Chapter 9

The dark descent

"The one and only," Lyra Heartstrings smirked at the dumbfounded expressions on Twilight's and Sunset's faces. "Did not expect me to be in this position?"

"I did not expect anyone from CHS," Sunset replied. "I had no way to know whether anyone from our class survived the Day of Burning. I was in different town, remember?"

"Yeah, I heard you moved out quite quickly. Did you hide in one of those Vaults?"

"I did."

"Oh..." Lyra's eyes gained a faraway look, as if she was seeing something in the distance.

"Something wrong?"

"No," the green-skinned girl shook her head, "nothing. I just recalled that getting places in Vaults cost a hefty sum."

"I had paid the sum."

"And your friend from out of town? Twilight, if I am not mistaken?"

"Found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time with a memory loss," Twilight replied.

"Memory loss?"

Sunset sent Lyra a look that plainly told "none of your business".

"OK, I need to dismantle this transmitter first, and then I think we will move away from here."

"You have an idea where to go?" Twilight asked.

"Yep. I was already on the way to my intended destination, but walked straight into an ambush set by these super mutants. Barely got out. Killed all the ambushers, but caused such a ruckus that these goddamn White Knives crawled from their hideouts to see if there is any loot. The fools did not notice me, and I had no way to take them on. Slipped away - and found another pack of super mutants. Turned out they showed up to a party, too. Some of them clashed with the White Knives, and others followed me. I almost ran out of ammo when I found this office along with Civilian General Distress transmitter and some weapons. Sent out a call for help out of desperation."

"And that's when we found you," Sunset finished.

"In the nick of time, too. I have only two batteries for my laser pistol on me now."

"I also see a laser rifle there. Nice guns, wouldn't have said no to one of those."

"Good luck trying to find microfusion cells for that thing. I tried to spare as much ammo as possible and still wasted all of them quite quickly."

"Isn't there a way to recharge them?" Twilight inquired.

"Not that I know. Normal batteries for laser pistols are also rare. You'd do better with lead-spitters, that's for sure."

"Lead-spitters?"

"She means common firearms which use bullets, Twilight," Sunset interjected.

"OK, done," Lyra said, having finished with the transmitter, "now we need to get to the safe place I spoke about earlier. I see you have Pip-Boys? Let me send the coordinates to you," she did something with her own Pip-Boys, and continued, "There, done. Can you see the marker?"

Both girls responded positively.

"This place, as far as I know, is a hideout of sorts with a code-locked door. This would have been a problem for us, but I had looted the necessary codes previously. It is located on the other side of the city, unfortunately. This means we have to go the long way, since the city center is still lethally irradiated."

"Well, blast," Sunset said, "and what if we run into more of these super mutants? They are quite tough, and strong, too. I saw one of those carrying a goddamn minigun."

"That, and those bandits from White Knives may be a problem, too," Twilight added. "I am not sure whether they are active at night, but I would rather not run into them. Me and Sunset ran into five of those when they were attacking a merchant. We saved him, but I got wounded, twice."

"Ouch," Lyra winced. "Walking on the surface is not an option I wanted to recommend, anyway."

"Then what do you have in mind?"

"Hoofington had a system of underground trains. It was built with the aim of being able to withstand shock waves and protect people in case of nuclear attack. That did not really go as intended - some of the tunnels had collapsed - but you can still use what survived the atomic detonation so as to avoid the threats on the surface. There is a downside to that option, however. The tunnels are positively infested with feral ghouls."

"What are those?"

"Humans that received an unhealthy dose of radiation, but were lucky - or unlucky - enough to survive at a cost of losing their minds and looking like zombies from trashy horror movies."

"Zombies? Wait, so that's what they are called?" Twilight interrupted.

"You've encountered them?" Lyra asked incredulously.

"Yes," Sunset took over the conversation, "stumbled into a village overrun by them. First there were half a dozen, and minutes later, we were chased by what, two dozens? Nearly wasted all our ammunition. Hid ourselves in a house with a metallic door in order to survive. Then had to run away again in the morning."

"Drat, girls, you are something. Surviving a pack of feral ghouls? Now you know what to expect in the underground railway system. My advice - shoot their heads, if you can, or their legs so they don't come too close."

"Thanks."

"Now let's see if these super mutants have something decent on them."

"You gonna take that laser rifle?"

"Of course, although I am not hoping that I'll find some microfusion cells."

As it turned out, super mutants had assault rifles and shotguns for weapons. Lyra stripped the R91's for spare parts and took all the 5.56mm ammo, leaving shotgun shells to Sunset.

"Sorry, girls, but I would rather spare the batteries for my laser pistol in case we encounter something really bad," she explained.

"No problem," Twilight replied. Sunset did not look pleased, but said nothing. Lyra's words made perfect sense.

"Now, let's go on our merry way through the scary dungeons," the green-skinned girl said half-jokingly, smiling...

