Chaos Rules in the Wasteland

"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?"