatever," muttered Patterson. He walked toward his office door.

"Oh, sir!" cried the scientist.

Patterson sighed and turned around. "What is it?"

"I neglected to mention one minor detail. The protovoltic discharge had one very unusual side effect. Not an adverse effect, mind you, just very strange. In fact, we have no explanation for it at all. Something about it must have reacted with her body in a most unusual way because the reaction apparently altered the pigments of some of the hair in her... rear."

"Oh, for the love of- Altered in what way?"

"Some of our people insist that the resulting pattern looks premeditated, but they are in the minority. It is far more likely that it is just a series of fractals that she now has etched onto her flanks. The fact that it strongly resembles a cluster of stars is simply coincidence."

Patterson gave the scientist one final look, and then stormed out of the office.

Chapter 19: More Power

Twilight and John had decided that the best plan now for locating The Master was to ask the people if they had seen any mutants nearby, especially town leaders and law enforcement. Unfortunately, there was little information to be had from The Hub. However, the caravan companies did inform them that mutant attacks on caravans were becoming commonplace. As far as they could tell, the mutants generally seemed to be heading south.

The nearest town to the south was actually an enormous city known as the Boneyard. According to John, the city was so enormous that it was deemed unlikely to be attacked by mutants, and thus he had never actually been there.

Currently, Twilight and John were in the middle of a quiet, forgotten pre-war neighborhood, deciding which house they would pass the night in.

"John!" cried Twilight from the top of the stairwell. "Let's say here tonight!"

"What has you so interested in this particular house?" asked John. "The lack of roaches?"

"Well, yes, that is a nice touch, but come and see this!"

She disappeared through the doorway.

John shrugged to himself and followed after her, being careful as he climbed the staircase with steps that were too small for his mechanized feet.

John quickly located Twilight in the old master bedroom.

"Whoever used to live here must have been quite the tinkerer!" she exclaimed, pointing toward a small closet room. John peeked inside and saw that there was a workbench inside, as well as all sorts of crazy tools and gadgets.

"What are you going to do with that?"

"Well, you know how you took my laser rifle with you when you left the Brotherhood's base?"

"Hey, I kinda needed it!" protested John. "Without you at my side, there was nobody give me cover if ever I needed it, so it would have been very foolish of me to go off like that without a ranged weapon of some kind! I did leave you the laser pistol in case you ever woke up."

"Which the Brotherhood presumably is still in possession of," remarked Twilight. "I already told you, I'm not mad at you for taking the rifle. You had did have good reason for it. My point now is that I am so glad that you brought it with you. Look at this thing."

Twilight stepped into the closet and indicated some strange machine with a pair of cables sticking out of both ends.

"I have no idea what that is," admitted John.

"It's basically just a homemade set of jumper cables and an electrometer."

John looked at Twilight with a blank expression. "Nope, still no clue what it is."

Twilight huffed in frustration.

"Well, now look here. You know what these things are right?"

"Fusion batteries?"

"Correct. Now, you're still carrying those exhausted micro-fusion cells from the laser rifle, right?"

"Yeah. You said that you might be able to rejuvenate them one day. Is that what you're getting at?"

"Exactly!" answered Twilight. "You see, each micro-fusion cell has a certain capacity. Typically, a laser rifle like the one we have can fire twelve shots from a single micro-fusion cell. But what you may not realize is the fact that the cell is not completely depleted of all of its power after twelve shots. It has to have a certain minimum amount of power to be able to discharge a shot, and an 'empty' cell still has about a third of it's power leftover.

"So, you see, with this thingy here-" Twilight motioned towards the homemade device, "we can transfer all of the energy from one cell into another."

"And what do the fusion batteries have to do with all of this?" asked John in confusion.

"That's just the thing!" cried Twilight happily. "These batteries have an enormous amount of power. Instead of just filling up one third of our depleted cells, we can siphon off the power in these batteries and fill each and every single cell to the fullest!"

"Are you kidding?" cried John. "Do you have any idea how many of those batteries we've found laying around?"

"Of course I do. We've probably seen over a hundred in our days of scavenging."

"Exactly! If you can just refill these cells all the time, we basically have infinite ammunition!"

"Well, almost," answered Twilight. "Just because we see batteries all the time doesn't mean that there are going to be any available at any given moment. And we can't just carry them with us. Have you tried picking them up? They are a lot heavier than they look."

John picked one up.

"Whoa. Even through the power armor, I can feel it."

"It's all of that lead and nuclear material inside," explained Twilight. "But you were basically correct. Assuming that I can get this to work, we can refill our ammunition for the laser rifle for free."

"Say," said John thoughtfully. "When you finish filling the cells up again, will you still have some batteries left-over?"

"In theory, yes," said Twilight. "It depends on whether these batteries all still carry a full charge. Why?"

"Well, couldn't you, I don't know... super-charge some of the cells or something?"

"You mean overcharge them?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Couldn't you?"

Twilight stood thoughtfully for a moment.

"I guess I could. Doing that in addition to modifying the internal capacitor to force it to release more energy per burst would result in much more deadly laser shots. General Atomics International provides very specific specifications in order to comply with safety regulations, but it is possible to charge the cells beyond those specifications. However, according to what I have read, overcharged cells will damage your gun and, worse, have a possibility of exploding, especially if the cell is charged by someone who doesn't know what they are doing."

"Oh," said John in disappointment. "I guess we're not going to try that then. I didn't even know that those fusion cells could explode."

"Look on the casing. It says 'Warning: may explode if disposed of in fire'."

"Should I be nervous about my micro-fusion cells spontaneously exploding?"

"That's what the safety regulations are for," explained Twilight. "In their current state, there is virtually no chance of explosions occurring if handled properly. Honestly, the specifications are probably overcompensating in the safety department. I think you could safely charge the cells much higher than the specifications and still have no real risk."

"Yeah, I'd prefer we not risk it," agreed John. "Say..."

"Yeah? You look like you've just had an idea."

"So, these things explode when treated improperly, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Have you ever considered treating them improperly on purpose?"

"What? Why? Do you want me to blow myself up?"

"No, I mean, under controlled circumstances. For instance, could you make a micro-fusion cell into a grenade?"

"You want to make jury-rigged grenades?" asked Twilight incredulously.

"Is there a danger of them exploding at random?"

"Well- No. I don't think so."

John looked surprised. "Really?"

"I've considered it, and... Well, I can leave the micro-fusion cell completely unaltered and to safety specification and merely open up the casing. You could trigger an explosion by just crushing the regulator, which I think you could do easily enough. It wouldn't detonate right away, you would have a few seconds before the insides heat up enough to cause an explosion. But- No. The whole idea is completely untested and very dangerous. I might accidently blow myself up because of unforeseen complications!"

"Wait," said John. "What if you told me what I have to do and I build it instead of you? An explosion isn't going to hurt me that badly when I'm in this thing."

"I think you're putting too much confidence into that suit," said Twilight wearily. "A fully charged micro-fusion cell would explode with even more force than a grenade and coat the surrounding area with mildly radioactive acid."

"Sweet. Now I really want to try it!"

"Ugh, fine. But let me charge up all of the cells first, just in case you destroy the equipment. It will take a couple of hours to finish, so in the meantime, why don't you see what you can scrounge up from the surrounding houses.

"Alright, deal.

"Alright, I did it."

"The casing is removed?"

"Yep."

"Oh, thank goodness that's over with," huffed Twilight. "I wouldn't put that thing on top of all of your other stuff. Who knows whether it might accidently bump something in the wrong way and blow up."

"This backpack has small pockets on the front that are the perfect size for it."

"I guess that will do. Can we let that be the only one, please?"

"Yeah, it wouldn't do to destroy all of the cells," agreed John. "We can't recharge them if we blow them up, plus we gotta save a few for the rifle anyway."

"We should get some sleep. We stayed up a little later than usual already as it is."

"Alright. You'll be taking the bed, I assume?"

"Well, I know that you won't be, so I may as well," said Twilight, approaching the mattress (she had cleaned it as best she could while John was making the micro-fusion grenade).

"Fair enough," answered John. He walked over to the other side of the room and turned toward the door.

"I'll be here, I guess. Good night."

Twilight rolled her eyes at John as he slumped forward slightly, and then stood motionless.

"Good night."

Ever since she had been reunited with her companion, he would do this every night, whether they spent their nights in an old building or in the open wasteland. He would lock his suit's servos in place and literally fall asleep standing up. John had assured her that it was actually surprisingly comfortable. In fact, he almost never took that suit off, ever. With the ever-present threats that the wasteland had in store that could attack at any moment (even in a building during the night), Twilight could hardly blame him. At least he would take off the helmet from time to time.

Anybody else that saw him standing there like that wouldn't know whether he was awake or not. Admittedly, this was a good thing, since it might keep trouble at bay. And if trouble did show up, John would already be in a position for action.

Eventually, Twilight drifted off to sleep.

CRASH

Twilight bolted awake in an instant and held her sniper rifle at the ready, prepared to use deadly force if necessary. She looked around in bewilderment, looking for the source of the trouble.

Are we under attack? she thought.

Suddenly, she realize that John was nowhere to be seen.

"Urrrughhhhh..."

Twilight recognized the moaning voice as John's.

She approached the spot where John had been standing. There was a gaping hold in the floor. She looked down through it.

John was in the room below, slowly getting to his feet and moaning.

"Are you alright?" asked Twilight in concern.

"Yeah, shaken, but I'm fine. Suit took the impact. Ugh..."

John stood up, revealing a smashed table underneath him. He looked up at the hole.

"That's the last time I'm sleeping on the second floor of an old, rickety, wooden pre-war building while in this thing," he muttered. He let out a sigh.

"I guess I'll just sleep down here instead," he continued. "You can just stay up there, I guess."

"Sparkle, why do you keep trying? It's never worked before, it's not going to work now. I am quite certain that they're quite simply vestigial."

Sparkle ceased her mad wing flapping and gave Patterson a look. "They can't be vestigial!" she protested. "Look at how big they've gotten! If they were vestigial, they wouldn't be so prominent!"

"Never the less," answered Patterson, "we've done the math hundreds of times. Even considering how much they've grown, you're simply not a bird. You're a unicorn. A winged unicorn, true, but not a bird. There is just no way that those wings of yours can generate enough lift to get you off the ground."

Sparkle let out an annoyed sigh. "I know. It's just... I don't understand why I was born this way. They must have some kind of function, or they would have disappeared from my species long ago. If bet if my parents were still alive, they could tell me why I am like this."