"So this is the underground?" Twilight asked.

The quartet has entered a tunnel that lead to the ticket booths and escalators. There were some door-like devices (Sunset explained that those were meant to stop those who did not have a ticket), but they were deactivated, and the plastic "doors" were broken down.

"Yep," Lyra replied. "A relatively convenient way to get around the city if you don't want to endure traffic jams. Or super mutants and bandits."

"Do we actually know which way are we supposed to go?" Sunset asked sceptically.

"There is supposed to be a map which shows the lines and stations."

"It's somewhat dark in here. The lamp light is insufficient. I am surprised that reserve generators actually work."

"What are your Pip-Boys for?"

"Right. But if we waste the batteries, you'll owe us."

"Chill out, Sunset. A-ha, here's the map. Let's see..."

Lyra studied the scheme for a minute before tapping something on her own Pip-Boy.

"OK, I have sent you the waypoints we will need to go through."

"We've got them," Twilight replied.

"Excellent."

"Uh... Lyra? Won't this way get us too close to ground zero?" Sunset said unsurely.

"Not too close. Maybe closer than one would like, but those tunnels should not be collapsed - Hoofington was not hit by a very powerful bomb. But there is a chance we may encounter feral ghouls."

"You mentioned feral ghouls. There are non-feral ghouls?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. These are the ghouls that have retained their intelligence while undergoing the mutation process. Those can actually speak and use guns. They would certainly be better than feral ghouls... provided that they are not hostile. Unfortunately, many people discriminate against them for their looks and call them zombies."

"That's awful!" the lavender-skinned girl exclaimed.

"Too true, but, unfortunately, it is practically impossible to distinguish a feral ghoul from a non-feral one without disturbing them. They look almost the same, and both groups wear clothes - although sometimes the clothes on feral ghouls are a lot more tattered - so you will need to get close and interact somehow so as to actually find out who is in front of you. And disturbing feral ghouls is highly likely to end in a horrible death, so people prefer shooting from the distance first and ask questions later. And, of course, if someone is shot at, they don't bother trying to talk and shoot back. That's the Wastelands for you."

"What about super mutants? Aren't they intelligent? I mean, they can talk, they use weapons and even have something resembling communities and tactics..."

"That's a tricky question you are asking here, Twilight. They are intelligent enough for that, but animals also have pack instincts and tactics, so it could be argued that super mutants retained enough intelligence to use other weapons besides their hands or armature pieces, like firearms, but not enough to actually have feelings or complex psychology. One thing is very clear, though - super mutants are always aggressive, unlike normal ghouls that can be reasoned with in certain cases. So when it comes to greenskins (myself excluded; pardon the bad pun), the best and only solution is shooting them until they move no more."

The Princess of Friendship kept silence, processing the information that highlighted the cruelty of Canterlot Wastelands. She was unable to ponder on the subject for too long, however, because they arrived at a junction. One way diverted to the left and into the darkness (there were no lamps shining there), and another one went straight ahead.

"Where to?" Sunset inquired.

"Straight ahead," Lyra replied.

The girls went on their way. The tunnel started turning to the right.

"Isn't that getting us closer to the city center?"

"According to the map, there is another junction ahead that has a way to the left, and that's where we'll go... halt!"

"What's the matter, Lyra?"

"IFF shows hostiles, ten of them, two o'clock."

"What does the time have to do with hostile entities? Besides, it's not even two o'clock now..." Twilight interjected, confused.

"Military slang," Sunset explained. "Basically, this means the direction relative of the way where one looks. Twelve o'clock is straight ahead of the watcher, six o'clock is directly behind, three and nine are strictly to the right and to the left respectively. Other designations are in-betweens."

"So I have to imagine that the direction where Lyra looks is twelve o'clock and the enemies are where the arrow would show if it were on two o'clock?"

"Correct," Lyra replied. "Apparently, they are around that corner."

"Twilight," Spike whispered to his almost-mother from his backpack, "those appear to be feral ghouls. I can feel their smell."

"Can we engage them?" Sunset asked the green-skinned girl in the meantime.

"Depends on whom are we engaging. Feral ghouls? That we can. White Knives? Not likely."

"I think those are feral ghouls," Twilight voiced Spike's advice.

"You think?" Lyra asked sceptically. "And what are you basing this assumption on?"

"Oh..." the alicorn-in-disguise stood, flustered. I can't tell her that Spike can speak, even if the whole school saw him speaking during the Fall Formal! Something feels... off. "Well... Spike felt them, and started just... well... moving worriedly around in my backpack. That's how he reacts to them."

"Ah, your dog felt them? Well, feral ghouls against three of us is not much trouble. But let's not charge ahead."

"Agreed."

Three girls moved silently around the corner. As Spike predicted, the enemies were feral ghouls indeed, although there were fifteen of them in reality. Fortunately, they remained undetected.

