"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.