The periodic bump and the constant rumbling of the truck kept Twilight from getting any rest. Although Spike didn’t suffer the same problem as her considering he was lightly snoring next to her, with his head resting against her side. She had already took in the full sight of the truck, with its many storage containers lining the adjacent wall, the small bathroom that sat in the far corner and the small kitchenette that was behind her. The whole place had a homey feel to it, all the rusty surfaces only adding to its charm and lived in feel. She could also hear the sound of idle chatter provided by Red and Willow coming from the front of the vehicle, muffled by the small metal door that had been pulled across after about 15 minutes. They had been Traveling for about half an hour or so, Twilight only knew this thanks to the small clock on the wall above the door to the cab.

“So, what do you make of the boss?” Came the sudden voice of Arcade, jumping Twilight out of her idle thoughts.

“Sorry, what?” Twilight asked confusedly.

“I asked you what you thought of Red.” Arcade said with a slight smirk. He was currently cleaning his plasma rifle with a small cloth and a flask of turpentine.

“She seems… nice?” Twilight replied with a small shrug. “I haven’t really seen much of her to make an accurate judgement.”

“Fair point.” Arcade said, nodding slightly as he looked back down at his gun and pulled out a few of the coils to clean them. “I didn’t know very much about her when I first met her either. She had made a name for herself before that of course, but it wasn’t the type that you would expect from someone who wanted to join the world of politics.” He chuckled lightly.

“What was she known for?” Twilight asked, leaning onto the table eagerly.

“Well as you know from her title she used to be a courier, worked for the Mojave Express for about 10 years before delivering her last package.” Arcade said as he set his plasma rifle aside. “She got shot in the head twice on her last delivery which I think was the last straw with a long line of injuries with the Mojave Express. After recovering at a Doctors in Goodsprings she left to go find the guy who shot her, but got side-tracked when she met a man named Randall.”

“Who was this man?” Twilight asked, making Arcade shake his head with a smile. “What?” She asked confusedly.

“Red was right when she said that you ask a lot of questions.” He said, pulling a fresh apple out of his backpack and taking a bite. He then looked up and saw Twilight staring at his apple with a longing look in her eyes. “You want one?” He asked, to which he got a fast nod from the hungry Alicorn. Arcade opened up his bag and tossed an apple over to Twilight, which she caught in her magic and chomped into.

“Thankyou” Twilight muffled out, the apple piece taking up most of the space in her mouth.

“Okay, back to the story.” He leaned back against the side wall and lifted his feet onto the table. “Randall ran a business called Randall and Associates which dealt with bounties and bounty hunters. Red found the place and decided to sign up for a few bounties to make a quick cap and a name for herself. Turns out she was very good at it, although I’m not surprised considering the level of skill she possesses. She dealt with some of the most dangerous criminals in the Mojave within a few days and managed to shut down another bounty hunting business after they ‘allegedly’ killed Randall. I know that she knows something that no one else does about that though.”

“So if Randall was ‘supposedly’ dead, what did she do after that?” Twilight pressed, her inner scholar shining through at the opportunity to learn something new.

“She started to work for the Boulder City jail after that, collecting Bounties for the man who ran the jail.” Arcade responded. “She managed to take down even more high profile criminals and their organisations. But at this point she also took in a lot of people without killing them though, one of which was the most wanted man in the Mojave and probably the most dangerous. How she did it, I’ll never know. After that though she quit the business and finally decided to deal with the man who shot her, and along the way she met her little motley crew.” Arcade said with a smile.

“So she was a courier, then a bounty hunter and then whatever you guys call yourselves. That leads me to wonder how many of you guys are there and how she met you all.” Twilight said while finishing off her apple. “By the way, how can you get fresh apples out here without any apple trees?”

“To answer your second question, I don’t know. She never told us where she gets the fresh fruit and vegetables that aren’t found out in the wastes.” Arcade said with a scowl followed by a noncommittal shrug. “Tastes nice so I don’t really care.” He then gained a thoughtful expression. “To answer your first question, there are eight of us that are human… mostly, and there are seven that are not. So that’s a total of fifteen of us that work with Red.” After saying that though he looked as if he suddenly remembered something. “Wait, there was another, but she left after a while to travel into the mountains.” He said with a nod.

“Who was the person who left?” Twilight asked.

“Her name was Lily, she was a supermutant.” Arcade said, climbing up out of his seat and walking over to one of the cupboards that sat above the kitchenette. He opened up the far right one and pulled out a large portfolio that seemed to be chock full of pictures and other such mementos. Twilight watched as he walked back over to the table and sat back down in front of her, placing the portfolio on the table as he did so.