Patterson didn't say a word, but felt pity for the pony. There was only one explanation for the wings. They had come from exactly the same place as her 'magic' powers: A combination of mutations and genetic engineering, in uncertain portions. It was almost certainly unintentional, as the wings clearly had no working function. They were merely a curious side product of giving Sparkle the genetics that produced her powers.

It simply wouldn't do to tell any of this to Sparkle, however. She believed that she was the last surviving member of Earth's natural-born horses, and furthermore believed that the legends of pegasi and unicorns were true. It wasn't hard to convince her of that. Of course, while she almost certainly had horse DNA, Patterson knew that the truth had been greatly twisted. Knowing without uncertainty that her wings would forever remain useless might break her heart. And, more importantly, her mutant heritage was a carefully guarded secret. Ever since Sparkle had learned that she was to become a soldier for the enclave, she had embraced their ideals admirably, particularly the idea of restoring the world to it's former glory and the removal of the mutant filth. All of that would come crashing down on top of her if ever she learned that she was one of the very mutants that the enclave had vowed to ultimately destroy.

Thankfully, the Enclave was probably still many decades from actually achieving this goal. Sparkle would likely pass away naturally before then. Or die in honorable combat.

Patterson needed to change the subject.

"I have some very special news for you today."

"You do? Are we going on the vertibird again?"

"No. But I think you will be even more excited about this. The science boys delivered this prototype to me earlier today."

Patterson pulled out a strange device and set it on his desk.

"Is this what I think it is?" asked Sparkle, approaching the desk (she was now generally free to go where she pleased).

"Depends on what you think it is," said Commander Patterson. "It's the prototype neural interface gear that will one day be in your power helmet."

Sparkle considered the device.

"Is this going to make the headaches worse?" she asked, worried.

"Actually, they tell me that you can expect the headaches to disappear completely."

Sparkle's mouth fell agape.

"Are you serious? Can we try it right now? How does it work?"

"That's just the thing," answered Patterson, a bit uneasy. "We've been developing this technology for a long time now, and there is just no getting around one simple fact: In order to give you maximum control, and in order for you to reach your full potential, you must have a neural interface surgically implanted. It will allow you to dynamically control the flow of power from your armor in real time. Obviously, you will carry the implant with you for your entire life."

He fell silent and awaited Sparkle's reaction.

"Will I be able to see it?"

"It will be on the back of your head," explained Patterson. "We'll have to shave that part of your mane before we can install the implant, but afterward, it will grow back and you can hide it."

"And what happens to me afterward?"

"You'll be allowed to recover for as long as you need. But, when you are ready, you'll truly begin your training. In a very hands on fashion. Weapons testing, mainly, if you can even call it that."

"And when will you finally let me out in the field?"

"It won't be long. As soon as we have a fully working power suit for you to protect you from the radiation and other dangers of the wastes, you'll probably be accompanying me on a few missions."

"Very well," said Sparkle. "If this is how I can best serve, then I am ready. The sooner we get it over with, the better."

"Good," answered Patterson. "We'll have it done later today."

Chapter 20: Extermination

"Who the hell are you two?"

"Sir," answered John, his helmet currently off. "My name is John Griffin, and this is Twilight Sparkle. Is this the mayor's office?"

"Yeah, it is. What the hell is she?"

"I am an alicorn," answered Twilight, suppressing an exasperated groan. "Although, you probably would be more familiar with the term 'pony'."

"Never heard of either of those words. And, come to think of it, I don't really care. I'm Jon Zimmerman, mayor of The Boneyard. What can I do for you?"

"I-"

John was cut off as the Mayor began speaking again.

"Are you here for work, perhaps? I could use someone as well armed as you two."

"Actually, you could say that we're on a job already," said John. "And we figured that someone as well connected as the mayor might be able to help us."

"It is true, I do have a certain degree of power in this city," answered the mayor. "I don't give it away for free, though. What sort of help do you need?"

"Are you aware of any super mutant activity near the city?"

"Super mutants?" cried the mayor in surprise. "No, I have heard not even the faintest hint! Those things don't dare come into the city, they'd be shot on sight. If they came into the city, they wouldn't last very long."

"I see," answered John in disappointment. "Thank you for your assistance. We'll be on our way."

"Hold on," cried the mayor. "At least hear me out on that job I mentioned earlier."

"We're pressed for time," said John doubtfully. "But alright. I'll at least listen to your offer."

"That's all I'm asking," said the mayor. "Have you ever dealt with a vicious murdering band of thieves before?"

"That's the job?"

"Have you?" repeated the mayor.

"I've killed a number of raider gangs," said John guardedly. "Is that the kind of murderers you mean?"

"Worse," answered the mayor. "You know how ruthless and bloodthirsty they can be, but the Blades are the worst of them all, I'm afraid. We're a humble, god fearing town that is only trying to survive, and these... these... monsters..."

He took a deep breath.

"The leader of the Blades had son kidnapped, tortured and killed. They left him impaled on a post right outside the gates."

"Damn," whispered John. "How the hell did they get into the city? There are guards all over the place!"

"They live in the city!" screamed the mayor. "I hired the regulators to keep shit like them out of The Boneyard, but they refuse to take action against the blades because, I quote, 'There is no proof that they were responsible'."

"There is no proof that any of them are guilty of murder?" asked John. "I take it that they act at least somewhat civilized when they deal with your guard."

"They're murderers, not idiots. They're hiding their true nature. That makes them even more dangerous than some raider gang in the wasteland. And if the regulators won't take them out, then I need someone who will. Will you do it?"

John didn't speak for a moment, but finally he answered with, "I'll look into it."

"Thank the gods. Finally, my son shall be avenged. I'll give you two thousand caps to kill their leader! I want that bitch's head! The Blades' camp is to the north of here. Come back when you've done the job."

John ignored the concerned look from Twilight. "Goodbye, Mister Zimmerman."

John and Twilight walked out of the mayor's office.

"John," said Twilight worriedly.

"Not right now," said John hurriedly. "Let's get away from here first."

Before leaving the building, John stopped to put his helmet back on. He then opened the front door and stepped outside and Twilight followed. They found themselves on the streets. John stopped and turned to Twilight.

"We're not doing that job."

"Oh, thank goodness!" cried Twilight in relief. "I was thinking of Gizmo, actually. I didn't mind trying to arrest him. We had proof of his crime, and we didn't go to him with the intent of killing him, he and his bodyguard pulled guns on us and we had to defend ourselves.

"But this is another matter altogether. The regulators are right. They haven't seen any proof that the Blades are actually responsible, and even if there was evidence, murdering them out of revenge just simply isn't the answer. I just have one question though. Why did you tell him that you would 'look into it'? The poor man is going to be waiting for news that will never come."

"I know," muttered John in frustration. "I hate having to make choices like this. But I had the feeling that if I outright refused him, he would have been pissed. I don't know if he would have ignored us afterward, but he just might be desperate enough to take vengeance on anyone who so much as pisses him off. I didn't want to take that risk."

"Do you really think he would have done such a thing? Just because we said no?"

"Yes. He might have."

Twilight sighed.

"Well, hopefully we'll never see the man ever again. In any case, I think that we might have hit another dead end. We've spent a couple of days in the city looking for leads, and then when we finally asked the mayor, he didn't have anything for us either. I think we might need to move on."

John didn't answer. Twilight realized that he was John was looking over her head. She turned around and was startled to see a man standing behind her.

"Either tell us what you want or keep walking," said John.

"My name is Miles," said the man. "I heard that two... persons fitting your description have been asking about super mutant activity around here."

"You mean you actually have something for us?" cried John in surprise.

"I do. But I won't help you without you doing a small favor in return."

John sighed. "Of course. What do you need?"

"I am a chemist. I have the greatest scientific understanding of any resident of the entire Boneyard. I built the Town's water distiller as well as the hydroponic farms. But we have a serious problem. The hydroponics farm stopped working quite some time ago and we have to buy our food from traveling merchants. I would fix the farms myself, but for all of my knowledge, there are some things that simply cannot be done without the proper parts."

"I see," said John. "So you want me to go pick up the parts you need from another town? It's just that my friend and I are rather in a rush."

"Do not worry about that. The parts that I need are not far away. We have replacement parts stored in a warehouse here in the city."

"So... Why don't you go get them?" asked John in confusion.

"I'll tell you why," said Miles. "Because that warehouse just happens to now be a nesting ground for a mother deathclaw and her children. That is why I am asking you. If anybody can exterminate those creatures, it would be a fully armored member of the Brotherhood of Steel."

"How did you know that I'm in the Brotherhood?" asked John in confusion.

"I am familiar with that armor. It is a model T-51 powered infantry armor. The back-mounted TX-28 microfusion pack generates sixty thousand Watts to power the HiFlo hydraulic systems built into the frame of the suit. They were the pinacle of protection before the war, and the microfusion pack will theoretically last for approximately one thousand years if the suit isn't in active use. It is the strongest protection that I am aware of, and the only place it exists here on the west coast is with the Brotherhood of Steel. I've never seen a suit this close up before, actually."

"That's actually pretty impressive. You've never even seen a suit before and you know all that?" said John in surprise.

"I read about it somewhere. Here's another one: The Rockwell CZ53 personal minigun is the model of minigun that those mutants that you were talking about use, although they are not the only ones that carry it. I actually occasionally help make five millimeter bullets, which is the kind of ammo that miniguns use. That is how we buy our food. We manufacture ammunition to trade for food. Anyway, it holds one hundred and twenty rounds of five millimeter, which it fires at over sixty thousand RPM...

"Wait a sec," said Miles in confusion. "That can't be right..."

"What can't be right?" asked John.

"Sixty thousand RPM is one thousand rotations per second," explained Twilight. "Or one rotation every single millisecond. Miniguns fire fast, but not quite that fast."

"I swear that that's what the book said," said Miles.

"You probably added an extra zero or two by mistake," said Twilight.

"You're probably right," admitted Miles. "Anyway, about that job. Do either of you two have any experience with killing a deathclaw?"

"I saw pictures of them in the Brotherhood's base," said John. "And when I asked, the others told me that they are basically the fastest, most deadly thing you can have the misfortune of running into in the wasteland. I've never actually so much as seen one in real life, though."

"Those men are right to fear the deathclaw," said Miles. "Their monstrous claws will tear open anything, I mean anything that they can catch, and they can catch everything. The best way to deal with them is to lure them into a trap, or else sneak up behind them and hit them hard enough that they don't get the opportunity to retaliate. So, will you do it?"

"Miles, I understand that you're survival might very well depend on getting those parts. You've got a deal...