"Weapons ready," Lyra whispered, and raised her R91 assault rifle. Sunset did the same with hers, while Twilight chose to aim with her SMG.

"Fire!"

Pat-pat-pat-pat-pat! Bra-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-ta-ta-tat!

Bullets tore apart their intended targets; one of the ghouls was pierced through and another one standing behind him was also dropped. Others turned around, but the girls already picked new targets.

Another burst of fire, and only eight of zombie-like mutants remained.

"Aim for the legs!" Sunset shouted, and released another stream of bullets, killing one ghoul and making other two stumble. Twilight's disorderly fire managed to kill another two before she ran out of ammo. Not bothering to reload, she whipped out her pistol and put a bullet into the head of the closest ghoul.

"Nice shooting!" Lyra said, gunning down two ghouls that Sunset had dropped. She turned to others - and the gun clicked. "Shit, out of ammo!"

"Horseapples, me too! Twilight, cover us!"

"Wait, what? Are you kidding me?!" Twilight shouted, but two other girls already retreated, leaving her on the forefront. "Oh ponyfeathers! I'll remember that!" she shouted, firing into two remaining ghouls while taking back - which did not do well for her aim: the bullets that hit the torsoes did not drop the enemies.

Suddenly, a red beam hit the closest ghoul in the left hand and dropped him; another one received a shot to the head that literally burned him to ashes.

"Effective," Sunset remarked. "Sorry, Twilight; the bolt on my rifle got stuck. Had to apply some extra strength."

"And mine did not want to dislodge the magazine," Lyra remarked, scowliing at her assault rifle that she had had to drop in order to use her laser pistol. "Damn R91's can do that sometimes."

"Apologies accepted, or rather, excuses accepted," Twilight grumbled a bit. "Just... let's not leave me on the forefront again."

"No promises," the green-haired girl replied, "if that make stactical sense, we'll need to do that."

"Freaking great."

"Quit your whining, let's search their bodies and go on."

"Can feral ghouls actually have valuable loot?"

"Bottle caps are always valuable loot. Feral ghouls usually have some on them..."

However, no matter how hard they searched, they did not find any.

"Oh come on! Fifteen ghouls and not a single cap on them?" Lyra exclaimed, exasperated. Twilight heard Sunset mutter what suspiciously sounded like "pony piss", but once she turned her head to the fiery-haired girl, the latter was looking in tunnel's direction like nothing has happened.

"Well, blast. Waste of ammo and not a single cap. Let's move on."

The group went on, bitter about their bad luck. Soon, however...

"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me," Lyra said on turning around the corner.

"What are you swearing about... oh ponyfeathers," Sunset muttered once she caught up to the green-skinned girl.

Twilight was the last to join them. She understood immediately what was the reason for her comrades' foul language.

The quick way they were all hoping for was blocked by a cave-in. Stones, pieces of armature and concrete and parts of rails were blocking the path. There was literally no hole to crawl through.

"I take we will have to turn back?" the Princess of Friendship asked.

"Obviously. There is no way to get through this cave-in. Even if I had some industrial-class demolition charge on me, it would not help us," Lyra replied. "And I don't recall this part of tunnels being collapsed. Someone did it after the Day of Burning."

"What makes you think that? Can't atomic bombs cause something like this?"

"They can, but, as I had mentioned, Hoofington was not hit by a particularly powerful bomb. And the underground system was built with the possibility of housing refugees from nuclear explosion in mind. This section should not be collapsed."

Suddenly, an unmistakable sound of growling stomach was heard.

"Whose is that?" Sunset asked.

"Mine," Twilight admitted, embarrassed.

"Truth be told, I am feeling hungry, too," Lyra confessed. "How about a small pause? This cave-in at least has our backs covered, so we will be able to see anyone who is coming towards us."

"Sounds good," the amber-skinned girl agreed.

"And no one is bothered that there are... corpses nearby?" Twilight interjected, pointing to several bodies in armour of unfamiliar design.

"They aren't decomposing yet, so we don't need to worry about corpse poison. You can have your back turned to them, if you want."

The equine Princess only growled at that remark.

"So how's life been treating you after CHS?" Sunset asked Lyra while digging her teeth into what-passed-for-vegetarian-food-in-MRE's.

"Nothing atypical. Went on to find a job. Unfortunately, at that time the job market was not in best shape. For three months I had to struggle for living until I managed to join a small band that performed patriotic music. Turned out no one could play piano there, so I was a pianist. Then, one day, I was noticed by UFE's Military Orchestra. They asked me what instruments I could play, and once they found out I could play trumpet, they offered me a place and rank, along with relatively decent payment."

"What about Bon Bon? You two were virtually inseparable..."

Lyra did not answer at once. Twilight could have sworn that she saw a shadow cross the green-skinned girl's face when Sunset mentioned Bon Bon, but decided that was the trick of light.