“What’s that?” Twilight asked, peering over the table to try and get a better view of what resided within the pages.

“This is our memory book, we use it to keep memories alive.” He said with a small smile, flicking through the pages carefully. “Here’s a good picture of us all together before Lily left.” He rotated the folder around so that it faced Twilight so that she could see the photo.

“Wow, you had a lot of friends.” Twilight said with a wide smile on her face, and while the photo itself was a bit worn it still filled its purpose.
“Lily’s the tall blue one wearing the overalls and straw hat.” Arcade said as he pointed his finger at the photo. “She’s at the far right of the group.”

“What’s that big scary thing on the far left?” Twilight said uneasily.

“Oh that’s Thanatos, he is the only friendly deathclaw I think you’ll ever meet in the wasteland.” He said with a laugh. “He was Red’s first friend since she met him before she even came to the Mojave.”

“Who is-“

“How about I just tell who each of them is?” Arcade said with a lopsided grin.

“Thanks.” Twilight said as Arcade moved the portfolio so that it leaned up against the wall, allowing them both to see the photo inside.

“I’ll go from right to left. The supermutant on the far right, as you know, is Lily. Next is Doc Friday, the boss met him during her job as a bounty hunter and decided to take him up on his offer of working together after she had kicked House out of the Lucky 38 with us.” Arcade was about to continue before Twilight interrupted him.

“What is Doc Friday and the other one next to him, they look like zombies.” Twilight said nervously.

“I wouldn’t let them hear you say that, that term is often considered offensive by ghouls.” Arcade with a slight frown.

“G-Ghouls?” Twilight stuttered.

“People who have been exposed to too much radiation and not had the luck of dying.” Arcade said with a wave of his hand.

“Oh, so not undead.” Twilight asked with a sigh.

“No.” Arcade said as he got back to listing the group. “Next to the Doc is Raul. We met him up on Black Mountain being held captive by another supermutant by the name of Tabitha. We got him out of there and he decided to join us until about a year ago when he set up a mechanics business in the old H&H Tool Factory and helps us with the trucks repairs whenever we need them. After Raul is Boone. The Boss met Boone in Novac as a guard and spotter, I won’t tell you any more considering he doesn’t like many people knowing about his past.”

“Thankyou.” Came the voice of Boone above them in the bed, startling both Arcade and Twilight.

“I thought you were asleep.” Arcade said, prodding the mattress above in annoyance.

“I’m an extremely light sleeper.” He replied as he shuffled in the bed.

“Asshole.” Muttered Arcade.

“I heard that.” Boone said back, making Arcade roll his eyes.

“And I don’t care, let’s get back to the picture.” He then turned back to face Twilight who had her hoof over her mouth, trying to stifle the giggles. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.”

“Sorry, it’s just I miss this sort of thing.” Twilight said after she had gained control of her faculties.

“Right, shall we continue then?” Arcade asked, to which he got a nod from Twilight. “Above Boone is ED-E. The Boss found and repaired him in the Primm Mojave Express office after He had travelled all the way from the east coast. Next is me. I was working at the old Mormon Fort in Freeside as a scientific member of the Followers of the Apocalypse when Red found me and managed to convince me to join her on her travels. After me is the Boss herself, but I already explained a bit about her. Below the Boss is Rex, Roxie and their Puppies: White and Black. Red met Rex in Freeside with his previous owner, The King, and decided to get him fixed up.”

“Why do they have their brains in jars on their heads?” Twilight asked.

“They’re cyberdogs.” Arcade responded as if that explained it all. Twilight waited to see if he was going to explain more, and sighed when she realised that he wasn’t. “Red met Roxie in The Big MT and decided to bring her to the Mojave, which is where the two dogs met and had the puppies.” Arcade then got up and walked around the table and over to the fridge. He opened up the door and bent his knees to get a better look at the contents, making a small “Aha” as he spotted what he was looking for, two Sunset Sarsaparillas. He brought one of them to Twilight and then sat down again, opening up his bottle and taking a large gulp. Twilight did the same with her bottle and found that drinking the beverage to be an overall pleasant experience. It had a sweet yet bitter taste to it, with hints of vanilla, liquorice and caramel as well as a slight medicinal taste.

“This drink's nice.” Twilight said with a nod after taking another gulp.