"But. You had better have some real information for me when I finish the job. If I find out that you used me only to not be able to uphold your end of the bargain..."

John let the threat hang in the air.

"I swear that I will have information for you," assured Miles.

"Good. So, would you be so kind as to show me on my pip-boy map where I need to go?"

"I would say 'I can't believe we are doing this'," whispered Twilight, "but considering all the trouble that we seem to get up to, I think I can believe it."

"Let's just try to keep quiet for now," whispered John, gaze locked onto the warehouse. "Let's get a little closer and see if we can scope out the inside, but don't speak. If they hear us, we'll probably get swarmed."

"Alright. I'm right behind you."

Twilight and John cautiously crept closer. Twilight cringed every time John took a step and the power armor's hydraulics did their work, but it was quiet enough and no deathclaws came to investigate. They eventually reached a point where they could see through the half-broken front door and crouched down to help avoid being seen. Twilight pulled out her sniper rifle and used the scope to peer inside the building.

Fortunately, the warehouse was falling apart and light was shone through the roof and walls in several places, leaving the interior relatively well lit. She immediately saw the deathclaws roaming around inside.

She took her time and counted them. When she was sure that she had spotted them all, she lowered her gun and looked over to John.

He silent held up a finger. And then he raised another finger, and then another, and then he held out his palms in front of him, symbolizing that he wanted her to answer an unspoken question.

Twilight used her front right hoof to grab at her front left leg, and then her front left hoof to grab at her front right leg.

John held up two fingers.

Twilight shook her head in frustration and then put her hooves on both of her hind legs too.

John held up four fingers.

Twilight nodded.

That was way too hard, thought Twilight. Sometimes, it must be nice having fingers.

Twilight watched as John put a hand under his chin in thought. Suddenly, he turned around, still crouching, and unzipped a pocket on his backpack.

Twilight realized what he was after moments before he pulled it out. He was now holding the makeshift microfusion grenade.

The deathclaws are moving together as a pack, she thought. A well tossed grenade could potentially harm them all at once. Assuming it works as intended... No, it will definitely work. I've worked it all out in my head dozens of times. The grenade CAN'T explode the instant it is primed. It will take at least a couple of second to explode.

Twilight nodded to John uneasily.

In response, John began to creep toward the warehouse. Twilight followed after him.

John was careful to avoid walking in front of the door. He managed to sneak all the way against the outer wall. He crept toward the open door and cautiously took a peek inside.

All four deathclaws were standing together.

He quickly withdrew his head from the doorway. He now knew their location, and he knew that he needed to act immediately before they moved again.

He crushed the regulator on the microfusion grenade and immediately jumped in front of the door-way before throwing it toward the deathclaws.

The grenade landed at their feet. It exploded and in a shower of green energy before the creatures could react to John's sudden appearance.

The deathclaws screamed horrible reptilian screams. As the green energy dissipated away, John saw that one of the deathclaws was rushing toward him.

He backed away from the door and waited for the creature to come to him.

What is he doing? thought Twilight in terror as she watched, pointing the sniper rifle at the deathclaw but unable to take a shot because John was still standing in front of the door way.

As the deathclaw drew close, it jumped into the air toward John with it's claws outstretched.

It collided with the head of John's super sledge in mid-air. The extremely forceful blow sent the creature sailing through the air in the direction that it came from.

Twilight stared in shock. Did he plan that?

John then pulled the laser rifle out and pointed it through the doorway before walking inside.

Twilight followed after him in confusion.

The other three deathclaws were more badly injured than the first. They were all limping.

John fired the laser rifle in rapid succession at one, hitting it in the chest several times.

Twilight watched the relatively helpless monster was hit again and again.

It's not limping away from danger, she realized. It's limping TOWARD John, determined to tear him apart if it's the last thing it ever does. And it will be.

Having now reconciled her emotions, she pointed the sniper rifle at another of the deathclaws and fired at its head. It's body was thrown backward toward the floor from the force of the bullet, dead. She took aim at the last deathclaw and dispatched it in a similar manner.

"Nice shooting," said John. "Is that all of them? That was really loud, so-"

Suddenly a monstrous roar echoed through the warehouse.

Twilight and John turned toward a corner of the room and saw a particularly large deathclaw climb up a previously unseen staircase.

"Shit!" screamed John. He hastily shot at it a few times with the laser rifle, which apparently only enraged it and caused it to sprint toward him.

"SHIT!" screamed John as his rifle clattered to the ground and he took off running in the opposite direction.

The deathclaw was significantly faster. It would catch John within mere seconds.

As Twilight tried to keep the creature's head in the scope, she quickly realized that it was moving much too fast for her to keep a steady aim and she instead settled for a body shot and fired.

The deathclaw roared in pain, but the bullet did nothing to slow it down. It leaped at John and fell on top of him. He staggered as he attempted to remain standing with the giant deathclaw on top of him, but it quickly forced him off of his feet and he fell to the ground on his rear.

Another shot from the sniper rifle didn't stop it.

The deathclaw shoved it's face in front of John's and roared at him, giving him a very clear impression of the face of death, and then it swung it's gigantic claws into his chest, trying to tear it open. John started screaming very loud.

Now that the deathclaw was staying in one place, Twilight managed to line up the sniper rifle with its head. She fired again.

The deathclaw's head recoiled away from her as it took the force of the bullet. The deathclaw stopped clawing at John and turned around. It began to sprint in her direction. John scrambled to his feet again and picked up his super sledge, which he had been forced to drop when the deathclaw had jumped on him. He sprinted after the monster.

Twilight magically pulled her robe off and threw it to the ground. Her wings withdrew from her sides and she pushed off the ground and into the air, flying out of the creature's reach right before it reached her. It stopped and looked up at her, screaming in rage.

John's super sledge smashed into it's spine, throwing it off of it's feet. It tried to get up, but John unleashed a flurry of blows that knocked it down before it could get back up.

You like this shit? he screamed in rage toward the deathclaw. Not so fun when it happens to you!"

Twilight landed on the ground again and pointed the sniper rifle at the deathclaw uncertainly, but didn't fire. She knew that it already wouldn't be getting up again.

The deathclaw kept scrambling and screaming right up until the point when a blow from the sledge finally caused it's chest to rupture and splatter blood all over the floor.

John finally stopped swinging the super sledge and examined the corpse cautiously, gasping for breath.

"That thing is dead," he huffed. "No question about it. I guess we found momma..."

"John, your chest!" cried Twilight.

John looked down at himself.

"Ugh," he groaned. "Damn it, would look at the size of that gash! It tore the power armor wide open! How are we going to fix that?"

"John, all of this blood! Hold still, we have to stop the bleeding!"

Twilight levitated a stimpack into the gash in John's armor and gave John an injection.

"It's not that bad," protested John. "Well, okay, it's bad There's no doubt about it, that's going to leave a hell of a scar. But the power armor got it way worse than I did. To think though, if I didn't have it, I would be so dead."

Twilight didn't speak as she cleaned John's wound.

"You know, I'm statistically not a very lucky man. The odds are against me. I should have died many times over by now. But I'm still here. Maybe your luck is compensating for mine."

"You can have it all," said Twilight. "Whatever it takes."

"I'm not sure that it really works like that," said John with a huff. "Besides, I can't let you do that. Then you'll have no luck left for yourself."

"We'll just have to share it then, won't we?"

"I guess so.

"Hey," continued John. "Thank you for taking care of this so quickly, really," he said, indicating his wound. "It didn't affect me before, but I'm starting to get a little light headed. I'm sure it would have been way worse if I had put off taking care of it."

"... You are welcome John. I'm sure you would do the same for me."

"Huh, you know, I would," said John. "I was putting it off for myself because I figured I could handle it, but if you ever got hurt, I really would drop everything to help you.

"But, you know. Only if we're not in danger at the moment. I'm not going to drop everything if there's a super mutant trying to gave my skull in. And I'd help you because I don't actually know for sure how painful it is for you and whether or not you can take it, so I'd be quick about it just to be on the safe side, and-"

"John."

"What?"

"You've ruined the moment."

"Sorry."

"I've done everything that I can," said Twilight. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Are you kidding? We only took on five deathclaws. Of course I'm going to be okay."

"Glad to see that your sense of humor is still in tact."

"It is? Good thing I have you around to tell me. I couldn't tell."

Twilight gave John a look.

John cleared his throat. "Seriously, I feel fine now. Anyhow, we have a job to do."

"Alright."

Twilight put her protective purple robe back on and then followed John down the stairs.

When she saw what was at the bottom, she gasped.

"Looks like the mother was still guarding a clutch of eggs," said John.

"John?"

"What?"

"Can you... not smash them?"

"Are you sure?" asked John. "Would you really rather use our ammunition?"

"It's just that... It's terrible and gruesome enough already as it is without getting close to them. And... also... I'm scared that they'll hatch all of the sudden if you get close."

"You do realize that the odds of that happening are quite low?"

"Yes, I know, it's stupid and irrational, but please, I would really feel better if we use the laser to... take care of them instead. You don't have to worry about ammo, remember, I can recharge the cells later."

John pulled out the laser rifle. "Alright then. I'll take care of it."

"And I'll-" Twilight stammered. She turned away from John. "I'll look for those replacement parts that we came her for while you do that!"

When Sparkle awoke in her bed, she became fully conscious in almost an instant, although she didn't move just yet. A single thought rang through her head.

Today is the day.

Several emotions ran through her mind. There was some anxiety, and there was some wonder as to what her future would hold now that she was about to take the next big step. But ultimately, excitement was the strongest of all.

She continued to lay in her bed. It wasn't quite time yet, and she had nowhere to go in the meantime. It seemed to her that a thousand different thoughts ran through her head as she waited.

Eventually, she heard the door to her room open. She knew who it was. She sat up in her bed and looked toward Commander Patterson.

"You're up early, I see. Excited?"

"Yes," admitted Sparkle. "I am. I actually didn't manage to get to sleep for several hours last night."

"You're not feeling tired, are you?"

"No!" cried Sparkle. "Not in the slightest!"

"Good."

Patterson considered her for a moment.

"I see that you slept with the prototype headgear still on."

"It has been months since I've had an accidental discharge while asleep," said Sparkle honestly. "But that doesn't mean I should stop. I have to ensure that my body is trained to not to trigger the neural interface when I'm asleep."

"You have certainly done your part for preparation. I do say, it's a good thing that you seem to have stopped growing, finally, else we might have put this off. I was afraid that you were going to get to be taller than I am. So, are you interested in breakfast?"