"Well... we got separated. When the war began, Bon Bon almost immediately joined the army. Her dad used to serve in the army long ago, and he was a big patriot. And he passed these qualities on to his daughter."

"Did you at least maintain contact?"

"We tried our best. She was telling me the news from frontlines - at least, news that would not be censored - and I told her about my struggles with money. She was so happy when I told her that I joined the Military Orchestra. Once I did, exchanging messages became simpler - until the latest TODC offensive on the east."

"The Eastern Gambit?" Sunset's face fell once Lyra nodded. "Oh crap..."

"What is the Eastern Gambit?" Twilight asked.

"It was the offensive that TODC had launched against UFE shortly before the Day of Burning," the green-skinned girl explained. "It was a surprise attack from eastern direction, when a large TODC force made it to the shores of UFE. Bon Bon was stationed near the eastern border at that time, so I can only imagine what hell she went through. Our forces there were not as ready against potential invasion as those on the western borders, where it would be easier for TODC to attack. I still can't imagine how they were able to sneak a big enough force in there..."

"Did Bon Bon survive?"

"I... don't really know," Lyra's face fell. "I know that she had managed to survive the Eastern Gambit, but I have little idea whether she survived the Day of Burning. That's what I hope to find out."

"I hope you'll find her alive," Twilight put her hand on Lyra's shoulder.

"Thanks for the kind words," the green-haired girl smiled, "now eat your food before it gets cold. It's worse when it's cold."

"I still think that whoever dared to call this a meal must be thrown to dungeons," the Princess of Friendship glared at the MRE she was trying to eat now.

"Well, that's why they are called Meals Rejected by the Enemy," Sunset laughed.

"That's a lie, by the way. TODC soldiers were not above looting this stuff from corpses," Lyra remarked.

"What, their food was worse?"

"Don't know, don't care. Military rations almost always suck. Field kitchen for the win."

Once the girls (and Spike) finished their meal, Lyra suggested looting the corpses lying nearby. Sunset supported the idea; outnumbered, Twilight simply rolled with the idea.

There were four bodies in total. The armour they wore was military-grade, according to Lyra, so they decided to see whether it would suit them.

Twilight and Sunset had already attached armour plates on their arms and legs when they bought them from Cap Collector, so the only things they actually deemed necessary were torso vests with groin protection which were of better quality (visually, at least).

Lyra, on the other hand, had only light torso armour, so she unabashedly took the whole set of armour and stripped the remaining one for spare parts to replace the plates wherever she believed protection to be inadequate.

In terms of weapons, however, the situation was not as good. Aside from pistols, two hunting rifles and two assault rifles with ammo for them, there was virtually nothing of interest aside from two frag grenades and one flashbang grenade. Twilight refused to take any grenades, so Sunset and Lyra took one frag grenade each, and the former also took the flashbang when the latter refused to take it.

"I don't get it. How useful a flashbang can be now? It's not like we need riot control or conduct hostage rescue missions," she said.

The last piece of loot made Lyra happy, however. One of the bodies had two fully charged microfusion cells.

"Yay!" she said. "Finally, some serious firepower in case things go south."

The remaining ammunition for non-energy weapons was split equally between each other. Lyra and Sunset stripped the R91's in order to fix their own guns.

"What is that?" Twilight showed them the remains of something that resembled a cylindric block.

"No idea," Sunset shook her head.

"Let me see," Lyra took the object. Seconds later, she declared, "It's the remains of a bomb."

"A bomb?"

"Yes, and a very powerful bomb, too. Where did you find this cylinder?"

"Right there, near the debris," Twilight showed the direction. Sunset went over there.

"You think someone might have mounted this bomb on a ceiling?" she asked.

"That's possible," the green-skinned girl replied. "Although I don't think it was one bomb. There were several, I suppose."

"Hey, I found something else," Sunset came back to them. In her hand, there was a small rectangular object.

"Magneto-optic data disc? Give me. Maybe it had something useful," Lyra inserted the disc into a slot on her Pip-Boy. "Hmm, it's an audio recording. Let's play it."

Once she hit the play button, they all heard a male voice speak:

"I am heavily bleeding... I don't think I'll make it... no one else did... but at least we collapsed the ceiling. If you are listening to this... don't go to southern parts of the city. White Knives... base there... ways blocked by super mutants... won't use that way... and won't use the tunnel now. Another tunnel... full of feral ghouls, and no power there. Turn back. Turn... back..."

After that, a soft click signified the end of the message.

"They... if this message is to be believed, they collapsed the tunnel so that White Knives don't go through here..." Twilight almost whispered.

"Mm-hmm," Lyra replied.

"And since this way is a no-go, we have to take the other tunnel... with no lights, and feral ghouls, and maybe White Knives..."

"Mm-hmm."

"And it's the longer way, too."

"Mm-hmm. Well, it's not like we have a choice. There're no other stations nearby except the one we used to enter, so we'll have to go there," the green-skinned girl checked whether her assault rifle was loaded, and went first.

