Twilight stood stock still as her mind processed the sight before her, slowly trying to comprehend it. Barely four feet from her was an extremely tall, bleached green lizard, standing at about 20 metres tall holding a large lit up thermometer. She could tell that it was not real by the fact that it was covered in flaking paint and the wooden boarding that could be seen beneath, slightly rotting from exposure to the elements. Inside the mouth of the model lizard was a man clad in red and black clothing with a red beret that was exactly the same as Boones.

“Welcome to Novac, home of Dinky the Dinosaur and pretty much nothing else.” Red shouted, spreading her arms wide and sticking her chest out as if to display the less than impressive settlement for more than it actually was, a less than impressive settlement.

“This place is… rustic?” Twilight said hesitantly, causing Red to drop her arms and slump her shoulders with disappointment.

“I like the big lizard thing.” Spike said with slightly more enthusiasm than Twilight. "It looks a bit like me… if I was a rotting corpse, but looks like me none-the-less.” Red had a face mixed between happiness and discomfort at Spikes comment on Dinky.

“I like him.” Willow said with a wide smile as she started to walk towards a sign that had the word Novac in big bold letters on it.

“Let’s head to the bungalow then.” Red said as she followed her fiancé and gestured for the others to do the same. After they had walked through a metal gate and into a large courtyard they spotted a short, red haired woman wearing a leather jacket and jeans who was sitting on a bench outside the furthest bungalow. When she looked down and spotted Red and the others walking towards her she quickly jumped up and started to walk towards them at a brisk pace. Red opened her arms as if to expect a hug and was surprised when instead she got a fist to the face from the small angry woman.

“You go on a journey to Zion, and you don’t invite me?!” She shouted as she started to kick Reds shins as the woman recovered from the shock of being punched, not at all affected by the actual impact of the punch itself.

“But I thought Veronica had something planned for you two?” Red said as the assault on her shins continued. This question caused the shin kicking to stop and the small lady to look sheepish for a second, turning her head to the side and placing her hands behind her back.

“She did but it got cancelled because the Followers were in urgent need of someone who knew stuff about technology.” She said with a sigh, hanging her head and scuffing the floor. “We had I bit of a fight over her priorities and know I’m sleeping in the apartment instead of the bungalow.”

“Vanessa, you know Veronica values everything she has and finds it exceptionally hard to let go of a good thing.” Red said with a face that was mixed between sympathy and a frown.

“I know, it’s just I love to travel and go places but Veronica wants to stay in one place and never leave.” Vanessa said sadly, she then looked up and saw Twilight and Spike staring at her. “Um… who are these two?”

“My name’s Twilight Sparkle and this is my son Spike.” Twilight said as she indicated to herself and Spike.

Vanessa just stared for a few seconds with a blank expression before she looked up at Red and said, “You meet some strange companions don’t you?” She then turned back to Twilight and extended her hand out. “I’m Vanessa, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Twilight said as she gave Vanessa a hoof/handshake.

“Are you going to stay out here when we go in to talk to Veronica?” Red asked as she turned to face Vanessa, a look of concern gracing her face.

“That’s probably for the best, I need to go grab some food and other supplies from Cliff anyway.” Vanessa said with a sad smile and a point of her thumb towards Dinky. “Goodbye.” She then started to walk towards the Dinky Dinosaur.

“That was odd, why did she say goodbye? Let’s talk to Veronica and then we’ll go see if we can find out what the problem is.” Red said as she walked up to the door and gave it a few knocks. Heavy footsteps could be heard through the door as the occupant came and opened it.

“Vanessa, I told you I don’t want to- Oh hey guys!” Veronica stopped her tirade when she realised that it wasn’t Vanessa at the door and was instead her other friends. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Two reasons actually, the first being I wanted to introduce you to Twilight and Spike.” Red said as she stepped aside to allow Veronica to see the purple alicorn and small drake. This also allowed Twilight to get a good look at the woman who was standing in the doorway. She had relatively short brown hair that was pulled back into a bun behind her head and a smile that held far too much potential sarcasm for her own good. She was wearing a white jacket and purple shirt with white trousers and tall black boots that ended with purple socks.

“Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight said with a smile.

“I’m Spike.” Spike said as well, waving his claw at Veronica.

“Well hello to you too, my name is Veronica Renata Sant’Angelo but you can just call me Veronica.” She said cheerfully, offering her hand for a handshake that Twilight returned. She then turned back to the others, “Hey Arcade, how’s the hunt for a partner going?”

“Fuck you Veronica.” Arcade said with a deadpan expression, flipping her off with his left hand.

“Love you too.” Veronica responded cheekily. “You doing good Boone?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Boone replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “Not much really new except these two.” He said, indicating to Spike and Twilight.

“Let’s talk about the second reason for coming here.” Red said seriously, garnering everyone’s attention. “We should probably head inside for this though.” She said as she showed everyone into the house.

The inside of the bungalow was rather spacious and very open plan, with the living room, kitchen and bedroom all being the same space. It was a bit dark in most areas apart from the living room which was lit up substantially more, Twilight noticed all these thing as she walked inside with Spike and the others. Everyone took a seat at different areas of the room, Red, Willow and Arcade sitting on the sofa that faced the fireplace, Boone pulling up the dining table chair and facing it towards the others, Veronica leaning against the fireplace and Twilight and Spike sitting on two cushions on the floor.

“So what’s the big news then?” Veronica asked impatiently, hopping up and down on her feet in anticipation.

“If you would just calm down I’ll tell you.” Red said with a raised eyebrow and a slight smirk, causing Veronica to blush and stop moving. “The news isn’t necessarily good news or bad news, so take it how you will.” She then pulled out a poster that looked surprisingly new and handed it to Veronica “For a while there were rumours that people had found the Sierra Madre, and this poster just cements those rumours as fact. I’ve been to that hell hole, and this picture is what it looks like.”

“It looks like a real shithole.” Veronica said as she looked over the poster and then handed it to Twilight.

“Wow, you’ve been there?” Spike asked as he peeked over twilights shoulder to get a peek. “It looks like a real crap-hole.”

“SPIKE!? What is with this language?” Twilight shouted, aghast at his choice in words.

“Arcade said that swearing wasn’t really something to worry about in this world.” He said with a nervous shrug.

“You and I are going to have words.” Twilight said with a scowl as she looked at the nervous dragon. She then turned to look at Red who was trying to look anywhere but at Twilight. “We are also going to have a little chat later.”

“So what does this mean for the Mojave then?” Veronica asked, saving Red from Twilights glare.

“This could mean good or bad depending on what happens, if the ‘safety measures’ are still in place then a lot of travellers will be dissuaded from going there. If those don’t stop people then it might not be inherently bad, but it will more than likely end in someone gaining too much power and going mad, like a certain individual I met there.” The mention of this person brought a sad look to Veronica, who knew all too well who this person was.

“So what are we going to do about it then?” Arcade asked as he got up and walked to the kitchen and started to make coffee.

“Hopefully we don’t have to do anything, but if worst comes to worst then we pay a visit to the Sierra Madre ourselves.” Red said, walking over to Veronica and patting her on the shoulder. “Can I talk to you a sec please?” She asked quietly.

“Sure.” Veronica said sadly, following Red to the guest bunkroom and closing the door after her. “What is it that you wanted to talk about?”

“I heard Vanessa’s side of it but I want to know your side of the argument as well.” Red asked with a stern but caring look.

“She wanted us to leave, and I don’t just mean go travelling for a bit. She wanted the two of us to go all the way over to the east and stay there.” Veronica sighed and slumped against the wall.

“Why does she suddenly want to do that?” Red asked, surprised by what Vanessa wanted to do.