"Can we skip it today?" asked Sparkle.

Patterson let out a laugh.

"I thought you might say that. That's why I brought you this."

He tossed a yellow package at her, which she caught in her magic.

"You definitely shouldn't be skipping a meal today, of all days. At least have some supplement. You can down it on the way to the workshop."

"Alright," answered Sparkle unenthusiastically.

"Aha! Commander Patterson! And Sparkle too! I've been expecting you two!"

"Shultz, you nutty grease monkey!" said Patterson. "I didn't know that you would be giving her orientation."

"Well, somebody has to do it."

"How's my own suit?" asked Patterson. "You wipe all the dust off?"

"Shiny and new, commander."

"Good, good. Sparkle?"

"Yes sir?" said Sparkle.

"This is Shultz. He's one of the men who takes care of the power armor. If you break something, he fixes it."

"Pleasure to meet you, Shultz." Sparkle extended her hoof toward the man. He looked at her uncomprehendingly for a moment before shaking it with his hand.

"Not that that happens very often," said Shultz. "The suits can withstand just about anything. Mostly we just make sure that everything is squeaky clean. Or sit our asses."

"And... My special suit is no exception?" asked Sparkle.

"Oh, it's definitely an exception," said Shultz. "But not in a bad way. No expense was spared in making it the best of the best. You are unique, after all. I trust that you'll put it to good use."

"You can count on it," said Sparkle in full confidence.

"Wait until you see it," said Shultz, rubbing his gloved palms together in glee. "We've nick-named it 'the rhino'. Once you see it, you'll see why. Come this way."

Sparkle and Patterson followed Shultz and he led them across the workshop. Sparkle turned her head left and right, examining each suit standing at their stations, searching for the suit that would obviously be custom built especially for her.

"There it is!" cried Shultz.

Sparkle looked toward where Shultz was pointing and she saw it. She eyed the special power armor in wonder.

Indeed, the armor immediately made her think of a rhinoceros. It was so large that would actually double her width, and also was as tall as an unarmored human. The front shoulder plates were so enormous that they almost encompassed the entire helmet, giving a very effective impression of impenetrable defense.

The helmet itself was similar to the helmets for the regular soldiers. The orange eyes were made to be larger. But the most noticeable difference between her helmet and others, other than the altered shape, was the large spike jutting from the forehead that would protect her horn. The scientists had been delighted when they discovered that physically obstructing her horn had no effect on her abilities whatsoever.

Of course, the suit also had multiple energy capacitors on the shoulders and helmet, specially tuned to safely channel power into Sparkle's skull through the neural interface in order to energize and enhance her powers. Learning to use this energy had been the primary focus of her training up until now.

"It resembles the conventional tesla power armor in most ways," explained Shultz as he stopped about a dozen feet away from the armor. The basic design is of course based on plans confiscated from Nicola Tesla himself after his death. It particularly excels in defending against any form of energy, whether that be lasers, plasma, radiation, or... acid."

Sparkle tilted her head in curiosity at the emphasized word, but Shultz didn't elaborate.

"Also, like conventional suits, it includes a... ah, a recycling system that can... convert waste into drinkable water. Yes, I know, I get that look from everyone when they first learn about that. I swear, the end product is molecularly one hundred percent H20. You will be able to wear the suit indefinitely without ever needing to take it off for any reason whatsoever. It will take care of everything that you need. Aaanyway, it is also air conditioned, keeping you comfortable in just about any environment, and the helmet has a built in filter that will allow you to breath safely even when standing in poisonous gas. It will not, I repeat, not, allow you to breath water. Ever since a particular unfortunate incident, we've been obligated to tell everyone that.

"And finally, the helmet of course has the latest version of your special neuro-gear built into it, complete with fine tunings and optimizations that should correct the short-comings of the prototype. Unlike other helmets, it does have to parts that you have to be locked together. Your head just doesn't allow for something that you can just slide on and off. The cables are to be attached and detached with the helmet off. Do not attempt to attach or detach the cables with the helmet locked in. I ordinarily wouldn't have to say that, but you are uniquely capable of doing so, Sparkle. The reason for this is that you'll basically blow the computer's mind if you change whether the cables are in or not while the helmet's systems are online. It's a stupid bug, but it shouldn't actually ever cause problems just so long as you are aware of it.

"Now then, I'm afraid that the one and only outright inferiority that your suit has in comparison to conventional power armor is that you will require assistance to get in and out of it. I'm afraid that your body shape doesn't lend itself well to the entry design, so we'll have to actually lower you into the armor from above. So, are you ready to give it a try?"

"Lowered from above?" said Sparkle. "That is unfortunate. I expect that I won't changing in and out of it very frequently."

"Hopefully, you won't want to," said Shultz. "Although, you may wish to climb out for maintenance. It's either that or you sit inside for an hour or so, sometimes longer, while we do our thing."

"Well, I'm ready," said Sparkle, her heart thumping.

"Alright. Ah, we'll just need to attach this harness..."

"A crane?" cried Sparkle, clearly unhappy.

"A necessary part of the process I'm afraid."

"This is so undignified!"

"Don't worry, none of the soldiers are here to see."

Finally, Sparkle was set into the armor and the harness detached and then the top of the armor sealed.

Sparkled huffed.

"Whoa. This feels... weird."

"Remember the orientation that I gave you," said Patterson. "You won't be able to move properly if you fight the servos instead of letting them help you."

"No, it's not that," said Sparkle. "The electrical field kicked in, and I'm in the middle of it, and I feel... weird."

"Ah, yes, some people in tesla suits can feel it," said Shultz. "Not all, but some. The armor shields you from ninety nine percent of it, but there is that last one percent that you can feel. It's basically harmless. You'll get used to it. So, try walking around."

Her first few steps were uneasy, but as soon as she worked out how Patterson's instructions applied to the real experience, it quickly became easy.

"Excellent," said Shultz. "Now we just have the helmet left. Do you want the commander or I to plug you in, or would you rather do it yourself?"

"I'll do it," said Sparkle. "It will be less of a shock if I do it myself."

"Literally," said Shultz as the helmet floated toward Sparkle.

She positioned the helmet and opened it. Then she took hold of the cable bundle (which thankfully plugged in all together at once) and positioned it behind her skull. She magically brushed her mane out of the way and held her breath, and then quickly plugged in.

She yelped in shock and the power capacitors on the suit released a few small lightning bolts.

"I'm sorry!" she cried. "I tried to brace myself as best as I could, but I wasn't prepared for that much raw power!"

"Everything's fine," assured Shultz. "We've dealt with tesla armor before, if not quite like yours. There's a reason we wear rubber, and you didn't actually hit anybody. It really wasn't that bad."

"I'll still do better next time though," said Sparkle. "I swear."

She sighed and then pulled the helmet over her head, finally locking it in place.

"Well, there you have it," said Shultz. "How do you feel?"

"I feel powerful."

"Good," said Patterson. He was now in his own power armor. She didn't even notice him climb inside. "Do you think you're up for a trial run?"

"What?" said Sparkle in shock. "You mean right now?"

"Yes, now. There's a vertibird waiting for us."

"Why didn't you tell me?" cried Sparkle. "Let's hurry and get over there!"

"Well, I didn't want to distract you," said Patterson, walking away. Sparkle followed after him.

"We'll see you after a while, Shultz," said Patterson.

"Any idea about when you'll be back?"

"Probably late," said Patterson. "You probably won't be on duty."

"Oh well. Later!"

As Sparkle followed Patterson through the base, she asked, "Where are we going? What are we doing?"

"I'll explain when we're on the vertibird," said Patterson. "It will help pass the time."

Patterson brought her outside and approached a vertibird. The engine was already running.

"This is our ride. Hop on."

Sparkle did so with minimal difficulty.

"Alright, let's go!" shouted Patterson to the pilot. The vertibird took off. Sparkle watched as the ground below became distant."

"Alright, briefing time," said Patterson. "And I do mean brief. One of our outposts stopped reporting in. We sent a couple of soldiers to see what happened, and they reported that the place was apparently built on top of an ant nest. And we're not talking about the teeny tiny pre-war ants like you've seen in the historical documents, we're talking about the mutant wasteland ants that are the size of a dog. Or a person.

"That first squad wasn't equipped to take out an entire nest of ants though, so we pulled them out. You and I, we're the exterminators. We're shutting down the nest for good. The primary objective is to assassinate the queen. Removing the other ants is a secondary objective, but one that we are certainly going to do many, many times."

"Wait a second," said Sparkle in realization. "This isn't a trial run. It's not some sort of training sequence that you invented, or training against captive creatures. This is... real."

"The best way to learn is to do," said Patterson. "I have no doubt that you will be able to handle it. When it comes down to it, they're just ants. A nuisance.

"However, there is one thing that is unusual about this particular group of ants. They can all spit acid. It's nothing you'll have to be scared of as such, but it does complicate things slightly. Do try to not get hit. It's a pain in the butt for Shultz and the boys to touch up the armor again."

Eventually, the vertibird landed. The outpost turned out to be little more than a metal shed with some advanced equipment laying inside, abandoned.

"Look, there's one already," said Patterson. He fired his plasma rifle at an ant a short distance away, hitting it in the head and killing it.

"That's where the entrance to the nest is," said Patterson.

Immediately after he spoke, another ant crawled out of the ground near the dead one.

"Oh boy. I do believe that we are about to be swarmed."

A huge bolt of lightning arced through the air and struck the ant. Two more ants came into sight.

"Good grief, there's no need to put so much power into it! Talk about overkill!" cried Patterson. "I know your suit isn't going to run out of power, but don't wear yourself out!"

"Sorry. I'm still getting used to this."

Half a dozen more ants appeared in the time that they had been talking.

"That said..." continued Patterson. "You know that thing that you do where the lightning arcs between all the bad guys? Now would be a good time to do that."

"I was thinking the same thing."

Patterson watched as electrical sparks shot from Sparkle's horn as she built up a charge, which transformed into a torrent of destructive energy as the charge was released. When he turned to look at the ants, he saw that they were all dead.

"Here come even more. Let's meet them half way."

The pair pushed forward, shooting and zapping every ants that poured through the entrance. When they reached the entrance themselves, they were still killing ants that continued to come at them.

"You would think that the stupid things would figure out that all their brothers and sisters are slaughtered so easily and give up," said Patterson.

"Just sisters," said Sparkle. "The worker and soldier drones are all infertile females."

"Whatever. Who cares?" said Patterson as he fired plasma at the army of ants running up the tunnel.