"Buck my flank," Twilight grumbled, angrily. She could have sworn that she heard Sunset snort with laughter, but the fiery-haired girl emitted coughing sounds immediately after that. The equine Princess still did not believe that her compatriot did not find her swearing amusing.

"This reminds me of cheap horror movies," Sunset grumbled.

All girls have been going through the dark tunnel for fifteen minutes already. Spike was moving slightly ahead of them, benefitting from being able to see better in the dark. Twilight had instructed him to run back immediately if he smelled or saw any enemies ahead. This arrangement would help the girls to prepare themselves for a fight before the enemy would detect the light coming from their Pip-Boys.

So far, they had not seen any enemies. However, their nerves were still strained, and not only because of possible dangers that they could stumble upon.

The tunnel which they did not want to take (but were forced to) was not only dark due to the total absence of electricity, but it also had very little space for maneuvers. The rail cars of underground trains were standing or lying in various places and positions, no longer standing on rails, either alone or connected to others.

This proved to be very frustrating for the group. Haphazardly threwn everywhere, rail cars turned into obstacles which had to be either bypassed or climbed over. Due to the fact that Twilight and Sunset carried more cargo than Lyra, they were the most displeased ones whenever this development took place. Lyra herself hated climbing over the obstacles, but prefered to keep silence while Sunset was inadvertently teaching Twilight obscene human language.

On several occasions, when the cars were blocking the way very thoroughly, the girls climbed inside them in order to pass through. The thing is, walking inside a totally dark rail car which is lying on its left or right side with light not going further than a meter ahead is never a fun experience, and everyone (Spike excluded) bumped their heads against something at least once. On these occasions, even Lyra's mouth filter slipped and she used some expressions that made even Sunset blush (not that it was clearly visible).

All this was not helped by the fact that the tunnel was forcing the feelings of claustrophobia on them. It being dark and gloomy only exacerbated the negative feelings... and also served as a prompt for Sunset's remark.

"It certainly does," Lyra responded. "Who wants to bet that we'll meet a crazy animatronic possessed by a soul of a murdered child who will stuff you into a suit resembling an iron maiden?"

"I said movies, Lyra, not games. How about finding a gremlin who replicates itself by having water poured on him here?"

"Lame, Sunset. How about an alien monster that jumps onto your face and implants an egg into you which will gestate into a xenomorph that bursts out of your chest?"

"You two are not helping," Twilight growled, pissed off due to extra pressure that the discussion was putting on her nerve cells. "Cut that horse manure out, will you?"

"Chill out, Princess," Lyra replied. "Discussions like this will keep you on edge, which we need now."

"Hmpf," Twilight harrumphed. "I still think we could do without your surrealistic horror imaginations."

"Sunset, where did you dig out this fossil who doesn't even remember the classics?"

"Amnesia. You forgot about that," the fiery-haired girl replied.

"I did not, in fact, that's a good game..."

"I mean Twilight's amnesia."

"Oh, sorry."

"Now why do I not believe that," Twilight muttered sarcastically, but she did it very quietly, so neither Sunset nor Lyra heard her.

Unexpectedly, they saw Spike running back. He immediately ran up to his almost-mother, who scooped him up and put him back into her rucksack.

"Weapons at the ready, and look at your IFF," Lyra ordered immediately.

No sooner had she said that than a previously unseen monster with a truly hideous look appeared in front of them.

"Holy guacamole, what is that?!" Twilight screamed as she saw the twisted creature. Its appearance was somewhat similar to human, and it was as tall as the girls, but it did not have any legs and used hands as the means of movement instead of legs. The creature's human-like torso had nothing but head attached to it, and from it's mouth, three long appendages resembling tongues were protruding.

In short, it was the most disgusting creature she had ever seen; even Smooze looked more appealing than that thing.

"Don't know, don't care! Kill it!" Sunset replied, discharging her combat shotgun into the monster. It responded by flinging all its tongues at the girl, but she managed to evade them. "God damn it, Twilight, shoot it!"

"Sorry!" Twilight replied, whipping out her SMG and unleashing a stream of bullets at the enemy.

Pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat!

The creature stumbled a little bit under the lead storm, but did not fall. Stepping forward, it lashed out with its tongues, hitting Twilight's legs. The force of impact made the girl's knees and sent her to the ground. Twilight's SMG flew away as she released it while her hand flailed in the air.

BOOM! BOOM! Sunset's shotgun left two gaping wounds in the creature's torso. Meanwhile, Lyra grabbed Twilight from behind and tried to pull the girl away from the monster while firing her laser pistol at the monster.

Bzoot! Bzoot! Bzoot! the high-tech weapon spoke. Red beams were leaving burns in the twisted monstrosity in front of them, but the creature was very resilient.

It turned to Lyra and spat something at her. At nearly point-blank distance, the creature could not miss, and a strange green glob splattered against Lyra's armour vest.