“Yeah it is.” Arcade said, accentuating his point with a large gulp and a satisfied sigh. “Okay, back to the crew. After Red is Willow who she met in an abandoned tent between Primm and the Mojave Outpost. Red and Willow had been travelling together throughout the Bounty Hunter phase and had started dating by the end of it which has continued through to this day.”

“Oh, there going out with each other?” Twilight asked with a small smile.

“Well technically they are engaged, but the wedding is not for another month or so.” Arcade said with a shrug and another gulp of his sarsaparilla.

“Aw, that’s wonderful!” Twilight said with a small, girlish squeal, making Arcade laugh and almost choke on his drink at her reaction.

“Right *cough* let’s get back to the group.” Arcade placed his bottle back down on the counter with and pointed at the next person, a hooded woman. “That’s Veronica, she used to be a member of a group called the Brotherhood of Steel but left when she felt that they were going to die out and that they had their priorities wrong. She then tried to join the Followers of the Apocalypse but that did not go as planned, as a group of brotherhood Paladins came and slaughtered all the members of the small outpost.”

“That’s Horrible!” Twilight gasped, shocked by the barbarity of those people.

“Red thought that as well, she tore them to shreds with only a pair of knuckle dusters and her bare hands. You wouldn’t be able to recognise them as people by the time she was finished. It was the first time I ever saw her do something like that, and it was not the last.” Arcade then pulled off his glasses and pinched his nose and rubbed his eyes. “I can feel a headache coming along, let’s see if there’s any ibuprofen in the cabinet.”

He turned around and opened up the small medical cabinet. Pulling out a box of tablets, he placed two in his mouth and washed them down with a swig of his sarsaparilla. During this though, Twilight had looked inside the medical cabinet and saw some needles of morphine. She felt an urge take over as she felt the need to take some of it and make a strange pain she hadn’t noticed before go away. She tried to ignore it at first, but it proved too much and she used her magic to pull out a syringe of morphine and inject herself with it. Once she pressed the plunger she felt a wave of relief and bliss wash over her as the chemicals flowed through her bloodstream, causing her to close her eyes and let out a sigh of relief.

“Morphine addiction I see.” Arcade said sadly, snapping Twilight out of her thoughts and making her sputter.

“I-I’m sorry, I can’t help it, I needed it. Oh Celestia, what will everyone think, they will be so disappointed *sniff*” Twilight was starting to have trouble thinking clearly as the guilt finally washed over and she started to sniff and hiccup. Arcade got up and walked around to sit next to Twilight and placed an arm around her and hold her while she let out all the stress. After a good few minutes of Twilight rambling about how everyone will be so disappointed in her, she finally managed to calm down and lean out of Arcades hold. “I’m sorry about that. That was silly of me to make you see that.”

“Nonsense. Even if my job in the Followers was as a researcher, I’ve seen enough drug addicts to know that you are far from the worst.” Arcade said as he got up and moved back to the opposite side of the table. “You can’t be held responsible to what happened at that vault, especially with Rampant keeping you captive. I swear that monster is not only the sanest fiend I’ve ever had the ‘pleasure’ of meeting, but also the craziest.” He then opened up his bag again and rummaged around for a bit. “Where is it, I could of sworn I packed some. Ah, here we go.” He then pulled out a small blue container that had the word ‘Fixer’ painted on it. “This will help if you ever get the feeling that you need more morphine.” Twilight took it in her magic and read the description of it.

It read, “Fixer, for when you need to stop the cravings of addiction.”

“Thank you for this.” Twilight said with a smile as she wiped her nose with a small handkerchief that she Arcade handed her.

“Let’s get back to listing off the people in the photo.” He took another swig of his drink and cleared his throat. “After Veronica we have Vanessa. The Boss met her in the Prospector Saloon in Goodsprings after she arrived from DC about 3 weeks after the Boss had woken up. Vanessa tried to get in Reds pants but she said no to it because of Willow.” He then smiled slightly. “She and Veronica are now dating, which I think is good. Veronica deserves some happiness after all the disappointment she has been through.”

“So from what I can tell, your race is fine with same sex relationships?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Is that a problem?” Arcade asked with a frown, affronted by Twilights question.

“Hardly. I think it’s great that your race is accepting of that, unlike some of the upper crust of our race who are still clinging onto some laws that stop same sex couples from marrying.” She said with a huff, folding her hooves and looking off to the side. “Those morons are standing in the way of all that Equestria stands for. It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack if you’re looking for an accepting pony in Canterlots noble households.”