"I'm going to fire a high power beam into the tunnel," said Sparkle. "Everything inside in a straight line will be hit."

Patterson looked through the tunnel and guessed that there were several dozen ants inside.

Sparkle charged up another bolt and blasted it into the tunnel.

"Hmm. Well, then," said Patterson vaguely. "I guess we push forward."

They didn't get very far.

"Umm, the way forward is kind of blocked with ant corpses."

"Yes, this passage is thoroughly constipated," agreed Patterson. "Hang on."

He fired his rifle into the mass of ants over and over again. More and more of the pile melted away as green goo. Only when all of the bodies were melted did he stop.

"Was that really worth it?" asked Sparkle.

"It's plasma. Cheap as dirt to make more."

"It is?" said Sparkle doubtfully.

"Well. No. But I was not about to drag those things out of the tunnel one at a time."

"Hey!" said Patterson to Sparkle. They were now much deeper into the nest. They had been shooting ants nearly constantly, and they now had a rare moment of peace.

"We've been in here for a while now. Eat this."

He tossed her another yellow bag. Sparkle caught it and looked at him. Patterson had little doubt that if she wasn't wearing a helmet, she would have a bemused expression on her face.

"More supplements?" she cried. "Really?"

"Get used to it," said Patterson. "Most other things you can't eat without taking your helmet off. I'll keep watch, and then when you finish you keep watch for me."

"Ugh, I was just starting to enjoy myself too."

"You weren't happy to be exterminating these mutant creatures at the beginning?"

"No, I was, but I was also somewhat nervous. But, well... You were right. These things are nothing to be afraid of.

"Well, Shultz isn't going to be happy that you let yourself get hit with acid a few times, but I can't talk, I got hit too. You might ought to be afraid of the queen though. In our experience, her acid is rather more potent. Actually, even in colonies that don't have acid spitting drones, the at least queens usually still have that ability. It's probably a mutation in this particular species."

"Oh, BLEUGH!" cried Sparkle in disgust, pulling away from the large cavern that housed the subject of her disgust. "I knew what a queen is supposed to look like, but to actually see a giant one in close detail... I think I might actually be sick."

"Don't throw up in your helmet," Patterson warned. "It gets all kinds of messy."

"What kind of hideously revolting existence it would be to be born as an ant queen! Who wants half of their body to be a bloated, white, slimy, sack of- eugh, let's kill it, quick!"

"Do take care not to let it spit on you. It will actually hurt, unlike all of those drones."

"I can handle it."

Sparkle charged up her magic, the capacitors on the armor sparking miniature lightning, and then let it hold in her horn before peering around the corner back at the ant queen and firing lightning at it. Patterson's vision went completely white for a moment from the light that it gave off.

A ball of acidic spit shot past as Sparkle dove back into cover.

"Well, you were right about her being tough," remarked Sparkle. "She didn't die from one hit."

"You want me to finish her off?"

"No, I want this one."

She charged up again and blasted the queen once more.

Sparkle automatically pulled back into cover again, but when she peered at the queen again, it was collapsed on the ground. She cautiously stepped out into the open and queen didn't react.

"Pretty sure it's dead," Sparkle called.

"I'm going to make sure," said Patterson.

He stepped in front of the queen and took aim at her head and blasted his plasma rifle a few times. The head turned to goo and dripped to the floor.

"Yep, pretty sure it's dead," he agreed. "Well done. Mission accomplished. Somebody will probably be sent to secure the site as soon as we get back."

"Yeah, well, I just hope we can remember the way out of here. These ant catacombs go all over the place."

"Your power armor has a built in mapping feature," said Patterson. "It remembers how we got here in the first place. We can just follow it out."

"That's a feature?" cried Sparkle in surprise.

"It is. It's a handle little thing, isn't it?"

Chapter 1: A Cruel Reality

Twilight Sparkle bolted upright out of her bed. She was certain that she had heard somepony whisper her name.

"Twilight."

She heard it again. It was coming from somewhere in her own room!

"Spike," she asked uncertainly. "Is that you?"

"Twilight."

She cast a light spell and gasped as the room lit up. Directly in the center of the room, in front of her bed, was black cloud. All throughout it, there were swirls of red whirling around inside it. Occasionally there seemed to be a miniature lightning strike inside the cloud in these areas.

"Who are you?" cried Twilight quietly, backing away from the cloud.

"Twilight."

Twilight cringed at the voice, which was definitely originating from the cloud.

"What do you want from me?"

There was only a short moment of silence.

"Twilight."

Twilight cast a spell of revealing that would alert her to any living thing in the room.

Her mind recoiled as the cloud registered an unbelievably huge vitality. After she recovered, she thought to herself, There is something dreadfully wrong.

In the moment that she sensed the energy of the cloud, she felt an overwhelming sensation of despair and desperation.

She did something that, when she thought of it again in a few minutes, was incredibly dumb: she touched her hoof to the cloud, as though trying to comfort it.

"WHOA!" she screamed as she rapidly shrunk and was pulled inside. The cloud dissipated, leaving nothing behind.

A moment later Discord flashed into her room. "Twilight! Twilight!" he shouted to the empty room in a rare show of genuine concern. "Oh, no no no no no, please, please tell me you're still here! You- you didn't..."

Twilight suddenly felt very hot. She knew it must be the sun on her coat, and it was apparently quite a hot day. She opened her eyes and gasped.

Twilight was frantically trying to comprehend what she was seeing. She had just woken up, and it appeared that she was immediately in much danger. There were four enormous scorpions running past her toward a bipedal creature a short distance , which was standing it's ground and holding an object of unknown purpose. She scrambled to her feet.

"Damn it!" screamed the biped in a masculine voice, who was now inspecting the object that he was holding desperately.

Twilight flinched. She had only heard anypony use that world once, and that pony had just lost someone very dear to him. She quickly reasoned that it was because the creature's life was in danger. She froze as she then considered what the scorpions must be capable of. "This is not at all what I was expecting today!" she whispered to herself in a high pitched and panicked voice. "How am I supposed to further my understanding of friendship like this?"

The biped threw the object to the ground in a fit and actually ran at the scorpions, fast, unbelievably fast. Twilight gaped in astonishment as the creature jumped onto the nearest scorpion, grinding it into the ground, and rolled off of it while grabbing it's tail. When he had regained its footing, he spun the scorpion around his head and smashed it down into the ground on top of another scorpion. The impact ripped the tail off, and the scorpion that was on the receiving end of the blow was phased enough for the biped to kick it away. The other two scorpions had used this time to "surround" him on one side, and he took off running in the opposite direction; in Twilight's direction.

She actually felt him run past, but he didn't seem pay her any attention at all. She turned back to the scorpions. She immediately noticed that all three were now heading not for the other creature, but toward her. And she knew she couldn't outrun them.

She tried picking them up off the ground with her magic, but to her horror, this task proved to be extremely strenuous for some reason. She screamed. Desperately, she tried picking up just one at a time, and to her immense relief, this was something that she could manage. She threw the scorpion to the side as hard as she could and wasted no time in doing the same to the second one.

Immense stabbing pain hit her side. She screamed again, this time in pain, and jerked away from the last scorpion. As she was preparing to throw it aside too, the biped was suddenly upon it before she knew what happened, his fist clenching a knife that was buried into the scorpion's back, piercing its armor.

Twilight felt herself start to collapse against her will. What's going on? she thought in panic. She shouldn't be in the least bit tired. She felt woozy, and her head was cloudy, and she was definitely aware of it.

"What the hell..." she heard the creature say.

She used a significant portion of her strength to look up at the creature who had destroyed her assailant. "Help..." she gasped out.

He slowly raised an eyebrow at her. "What... did you say?"

Twilight didn't have the strength to speak again. Already she felt herself falling unconscious. Just 60 seconds ago I was safe in my home, and now I'm going to die! She didn't have the time to think of anything else.

She awoke to discover that it was dark. More importantly, she felt like herself again.

When she tried to move, she painfully discovered that this was not the case after all. Moving caused her to feel that her insides were aching all over, and the scorpion sting pained her terribly. She groaned and stopped trying to move. Instead, she channeled her magic to provide a little light to her surroundings, a feat that took all her concentration.

"Ough!" Moaned a voice. Twilight saw the biped was for some reason still in her presence, and was lying in the dirt, much like herself. It flew awake in seconds.

"Hey!" It said in a loud whisper as he bolted upright and turned to her. "Cut it out!"

Twilight immediately cut the spell off and fearfully whispered back "Sorry!"

There was a moment of silence. "Did you actually...?" said the male strenuously.

"I'm sorry about the light!" replied Twilight. "Are we still in danger?"

The creature stopped to consider. "If anything was going to hurt us, it would have by now." Twilight let out a sigh.

"Sorry," he continued, digging into a bag next to him that Twilight had not noticed before. "I've never been outside of my vault before yesterday. I always thought that only humans could talk."

Now that Twilight felt reasonably safe, her inquisitive nature kicked in. She noticed that the "human" was in fact clothed in a blue suit, which had the number thirteen on the back in bright yellow. "Is that what your species is called? Human?"

"Are there not other people out here in the wasteland?" he asked, confused. "I was told there would be."

"People?"

"It's just another word for humans."

"Oh. I don't know, I have never been here before."

The man stared at her incredulously. "You're kidding. Where is your vault?"

"What?" asked Twilight, thoroughly confused. "You want to know where my valued possessions are?"

"What? No! Where do you live?"

Twilight failed to see how this was related to the original question, but she answered, "I'm from Equestria. You've probably never heard of it." She groaned in pain.

"Never. Where is it?"

Twilight looked down. "I don't know. That's the problem, I think it's a rather long way from here, and I'm stranded here, and I REALLY don't like it here."

"Tell me about it. You got stung, right?"

"Umm, yes..."

"Here, hold still." he said as he pulled out a syringe filled with red liquid.

Twilight's eyes widened, but, guessing that it this would relieve her pain, she made no attempt to stop him. Instead she tried alleviating her worry with more talk.

"I suppose they have a kind of poison that, fortunately, exits our bodies after a while." Twilight came to a realization. "You SAVED my life!" she said slowly.

"What?" asked the man, who had apparently already used the syringe without Twilight feeling any additional pain. "I suppose I did. I was actually just saving myself though, I thought you were just another mutated creature."

"Pardon me?"

"Whoa, look, I don't know what's a monster and what isn't. Look at those things!" He kicked one of the dried corpses of the scorpions around them. "Never seen anything like them in my life!"

Twilight hesitated, then began to speak slowly. "I would think you were insulting me. But, I suppose," she continued more matter of factually and looking down, "that as it is, I can understand completely."