Crack-click-crack-click - her Pip-Boy immediately started emitting the sounds that invariably spoke "radiation here, turn back if you are not suicidal" - but the source of radiation was the creature's spit, and the green-skinned girl could not get away from it, since it was on her.

"Aaargh! Argh! Argh!" her voice became high-pitched. "Fuck! Damn it! Fucking bastard irradiated me!"

Meanwhile, the monster lashed at Sunset again, and this time she was unable to evade. Tumbling to the ground, she pulled the trigger, making her shot go wide into the dark. Fortunately, her shotgun did not face her comrades.

Twilight was desperately searching for another weapon on her, when her fingers brushed against a recent acquisition - .44 magnum revolver, a trophy she had recovered after the skirmish with five White Knives.

Taking it out, she aimed it at the monster's head and pulled the trigger (noticing in the meantime that the trigger was giving way harder on this weapon).

BANG!

The weapon was loud; Twilight's ears started ringing from the sonic assault.

The high-caliber bullet hit the top of the creature's head, splitting its skull and taking a part of it away... and the creature turned to the lavender-skinned girl.

Just how resilient this monster is that it survives a split skulls and a part of its brain blown away?! This should not be possible!

Twilight pulled the trigger again.

BANG!

Another .44 magnum bullet went into the creature's face - and this time, the whole head came apart.

The headless body fell on its side.

And then, strong hands went under Twilight's underarms and tried to lift her up. Startled, the girl tried to resist.

"Hush, you, it's me," the voice of Sunset Shimmer calmed her down. "You fine?"

"Not really. It hit me in places not covered by my armour, but I don't think it pierced my skin. You?"

"Bruised my butt falling down. Celestia damn it, can that monster hit. It hit my armour only, and I fell down. Lyra? You fine?"

"Aside from being covered in saliva and having accumulated one hundred and ten rads?" Twilight turned around to see the green-haired girl looking very pissed off. "I'm fine. Word of advice - avoid its spits. I was hit and accumulated seventy-five rads in fifteen seconds."

"Thanks for the advice..."

"Woof-woof-woof!"

"What is it, Spike - oh ponyfeathers!" Twilight cussed as she turned around.

Her IFF showed two red marks - and her eyes registered two super mutants approaching too closely for comfort to them.

"You die now!" one of them shouted.

"Fuck me sideways!" Lyra swore, taking her laser rifle and taking steps back. "Eat fire, bastards!"

BZ-DAM! BZ-DAM! BZ-DAM!

Twilight immediately grabbed her AP-79 and, standing on one knee, immediately discharged it. Sunset's shotgun joined the chorus of firearms.

BA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA! BOOM! BOOM!

Bullets, case-shots and laser beams hit the closest super mutant; however, it shrugged off the assault, despite numerous wounds on its torso, and fired at the girls, joined by the second one.

Unfortunately, there was little to no cover available in the section where the girls had to fight. As they fired, all girls turned their backs and sprinted away, keeping their heads low.

Twilight managed to dive behind a small pile of debris which was quite low; in order to cover herself from bullets, she had to lie down.

Lyra hid herself behind a rail car; while it could hide her from sight, it did not serve as adequate cover against bullets. The green-skinned girl had to duck down as 5.56mm ammo tore through the metal like it was butter.

Sunset was the unluckiest one. She was in the middle relative to tunnel's walls, where no cover was available. She tried to sprint to cover while the monsters were distracted with Twilight and Lyra, and then zigzag around, but she was unable to get to adequate cover. Two monsters fired short bursts into her back.

Several bullets hit her in the back, where the armor stopped them, making her tumble and fall. Sensing weakness, one of super mutants fired another burst at Sunset, and this time, all bullets hit their target.

The armour plate on the girl's right leg did not withstand the onslaught, and four bullets entered her limb, tearing chunks of her flesh and splattering blood around.

Screaming from sudden pain, the former student of Princess Celestia fell down.

"SUNSET!" Twilight screamed, seeing her friend gunned down by hulking mutants.

BZ-DAM!

"Wha? You ruined my gun? Bitch!" one of the super mutants screamed at Lyra as his assault rifle's barrel was melted down by high-temperature laser beam.

Twilight's brain, however, registered this event only somewhere on the periphery as her eyes continued to gaze upon the prone form of Sunset Shimmer.

Unmoving. And even in the tunnel's darkness, barely lit by Pip-Boys, she could see that a pool of blood was expanding around the torn leg.

Four bullets, serious bleeding, perhaps chunks of armour in the wounds. Possible pain shock. Can't see if arteries are damaged. If they are, death from exsanguination highly likely.

One word stood above others. Death.

Twilight Sparkle was no stranger to the threat of death. She, as well as her pony friends back in Equestria, had had to endure the risk of potential loss of their lives on several occasion, confrontation with Tirek being the most notable.