“it’s not a new thing, she’s been wanting to do this for the better part of a year but this time she was really trying to get me to go. I just kept telling her no and this time she finally snapped and said that it was either you guys or her.” As veronica had gone on she had slowly started to sniffle and by the end she was in tears. As Red comforted the distraught woman she slowly started to put the pieces together.

*Vanessa wasn’t acting normal when we met her outside, which could just be the fact that they had an argument but it’s not like her to react that way.* Then something clicked and she paled at the thought, *No, no no no please no.* Red quickly dashed out of the bunkroom, ran to the kitchen and opened up all the cupboards and fridge, all of which were completely full. As Veronica came back in with a confused expression she looked up with a fearful expression on her face. “Veronica, where do you keep the keys for the motorbike.” She asked in a panicked voice.

“I keep them in the vase on the shelf next to my old power glove, why?” she said wiping the drying tears from her eyes. After hearing this, Red quickly ran to the vase and checked inside and froze, slumped to the floor and let her arms go limp at her sides. Twilight, who had been listening on the conversation between Red and Veronica, turned to Arcade.

“What is a motorbike?” She asked.

“Do you have bicycles in your world?” Arcade inquired, to which he got a nod from Twilight. “A motorbike is a bicycle with a motor built into it, meaning that you don’t have to peddle.”

Twilight thought this through and blanched as she put the pieces together like Red had. “Oh no.” she said quietly. It was then that they heard the tell-tale rumble of an engine, causing Red to jump up and run to the door and fling it open. Veronica went through the same motions as Twilight and Red and barged past Red to the outside, in time to see Vanessa look back at her with a sad look.

“Why?” Was all Veronica could croak out, barely able to stand.

“Because Travelling is in my blood and I need to travel.” Vanessa said sadly, “Even though I was out of line with the words I used, the meaning is still the same, either me or them. I realised that you were never going to leave all this behind and that me thinking that you would was foolish. I also realised that if I expected you to do so for me then I was just being selfish, but I will ask you one more time.” She held out her hand and gained a desperate look on her face. “Will you travel with me?”

Veronica was on her knees now with tears cascading down her face and arms limp at her sides. “I- I can’t leave this be-behind, plea-*hic*-please don’t do this *sniff*.” She pleaded.

Vanessa was crying at this point as her offer was rejected, although she was far less expressive about it, it hurt. “I really hope that you find someone better than me, I didn’t deserve you for the time that I had you.” She then wiped the tears from her eyes and revved the bike. “Goodbye Veronica Sant’Angelo. I really wish I wasn’t so self-centred but I can’t change who I am, so for what it’s worth, I truly am, from the deepest part of my heart, Sorry for the pain I am about to cause.” With that last statement and a sniff, she pressed down on the accelerator and sped off out of the motel park and down the road towards the dam.

Arcade quickly ran out so that he could get a view on Vanessa and pulled out his plasma rifle. “I will skin her alive!” He shouted with fire burning in his eyes, only to be stopped by Red, who lowered his weapon and gestured to the weeping form of Veronica who was hunched over herself with Twilight and Spike consoling her. He sighed, holstered his rifle, walked over and crouched down next to her, only to be engulfed in a desperate hug.

“Why can’t they ever stay-ay-ay!?” She bawled, clinging to Arcade as if her life depended on it. “First Christine and now her-er-er!” The name caused Reds eyes to widen and her mouth to drop.

“No way, how could I not see that?” She asked herself quietly, the only one hearing her being Twilight.

“What could you not see?” Twilight asked as she looked up at Red, confusion written on her face.

“Something that I should have seen a long time ago.” She then gained a determined look. “We are going to the Sierra Madre as soon as possible, we have something important to do there.”

“What is it?” The purple alicorn questioned.

“We’ve got a couple to reunite.” She said with a sad, but determined look at Veronica.

Author's Note

Tiring week, but I should be able to post chapters quicker in the coming one.

Relevant Mods:

Spice of Life - Variety Armor and Clothing
Advanced J3XMotorcycle

Seeya later alligator