"Good, good. How are you feeling?"

Twilight hesitated, then got to her hooves.

"Whoa, that is some medicine you've got there! Did you numb the pain?"

"As a matter of fact, you should be in more or less fine shape. I don't have very many of them though. Do you have a name?"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle. Pleased to meet you! Although I wish the circumstances were more pleasant."

"John Griffin."

"What? You're no griffin! A griffin has wings!"

There was a pause. "My last name is Griffin." He gave her a look that she identified as one questioning her sanity. "I certainly don't have wings."

"Oh." said Twilight more quietly, embarrassed.

"Hey, I don't suppose-" John started. "Aw, forget it. You wouldn't possibly know."

"I know a lot more than you might think, ask and you might be surprised."

"I don't suppose you know where I can get a water chip?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Oh. I don't have any idea what that is."

"I thought so." he said, uncrossing his arms as he sighed. "Apparently it provides us with our fresh water, and It is my job to find a new one. The old one at my vault stopped working a few days ago, and if I can't find a new one, everyone in the vault will die."

"That's- that's terrible!" said Twilight. After a moment she added, "Are you are their only hope?"

"Well you see, we don't let many people outside. They would all die out here," he elaborated, suddenly depressed. "But anyway, The overseer decided that the best solution was to find the one person in the vault most likely to survive outside to be allowed to leave the vault to hunt down a new water chip, at any costs."

"And the overseer chose you."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Ha!" exclaimed the man. "It's pretty dumb actually. Stupid, stupid Carlos thought he could steal my water ration."

John didn't continue, and Twilight raised her eyebrow at him.

"Well, to be honest, when I caught him, I hit him in the face. He was furious. Tried chasing me down the halls. He, least of all, had not a chance in hell of catching John Griffin! I'm the fastest man in the whole vault!"

Wow, he loves to boast, Twilight thought to herself, but then she remembered his performance during the scorpion attack. She decided conclusively that he had every right to boast as much as he pleased.

"I saw what you had to do to those scorpions, and it was indeed very brave. But explain how this connects to the 'overseer'."

"Carlos tried ratting me out to the overseer." Twilight tilted her head, which John noticed. "Tried to make it sound like I hit him for no reason."

"Ah," said Twilight.

"And the overseer actually believed him too! Said that I ought to be disciplined. But then, he said that, luckily for me, he needed 'someone who could get away with things like this' for a special job. I could barely believe it, but you better believe that I said yes. Next thing I knew, I was whisked away to the entrance of the vault. I guess I didn't know what I was getting into," he finished less enthusiastically.

Suddenly, he burst out with "And the bastard gave me that damn defective pistol!"

Twilight was uneasy about the man's profane speech, but she ignored it. "I take it that that thing over there is the pistol?" She pointed with a hoof toward the object that he had thrown to the ground during the fight.

"Don't you know what a gun is? Hell, don't you have ANYTHING to defend yourself with?"

"Is a pistol the same thing as a gun?"

"Well, a pistol is a kind of gun, but not all guns are pistols."

"Oh, that makes sense," said Twilight. "But to answer your question, I have nothing but my magic. I didn't know that this would be so dangerous."

"What, magic?" said John. "I've never heard of a weapon like that, your turn to explain to me."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "This," she said as her horn lit up and picked a small rock off the ground.

John gaped. "That's not possible!"

"Maybe not for you, but for an alicorn such as myself, it is second nature. But I seem to be having some trouble using it right now." Her last sentence was mostly in a worried tone to herself.

"I thought I might find some crazy people out here," said John in awe. "But I was absolutely not prepared for this!" he finished, unknowingly echoing Twilights own thoughts.

"John, can you let me see that 'pistol'?"

"Can you figure out what is wrong with it? Cause that would be incredible if you do."

"Probably?" answered Twilight, unsure.

John got to his feet and retrieved the pistol from the dirt, then handed it to Twilight, who gripped it with her magic. John sat down and watched her in amazement.

Twilight gave the pistol a thorough inspection. "What does it actually do?"

"Nuthin, stupid piece of crap," answered the man. Twilight glanced at him. "It's supposed to shoot out bullets from the hole in the front when you pull on that trigger though," he said, indicating the appropriate spots.

Twilight fiddled with the pistol some more. Suddenly the cylinder that was embedded in the middle swung out, but still attached to the gun. Twilight extracted a piece of metal from one of the holes in it.

"Is this what it shoots?" she asked.

"Hang on..." said John in a confused voice, taking it from Twilight. He dug into his backpack and produced another bullet with a similar appearance, but there was one major difference.

"Why does that one have a red tip on it?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking..."

"Do you have more?"

"Yeah," said John again, digging into the bag. "Here's the whole box."

Twilight dumped all of the old bullets onto the ground from the pistol, then withdrew 11 more of the new bullets from the box. She slipped the new ones into place and then closed the cylinder.

BANG

"Damn!" shouted John. Twilight had jerked away from the gun in shock, dropping it. Luckily she had shot into the ground.

"You could have warned me about that!" she screamed at John.

John ignored her and instead said, "So that's what those were for."

"How fast do those bullets come out?"

"I don't know? Fast as hell."

"That doesn't make sense," Twilight said to John critically.

Twilight took aim at a boulder a short distance away.

BANG

There was a cracking noise from the bullet hitting the rock in the same instant she had pulled the trigger. She stared at the rock with her jaw hanging open.

"Hey, no more shooting, I need as many of those bullets as I can get." John stopped and put a hand to his chin. "Actually..."

Twilight looked at him expectantly.

"If you come with me, I'll let you have that thing."

"WHAT? But I am not a pony of- violence! I could never bring myself to- to use anything like this against a living thing! I-"

"HEY!" shouted John. Twilight stopped speaking, but she crouched down in fear. "Look," he continued in his most serious tone. "You're stuck out here whether you like it or not, same as me. Things are going to try to kill you. If you don't kill them back, you will die."

He gave her a moment to let that sink in, and her face only turned to terror.

He decided to take a different approach. "I think we can improve our chances of staying alive out here if we stick together. I need a friend."

Something about the way that John had said "friend" caused Twilight to regain some composure. She knew deep down that he was right, and if he was offering to be her friend through this, then it would be downright foolish to refuse, considering how he saved her life.

"But what about you?" she asked John, her voice still quivering. "If I have your pistol, that leaves you with just a... knife."

"Clearly I can't be trusted with a gun," he said, annoyed, though not with Twilight. "I actually ran out of bullets when I was shooting the rats that live in the cave that leads to the vault."

"You were shooting rats?! exclaimed Twilight.

"They were huge and trying to kill me, just like those scorpions!" defended John. "They can bite hard, although I don't think it's life threatening." Twilight looked him in the eye, then nodded.

"Anyway, you ever seen anyone kill a dozen rats with a knife? I've only seen one, and that's me!"

"Ok, fair..." said Twilight, trying to shove the image out of her head. "But if this wasteland is as dangerous as it seems to be, we're not going to be seeing many small... rats..." She finished with a strained voice.

"Well, yeah I suppose you've got a point there. But you saw what I did to those scorpions! Am I amazing or what? Even if one of them did nail me."

"Wow," thought Twilight. "I just realized that he kind of reminds me of Rainbow Dash."

Twilight eventually came to a decision. "I suppose if you won't be using the pistol, it's better than nothing. And if we are going to travel together," she said as she got to her hooves, "and if you're on a mission to save your friends, then I am absolutely ready to do whatever it takes to help you. Where are we going to go first? In the morning, of course."

John was taken aback. "What? Oh, well, the only place I know that might have a spare water chip is Vault 15, east of here. The Overseer said that I should start looking there, but he couldn't give me much more advice."

"Which vault is your home?"

"Vault 13. It's just a day west of here. I'll show you."

He pulled out a thin tablet that had buttons all over it. It had the worlds 'Pip-boy 2000' written on a corner. Twilight watched curiously as John pushed a button that caused a lit map of the area to appear on the tablet.

"What a remarkable machine!" said Twilight. I have dabbled in engineering slightly myself, but something like this is out of my league."

John looked at her with doubt in his face.

"I only ever invented a machine that would show me how one of my friends perceived things around her."

"Oh really?" said John in an amused tone. "Perception huh? Check this out."

He pushed a button on the pip-boy and the screen changed to show a lot of information. The first thing that stood out to Twilight when John gave her a good look at the screen was the following:

Strength:7

Perception:5

Endurance:7

Charisma:4

Intelligence:5

Agility:9

Luck:3

"This is an assessment of your natural physical and mental abilities and traits!" Shouted Twilight excitedly. "Even something so difficult to measure as how lucky you are!"

"Something like that," said John. "But lists 'traits' somewhere else. He indicated another section of the screen. There was a list of things in the 'traits' section, but only one was lit up, and that was "fast shot".

"What does that mean?" asked Twilight.

"It means I don't screw around!" said John smugly. "I don't bother to aim for the head, it takes far less effort to just try to hit stuff anywhere in general. It improves my reaction time."

Twilight was already sickening herself with the thought of what she was about to say. "I think, you will be far more likely to... stop... something quicker... if you aim for its... head... if you can actually... hit it..."

"Precisely my point!" said John. Don't worry, in a prolonged fight, I can keep out of harm's way. Most of the time."

"So..." said Twilight in a suddenly thoughtful tone. "Will that thing work on me?"

"You mean can it tell us about your skills? I don't see why not, and I'm curious about that too actually. Want to try?"

"Yes, please do!" said Twilight, slightly excited.

"Ok, but I think you have to be touching it."

"I can do that."

Twilight carefully took the tablet in her mouth, then used her magic to push the appropriate button. Seeing the numbers change, she dropped the pip-boy back into John's hands. He held it out to her so she could see.

Strength:4

Perception:9

Endurance:4

Charisma:8

Intelligence:10

Agility:6

Luck:6

"Hey, John," Twilight began, "Do these numbers range from one to ten?"

"Yeah, that's right."

Twilight didn't bother asking whether ten meant high or low. She smiled to herself. The intelligence score definitely answered that question for her.

"Does anypony ever get tens in all of the categories?" Twilight asked.

John gave her a look at "anypony", but he ignored it. "No," he said as he moved the pip-boy to where he could see it. "Everybody is supposed to get 40 points- Holy hell, these are some high numbers! On three of them! Not the physical ones of course."

"Well-" started Twilight, offended, but then thought her next words through. "I guess you shouldn't expect much" she finished flatly.