Twilight did not tell this to anyone, but she genuinely believed that the centaur would kill her and her friends if he so desired.

However, she had never seen one of her friends taken down so violently.

Inside her, several voices were screaming. One from shock, another in fear.

And the third one was booming over them. With pure unadulterated fury.

Kill them.

Twilight turned around. Two green-skinned monsters were firing at Lyra. Several steps, and they would outflank her. After that, she would be easy prey...

Don't be the prey. Be the predator. Kill them.

Predator? But we are not predators by nature...

They hurt your friend. They want to kill you, all of you. Kill them!

Just like that?

Just like that. Kill them!

But...

You will die if you don't act!

Act. I must act.

Twilight changed her stance, readying her AP-79. The butt was firmly secured against her shoulder.

Kill them!

Iron sights fixed on the closest mutant's head...

Kill them!!!

Index finger pausing on the trigger...

KILL THEM!!!

Pull.

TODC assault rifle started spewing bullets. The finger did not relax as the rifle was kicking back against Twilight's shoulder, but she paid it no heed.

KILL! KILL!

The mutants head came apart under the onslaught of bullets...

KILL!

The remaining mutant turned and sprinted towards her as she trained her assault rifle on him...

KILL!!!

BZ-DAM!

...a laser beam hit the monster's head, igniting it and turning it into ashes, some of them landing on Twilight's face and front.

The bloodthirsty voice in her head calmed down, satisfied. But another one appeared.

What am I turning into?!

Later. Help Sunset! someone else snapped at her.

Oh ponyfeathers! I almost forgot!

"Sunset!" Twilight screamed, sprinting towards her friend. Lyra was hot on her heels, and in a second, both girls kneeled beside their comrade.

Sunset was unconscious, and the pool of blood near her was already of decent size. Even in Pip-Boy's faint light one could see that the girl's face was pale.

Twilight's hands were automatically rummaging in her rucksack (when did I take it off?), taking out the bandages and medicines.

"That girl is the luckiest lass in the Wastelands. No artery damage, no vein damage," Lyra commented. "But the leg is most likely crippled now. Give me another pack of bandages, we must stop the bleeding now."

Two girls disinfected the wounds extremely quickly, putting on the bandages and stopping the blood flow. Twilight took out a syringe of RegenStim, but Lyra intercepted the lavender-coloured hand and shook her head.

"RegenStim is useless when a limb is crippled. We need better stuff than that."

"But where shall we find it?"

"The field doctors in UFE army always carried bags with advanced medicines designed to quickly restore crippled limbs into working condition. These bags have "AMFAK-10" written on them. if we find one, it will help us a lot," the green-and-white-haired girl replied, injecting Med-X into the hurt leg. "To prevent pain shock once she comes around," she explained in response to Twilight's silent question.

Once all first aid procedures were finished, Lyra picked unconscious Sunset up, putting the fiery-haired girl on her shoulders.

"I'm afraid you'll have to be our main defensive force now," she said. "I can't attack properly while carrying her, and I don't think you will be able to carry her with all the arsenal you have."

"No problem," Twilight said, her voice turning dark. "Anything tries to attack us, it dies."

That's how you do it now? her consciousness gnawed at her. Dies?

They hurt my friend, an angry voice of her own snapped. We didn't do anything to them, and yet they attacked us first; they wanted us dead.

And you'll spill more blood to keep all of you safe?

They hurt Sunset. She's possibly the only friend I have remaining here. They. Hurt. My. Friend!

With a newfound determination, Twilight moved forward, putting Spike on the ground and clutching her assault rifle hard, eyes staring menacingly into distance...

I won't let this happen again!

Later, Twilight couldn't really explain herself how she was able to move on like that.

One needs to remember a couple of things. Firstly, the evening was coming to its end, giving way to night. Both Twilight and Sunset were on their legs for the whole day, and the lavender-skinned girl was already feeling tiredness crawling into her muscles before the unlucky skirmish with some long-tongued monster and two super mutants. Lyra was in no better condition, having been forced to spend a lot of strength on during her misadventures, and she was tasked with carrying unconscious Sunset.

And secondly, Twilight had been wounded several times during this day. Two wounds on her right hand were almost fine thanks to RegenStim, but her right shoulder was on pain again once Med-X had run its course, and using her right hand was painful (less painful than when she was bleeding, but it could be debilitating enough to screw with her aim).

As such, plowing through dark tunnels like a storm should have been outside the realm of possibility.

And yet, the quartet moved on and on, determined to reach safety and, hopefully, find a rare AMFAK-10.

Twilight was clutching her AP-79, eyes peeling into darkness and darting to IFF screen from time to time, ready to discover any potential threat. The tiredness in her muscles, the pain in her wounded right shoulder and stinging right hand - all of this existed, but was somehow pushed into the backyard of her consciousness.

They have been carrying Sunset for thirty-five minutes already.