“Sounds like they deserve a beating and have their ranks stripped. Fucking bastards they sound like.” Arcade said, scowling and cracking his knuckles. This made Twilight both smile and shift uneasily, as this angry side of Arcade was new to her. He then noticed her uneasy smile and relaxed. “Sorry about that, it is one of the only subjects other than tyrants that can truly get me angry.”

“I’m similar, it’s just that I am not used to language like that being used.” Twilight said while rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.

“Well I’d get used to it if I were you. Swearing is hardly a rare sight in our crew.” He said gulping down the last of his beverage and throwing it in the trash can. “Let’s finally finish this photo then shall we.”

“Sorry for interrupting so much.” Twilight said with a sheepish smile.

“Intermissio conteram normalitatem, et normalitatem eius taediosus.” Arcade said with a wave of his hand. “The last human we have is Cass. Red met Cass at the Mojave outpost while she was doing jobs for the NCR stationed there. She found Cass drinking in the bar alone and asked her why she was there, to which Cass replied that her caravan company had been attacked by raiders and she had nothing left. After that, Red decided to help her and went to work for the Crimson Caravan at Cass’s suggestion which lead her to asking Cass to join us.” Arcade then pulled out a cloth and started to clean his glasses. “Lastly we have the two beasts you see there, Teddy and Thanatos. I’ve already explained Thanatos so I’ll tell you about Teddy. We met Teddy while leaving the Zion National Park after helping one tribe living there escape from another tribe of warriors. When we first met her she was a cub and required lots of food to grow up. At this point now she is a full grown Yao Guai and is currently taking residence in Goodsprings with Cass at the old Schoolhouse we fixed up because she would get a large supply of gecko meat.” He then let out an exaggerated sigh and lay back in his seat. “Finally it’s over.”

“Thank you for telling me about the members of your group.” Twilight said with a smile. Truthfully she was also relieved that it was over but she was happy to have listened to it all. “There were a couple of things I didn’t get though.” She said after a few seconds.

“And what are they?” arcade asked, sitting back up again.

“What did you say before you told me about Cass? I didn’t understand it.” Twilight asked.

“Oh, that was Latin for ‘Interruptions break normality, and normality is boring.’ I have learnt over the years to speak Latin. Don’t know why, I just did.” He said with a shrug.

“What’s Latin?” Twilight asked.

“It is an ancient language that barely anyone speaks, especially these days.” Twilight nodded her head in understanding at this.

“Lastly, what are all those creatures and names that you used, I didn’t understand what they meant.” This caused Arcade to frown and gain a thoughtful expression for a bit before suddenly realising something and tapping on the door to the front of the truck. The door slid open and Willow poked her head through.

“What is it Arcade?” She asked with a small smile.

“Do you still have your copies of the Wasteland Survival Guide: West Coast Edition?” Arcade questioned. Willow then opened up her bag and pulled out a large book with the picture of a skull on the front.

“Sure, what do you need it for?” Willow asked as she handed it over to Arcade.

“Twilight needs to know what the local Wildlife and factions are, as well as the basics of surviving here.” He said, making the blonde woman nod with a look of understanding. She then nodded to them both and slid the door shut, leaving them both to their own devices. “This should help you to understand the Mojave and the rest of the West coast’s inhabitants.” He said as he passed the book over to Twilight who, distracted by the prospect of reading a new book, uttered a quick thanks as she took it from him and started to read it.

Twilight had been reading the Guide for a good half an hour and had learned a good amount about everything to do with the West Coast of America in its current state, when a muffled curse could be heard coming from the front of the Truck. Twilight could feel the vehicle swerve and come to a sudden stop as the door to the front slid open to reveal an annoyed Red.

“We got Vipers up ahead and they don’t look like they want to chat.” She said loudly, causing both Boone and Arcade to grab their weapons and gear. She then got up herself and walked over to one of the gun racks inside of the van and picked up the rifle she got from the armoury back in the suite, loading in a magazine while pulling on her sleeveless jacket over her shirt.

“What’s happening?” Twilight asked as she roused Spike from his sleep.

“We got a group of bandits from the Vipers gang up ahead and they are looking for a fight.” Willow said as she inserted some hollow point rounds into her rifle.

“What do we do?” Spike asked as he rubbed his eyes.

“You and Twilight need to get geared up and ready.” Red said as they all stood by the door to the van. “It’s time for your first firefight.” She said with a grin as she opened the door, and all hell broke loose.

Author's Note

Sorry again for the uneven upload times, but I can't really expect them to be even most of the time.

If you haven't noticed yet, each of the chapter titles is a line from the game.

Related Mods:

New Vegas Bounties 1
New Vegas Bounties 2
Afterschool Special

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