John did some math in his head. After a moment he said to himself, "Yeah, that's 47 alright, what gives?"

Twilight couldn't help but smirk, but she didn't say anything.

John suddenly said, "Whoa, I didn't remember this one. Nobody I know has ever gotten this."

He showed Twilight the screen and indicated the traits box. Two were highlighted, gifted and good natured.

"You've never seen anypony gifted? Or good natured?" Twilight asked with a frown.

"Gifted. The description says that you get an extra point in everything."

"Oh." Twilight suddenly felt uncomfortable. She had been called "gifted" on several occasions before, but to have the term broken down into numbers like this didn't seem right.

"So what do these other things mean?"

Twilight continued to ask questions about the pip-boy for another half hour, but she soon discovered that, despite having "slept" for a time after being poisoned, she was growing tired. Upon stating that this was the case, John agreed that they had better get some rest.

"I guess there are no beds out here, huh?" asked Twilight gloomily.

"Just the ground." answered John in equal tone. I tried using a boulder as a pillow last night," he said, lying down flat on the ground. "That was my first night out here. It wasn't a good idea though, I'm just going to lie flat from now on."

"Well..." Twilight said nothing for about ten seconds. "Good night then. And thank you, so very much."

"I told you, you shouldn't be thanking me that. I was just trying to defend myself. I was just glad you weren't trying to kill me too." He smiled at her.

"Well, you were the one nice enough to give me a chance," said Twilight. John didn't say anything, but rolled onto his back and looked into the sky after a moment.

She lay down. At least the ground here is too dry to get into my coat, thought Twilight humorlessly before dozing off.

"Discord," said Celestia a very pressing voice, "Would you mind explaining exactly how the Princess of Friendship fell into a chaos wormhole?"

"It wasn't my fault!" said Discord defensively. He sighed as a sofa appeared below him and he stretched out on it. "I was once of the belief that all worlds are, eventually, destined to fall into complete chaos." Celestia gave him a hard look. "I no longer hold that belief," continued Discord. "While it is true that most worlds end up that way eventually, chaos can be replaced by balance. Something which even you have yet to perfect." he added.

Celestia ignored his words. "Make haste, Discord. Twilight Sparkle is no longer in Equestria and is with little doubt in much peril."

"Indeed. I'll get right to the point then; opinions on the matter are irrelevant. Where as balance loves to spread out in an orderly fashion, chaos has a tendency of gravitating everything around it before exploding out, and spreading more chaos. If it grows very strong indeed, it tends to impose upon other worlds. However, our little world, being in relative balance, has countered the breach with something, or shall I say somepony, who can fill in the gap, negating hole."

Celestia approached her bedroom window and looked outside. "Twilight," stated Celestia grimly.

"I know, I'm the one who told you," asked Discord, annoyed.

Celestia turned around and looked intently upon Discord, who waited for the inevitable instructions.

"Get her back, Discord. Let nothing distract you from this task, and let your every day be focused on getting her home. You owe her far more than even this."

Chapter 7: Unexpected Answers

Twilight stopped running at last. The mutants had not pursued them, so she sat down, her lungs heaving heavily. John sat down next to her.

"We're safe?" John asked.

"As far- as I can tell," said Twilight.

They sat like that for a little while. When Twilight had sufficiently caught her breath, she said, "John?"

"What is it?"

"The mutant with the giant weapon. He killed his- no not his friends, his... the other mutants with it by accident. I don't think he even cared."

John raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? I was a little too busy running for my life to notice."

"Oh. Well, um, I must admit that I couldn't stop myself from looking back."

"You know that no matter what, you'd still want to get as far away from them as possible. You shouldn't do anything like that to slow you down."

"I know, I know! But, I just couldn't help it."

"Well, we're alive, so it's fine."

"But... What is wrong with those things?" asked Twilight in despair. "The raider killed the other raider out of greed, but this was just completely illogical!"

"Why are you treating those things like people?" asked John incredulously. "They're monstrosities, abominations, and clearly incredibly stupid. I bet it didn't even notice what it did."

"I would agree with you, but regardless of how unintelligent they might be, they are clearly sentient, sapient.

"What? I don't even know what that means."

"As evil as they are, they were smart enough to communicate, at least on a basic level, and they are clearly traveling as a group for a purpose. Probably to kill everything they see, but still a purpose."

"And that is what makes a decent being, is it?"

"No, not at all. You misunderstand me. It's what makes a sentient and sapient creature which could be capable of emotion and redeeming itself."

John crossed his arms and slowly said, "No matter what you say, I can't see those things in the same light as you or me. Explain more."

Twilight let out a sigh. "Suppose you have an animal in front of a mirror. If it is in the nature of that animal to try to establish dominance, it will try to attack it's reflection. If the animal is skittish, it will probably run away from the reflection. But if it looks into the mirror and realizes that this is me, then it is aware of itself. Sentient. Now, if a sentient creature ever thinks about how it is aware of itself or otherwise consciously acknowledges it's self awareness, that is sapience."

John waited, thinking. Soon he said, "I'm not certain that the mutants actually qualify for either of those categories, but I guess I can't actually put it to the test. But what about the fact that the mutants apparently don't even care about other mutants?"

"That does trouble me. But, crude though it is, I do think they barely qualify. What they lack is the next step: acknowledgement of other's self awareness."

"I don't understand."

Twilight quickly let out a large sigh. "I guess it doesn't matter. We've already kill raiders, and with good reason. I really hope we can just avoid those things entirely in the future though. But, John?"

"Yeah?"

"That mutant killing his own got me thinking. I want to make a special promise with you, one that would bind me to that promise in a special way."

"Magically?"

"No. It binds me in honor of my friendship to you. And in honor of the pony who invented the Pinky Promise in the first place."

"It's okay Twilight, you really don't have to."

Twilight just gave John a look. Then she started speaking.

"I promise to you that, no matter what happens to me or to you, I will never try to harm you, and furthermore I promise to protect you with my own life for as long as I am with you. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She ended with a hoof jabbed into one of her closed eyelids.

John hesitated only a moment before saying, "What the hell was that?"

"It's the pinky promise. I know that you've never heard it before and it doesn't mean anything to you, but I would never break a Pinkie Promise. We're friends."

"Oh. Well, thank you," John replied awkwardly. "And I suppose I promise the same to you?"

"Will you Pinkie Promise?" asked Twilight, tapping John's chest with a hoof.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better. Um, how did it go again?"

"Repeat after me, and do what I do," instructed Twilight, smiling. "Cross my heart,"

"Cross my heart," repeated John uneasily.

"Hope to fly,"

"Hope to... fly?"

Twilight nodded and said "Stick a cupcake in my eye."

"Stick a..."

"Cupcake."

"Right, a... cupcake in my eye." John looked at his hand for a moment, then shrugged and slapped it onto his eye, palm open.

"Yay!" exclaimed Twilight. "Thank you so much!"

"Twilight, what is a cupcake?"

"Oh, it's the sweetest tasting snack ever! My friend Pinkie used to make hundreds. She..."

After trailing off, Twilight let out a sigh. "I really miss her."

Eager to get Twilight's mind away from things that would depress her, John said, "Come on, the hub isn't very far away. It's actually only about a one day journey."

By the next morning, Twilight and John were standing at the entrance to The Hub. There were a lot of people around the entrance, and upon inquiry, they learned almost everybody was traveling with "caravans", which apparently were back halves of old trucks that were loaded with things to trade and pulled by a brahmin.

Unlike the previous cities, nobody greeted them on their way in.

They immediately noticed that some people were in fact walking around with weapons at the ready. This understandably made them uneasy.

"If these people are walking around with their guns out," said John as he pulled the sledgehammer out, "then I will too."

"I think I'll just keep my shotgun on my back for now," said Twilight. "So, where are we headed?"

Rather than answer her directly, John turned to a stranger on the street. "Hey you!" he shouted. The stranger looked to John, unintimidated. "Who's in charge in this city?"

"Nobody is in charge. The police keep the order, and you can talk to the chief at their station if you're in trouble, but this city is free from the tyranny of a mayor or the like."

"Oh," said John surprised. "Then where is the best place to find information?"

"Depends. If you're trying to get dirt on someone, I can't help you, If however, by information you mean about the city or something, you could try the library down there," said the man, pointing.

"Library?" Twilight burst out. "What are we waiting for then, John! Let's go!"

John shrugged at the other man, who looked extremely surprised, before turning to follow Twilight.

It did not take long to find the library. The instant Twilight saw the words "Library" posted on a building in the direction that the man had pointed, Twilight looked at John with a goofy grin and tried to hurry to the door, only to find that John was holding her back.

"Um, no offense Twilight, but perhaps I had better go first. You never know how people will react to you, you know, especially if you are alone."

"Oh. Well, alright, good thinking," said Twilight, losing a bit of her enthusiasm.

As soon as John walked through the door, a woman's voice greeted him.

"Hi, welcome to the library. I don't think I've seen you around before. What might you be looking for in the way of knowledge?"

John saw a blond haired woman in a slightly dirty business suit sitting at a desk behind a terminal. She was smiling at him.

Twilight came through the door and said, "Did you hear that? She called us seeks of knowledge! Now this is a library!"

The woman stared at Twilight for a moment, but after a moment shook her head and turned to John and said, "May I help you?"

John let out a long sigh. His left hand let go of the sledgehammer and he let it fall to his side, with the head of it resting on the ground. He leaned onto it. It was a posture that he was quickly becoming accustomed to any time he was standing and not moving. "I don't suppose you could possibly know anything about where I can find a water chip?"

The librarian raised her eyebrows in surprise. She gave a small smile. "As a matter of fact, I might."

"Really?" exclaimed John unbelievingly. "Well don't keep me waiting, where?"

"Well, in my studies I've come across references to such things. Actually, I have in my possession a holodisk that contains a certain amount of information that you might find useful."

John and Twilight watched silently as the librarian opened a drawer on her desk and pulled out the holodisk. "Seven hundred and fifty caps, and it's yours."

"Hold on a second," said Twilight suddenly. "That thing looks beat up. I don't think its worth that much."

"Hmm," said the librarian, looking at the holodisk. "I guess you're right. When the books get worn out I don't sell them for as much, so I suppose I should extent that policy to the holodisk. Five hundred, no less."

"Hold on," said Twilight, confused. "You sell books here? Doesn't that make this place more a book store?"

"I wouldn't say so," said the librarian. "We have all kinds of research documents and the like for sale as well, plus we also buy your old books. Not for nearly as much as I would sell them for, but I have to make a profit."

"Oh, really?" asked Twilight, once again excited. "I've been rereading a few books to pass the time in the wasteland, but it drives John crazy."

"Yeah," said John in a slightly annoyed tone. "And if you keep ahold of every book you find, you're not going to have room for anything else!"

"I know, it's just a shame I won't be able to bring them back home with me. So you'll buy my books?"

"Let me finish the other deal first," said the librarian. She turned to John. "So, five hundred caps, are you taking it or leaving it?"

"Yes, of course it's a deal," said John quickly.

"Caps up front," said the librarian.

"I'm going to browse the selection here," Twilight announced, but nobody said anything in reply. She turned to the library shelves.

John handed five of the sack cloth bags that contained one hundred caps each to the librarian and she gave him the holotape.

"Thank you," said the librarian. "I do hope that the information is of some use to you."

John grunted at her vaguely. He was already examining his pip-boy, trying to figure out how to get it to read the tape. After a moment he figured out the trick to it and the machine beeped, a new file appearing in the data section. John eagerly opened the file and began to read it.

"Vault locations v.34.129 Revision C Western USA," he read quietly. "Vault 12, 13, and 15... and that's it... That just leaves 12. Which is located in... Bakersfield."

"Hey, miss?" he said to the librarian.

"How may I assist?"

"Can you give me the location of Bakersfield?"

"Bakersfield?" repeated the woman, confused. "I suppose since I already sold you the holotape I had better dig up what I can for free. Give me a moment." She began typing at her console.

Eventually, she said, "Ah. According to my records, Bakersfield was the pre-war name of the city of Necropolis. I've never been there myself, but I know that the city is filled with ghouls, and a great many of them have become mindless zombies, unlike our dear old Harold."

"Who is Harold?" asked Twilight, who was paying attention even with her eyes scanning bookshelves.

"And what is ghoul?" John added.

"Never heard of 'em huh?" replied the librarian. "I suppose that's not uncommon. Many folks haven't. Ghouls used to be people, but they have suffered from radiation poisoning so strong, it destroys their skin and hair, if it doesn't kill them, and they often lose their minds. If you see a feral ghoul, it would be best to put it out of it's misery. Just don't attack every one of them that you see, not all of them are insane."

"But this Harold, you say that he lives here? Is he from Necropolis?" asked John.

"Hmm, I wouldn't know. I think maybe he might not be, considering his story about how he used to be a human who hunted mutants."

"Mutants?" asked John, surprised. "You mean the giant green things?"

"That's more or less how Harold describes them," said the librarian, confused. "They don't come around here though."

"I think they might be closer than you think," said John warily.

"Is that right?" asked the librarian, unsure what to make of this. "Well, if they show their faces around here, the police chief will beat them back to wherever they came from."

John didn't know what to say to this, but suddenly Twilight plopped two books onto the librarians desk. "John," she said, "would it be too much to get these two?"

John sighed. He didn't know why Twilight's reading habits irritated him so much, but he realized it would bother him more if he refused her. He suspected that he wasn't actually as bothered by it as he told himself he was. He move the top book out of the way so that he could read both covers. One was titled "Dean's Electronics". The other was simply called "First Aid".

"How much?" he asked the Librarian.

"It would be five hundred caps, but your friend said that she has some old books to sell me. Let's see them."

Twilight drew the three books from her bag and set them on the desk. The librarian opened each, examining them carefully.

"These are in remarkably good condition," she said. "Throw in just fifty caps and you can have those two books."

Twilight looked to John, who sighed again.

"Better than another five hundred, certainly."

John counted out the caps for the librarian. After they were paid for, Twilight took her books, a grin spread across her entire face.

"Twilight, lets go have a chat with this Harold person. I would like to see if he knows anything about Necropolis before we head over there. Plus, I'd like to hear what he knows about the mutants."

"Right, sounds good, but where do we find him?"

John turned back to the librarian. "Where can we find Harold?"

"Step outside, I'll show you."

They all stepped out into the street and the Librarian spoke in a loud voice to overcome the noise of the people talking all around them. "Harold is east of here, only about two blocks down, in an abandoned building on the right side of the street. He's not treated very well around here, so he has taken to begging. You might have to give him a small tip before he'll tell you anything. Just look for the man so ugly that you can't miss him."

"Thank... you," said John uneasily.

"Not a problem," the Librarian said. "Good luck finding that water chip." She disappeared into the library.

"Whoa!" exclaimed John.

"Yep," said Twilight, more composed than her companion. "That must be Harold."

"Don't think that just because you can't see my ears anymore that I can't hear you." said the hideously disfigured man. One of his eyes was apparently covered completely over with sickly bloated flesh. He didn't appear to have lips anymore, and the teeth that he still had were exposed far more than either John or Twilight was comfortable with. The areas where the man still had skin left looked a sickly green-yellow. Possibly the most disturbing, Harold actually had a rib bone completely exposed, with the flesh behind it closed up. "Ahem, I mean, think you could spare a few caps for a poor mutant down on his luck?"

"You're a mutant?" asked John in alarm.

"Technically, ghouls are mutated, so that does make him a mutant." Twilight said.

"Ghoul?" asked Harold in surprise. "I don't think so, I don't have the voice for it, and I've still got some of my skin. I'm just monstrously disfigured. Don't get me wrong, they're all mutants. Doesn't matter what they call themselves. So maybe I am like them. One thing I do know. I was a man... Once."

"We've met some of the men outside," said Twilight. "And you are more man than any of them." Harold looked at her in surprise, but quickly hung his head.

John had tried to figure out how many caps to give to the ghoul without offending him. He had settled on twenty five, but he was still slightly worried that it would not be enough.

"Here is twenty five caps," John said to Harold, giving them to him. "Good luck to you."

The man looked down at the caps in his hands for a moment before slowly looking back to John. "Oh, thank ya, friend. Very kind. You know, if I could clear all of the gunk out of there, you might just find a tear in old Harold's eye. And, if you'll forgive me for saying so, but in all of my long years, I've never met anyone like your friend here, but she's awful nice too."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle," said the pony conversationally.

"Harold. Although most people around here don't bother to remember it.

"So..." said John awkwardly. "What exactly... happened to you?"

"Well, after the great war, my vault was one of the first to open." Harold drew a long breath. "Long time."

"Really?" asked John. "Where was your vault?"

"You know, I'm not real sure anymore," said Harold. West, I think. Oh, wait- east? Ooh, I'm just not sure any more."

"Was it in a place called Necropolis?" asked John urgently. Harold made no response. "Bakersfield? Vault 12?"

Harold continued to give no answer.

"If it was Vault 12, that would be in the east, according to my information."

"I'm terribly sorry, I just... don't remember now. It was such a long time ago."

"I see," said John, disappointed. "So what did you do after you left the vault?"

"Well, I was a trader," said Harold matter-of-factly. "Did pretty good making a circuit between all of the survivors. Lost a lot of good people though." His voice had trailed off into depression.

"How?" asked John.

"Gangers got'em. Scavengers attacking the caravans. And mutants, son of a dog, if they weren't springing up like rabbits with a mission. Had to have an army of guards with, just to do a deal."

"Mutants," said John eagerly. "The giant green people? Where were the mutants coming from?"

"Not just them. Seen critters out there that would turn your stomach inside-out. But they were coming from everywhere! Hell, seemed like you couldn't fart without hitting one. But mostly in the northwest..."

"Did you try to do anything about them?"

"We mounted an expedition. God, Richard. Richard Grey. Led a small group of us up there."

"Richard Grey?" asked John curiously.

Richard Grey was a doctor. Little older than me, and friend was he smart. He found the source.

"Of the mutants, I presume."

"Yes. Some sort of old military base. We lost a lotta folks getting in there."

"How did you know this base was the cause?" Asked Twilight, who had been listening silently up until now.

"Because it was like someone went bargain shopping at mutantland! Geez! Cheaper by the dozens! Can't figure any other reason except that being the factory."

"And what did you find inside the base?" Twilight urged.

"We got pretty far inside. Wasn't a lot of us left by then. Grey, me and couple of others. One of them robots got Francine. Mark was wounded, sent him back to the surface. Then it was just me and Grey."

Harold seemed to be waiting for somebody to say something, so Twilight said, "Go on."

"We made it to some sort of central core, like a plant of some sort. That's when it happened.

"What happened?" asked Twilight, completely aware that she had fallen into the trap of suspense.

"A robot crane crashed into us. Last I saw of Grey, he was flying through the air in-into some sort of acid bath. I was in bad shape and...well I passed out."

"You passed out in a base stuffed full of those mutants?" asked John incredulously. "How did you survive?"

"Didn't," said Harold with a strange grin. "Got killed!" He burst into a fit of laughter combined with horrible coughing. Twilight and John were too shocked to say anything. "God, I love that joke!" said Harold, his laughing fit over.

"Well anyway," continued the mutant, "I have no idea how I got out of that base. Woke up in the wasteland, barely hanging on. Got lucky and some traders I knew found me days later. Good thing, since I was already changing. They brought me here, and here I've been since."

"Wait, why did you mutate like that?" asked Twilight.

Harold gave her an eerie stare with his single eye. "All's I know, is it was something inside that base."

"So you think that the base was irradiated?" asked Twilight.

"How the hell should I know? Grey would've known if anybody could." Harold let out a sigh. "Anyway, that's how the deal went down."

Unable to think of anything else to say, Twilight nodded to John, who said, "Thank you for letting us hear your story."

"Well, thanks for letting me tell it."

"I just have one last question." said John.

"And what would that be?"

"We've already run into a whole group of mutants from that military base. Lucky for us, we escaped, but considering how you got into the heart of their base, I was wondering if you had any advise on how to deal with them?"

Harold looked John in the eye again, making him uneasy. Then he said in a slow, stern tone, "Run. The hell. Away."

"Oh, right then," said John sarcastically. "I guess we didn't do anything wrong then. Come on, you said that you actually killed dozens!"

"We were hooked up with the best weapons that could be had in those days," said Harold irritably. "That aint the case no more. These days, those "Brotherhood of Steel" hoard all the good stuff. Nobody else has the firepower to do anything about those monsters, and they aren't interested in starting that fight."

Harold sighed. "Sorry, friend. I just really don't like those Brotherhood. They have a base set up about a week straight north east from town, and I highly suggest that you steer clear of that area. They only look out for their own."

"I'll keep that in mind," said John, nodding. "Goodbye Harold."

"Goodbye my friend."

John turned to Twilight and said "Well, time is wasting. We had better get going to Necropolis before somebody asks us to kill another crime lord or something."