They have stumbled upon a few groups of feral ghouls, which quickly fell prey to 5.56mm rounds. When Twilight and Lyra had looted the super mutants that had wounded Sunset, they found an abundance of assault rifle ammo; since Lyra was carrying the fiery-haired girl, Twilight took the whole stock. As such, the latter was quite liberal with bullets.

Twice they have encountered the same beasts like the one they had fought before Sunset was wounded. During these skirmishes, Lyra put the unconscious girl on the ground and assisted with her laser pistol.

They also have encountered a lone super mutant once. Fortunately, this one was armed only with a block of wood with nails. When he tried to charge the girls, Twilight and Lyra spared no ammunition in bringing it down (the green-skinned girl actually used her laser rifle on that occasion). The monster fell in front of them before it reached them, his corpse covered in blood, bullet entrances and laser burns. (Also, he had some frag grenades on him, which the girls split equally.)

Spike has been a great helper. Whenever a threat was ahead, he quickly and quietly ran back, so the girls were ready for engagement before the enemy was in vision field. A couple of times, Lyra even shot blindly with her laser pistol, relying solely on her Pip-Boy's IFF. This trick helped them with feral ghoul packs.

All this time, the Princess of Friendship remained wound up like a clock, concentrated fully only on one purpose - save Sunset.

Finally, they have passed the dark section of the tunnel; they still haven't exited the underground yet, but they could actually see without the help of their Pip-Boys. As such, they had turned off the lighting, and took turns carrying the unconscious fiery-haired girl.

Twilight had relaxed a bit, still ready to annihilate any threat but believing that the worst has already passed.

On that day, she learned to try and not think like that, so as not to jinx the situation...

"Hey, you! You can't walk here!"

Oh ponyfeathers, Twilight thought. Sweet Celestia, please don't let it become a problem.

She and Lyra (who carried Sunset at that time) were about to reach the final point they so desperately desired when a group of five ragtag men who blocked their way immediately.

"What do you mean, we can't walk here?" she asked.

"Are you dumb or deaf? I said, you can't go through here!" the apparent ringleader repeated his statement.

"That part we understood, thank you very much," Lyra replied sarcastically. "Now who the fuck are you to tell us where we can and cannot go?"

"We live here, lass, and we don't let anyone pass!"

"Look," Twilight tried to appeal to him, "we have a wounded friend, and we need to heal her. But the needed medicines are hidden in another place, and we need to get through this tunnel to get them!"

"I don't care, lass. Turn the fuck back and don't turn around."

"How about caps, then? How many of them do you want?"

"None, bitch! Leave or we'll make you leave!"

"First, don't call my friend here a bitch," Lyra growled, putting Sunset on the ground and taking her R91, "and second, you and what army? In case you hadn't noticed, we have armour and assault rifles, while you only wear pre-war clothes and your best weapon here is a hunting rifle. You let us pass peacefully, we go as fast as possible and hurt no one, everyone's happy."

"Uh, guys?" one of the men found his voice. "These two mean business; maybe we'll just let them pass?"

"Don't be a pussy," the ringleader snarled at him. "You think they can fight just 'cause they got guns and killed a bunch of feral ghouls? And you," he turned to the girls, "take your corpse or whatever her state is and scram outta here."

"That's it?!" Twilight exclaimed, enraged, her AP-79 turning into the direction of the men in front of her. "Not only you do not want to help our friend, but you don't even want to let us help her?!"

"Don't get all high and mighty on me, you little whore!" the ringleader screamed into her face. "Get outta here! That's your final warning!"

A bomb of fury, fueled by worrying for her still unconscious friend, went off in Twilight's head at these words. How dares he? How dares he?! That good-for-nothing pile of horse shit! Celestia is my witness, he'll let me pass or else!

"No!" Twilight screamed back. "Either let me pass or I'll make you let us pass!"

Threats? her consciousness rose its head. That's how we deal with others now?

These humans don't have the most basic shred of decency, her fury argued. They only respect strength, and by the Moon I'll show them strehgth!

"Fuck you!" the ringleader went for his .44 magnum revolver in the holster, most likely trying to utilize his quick draw skills.

He's attacking!

Before Twilight formed any conscious thought, her AP-79 already spat five bullets into the ringleader's chest, piercing his heart and delivering instant death.

Others (except for the more wise one who was called a pussy) started going for their weapons, too.

Bastards! They want to kill us, just because their ringleader is a bucking idiot! They will die!

Her assault rifle was joined by Lyra's R91. None of the three now-hostile men managed to fire a single shot. The remaining one tried to turn back and run, shouting "No! No! Don't kill me!", but Twilight turned her AP-79 in his direction.

He's just like them, just more cowardly! her rage screamed. No mercy! Kill him! Kill him!!!

BA-TA-TA-TA-TA!

Five 5.56 mm rounds went into his back, piercing his aorta and shattering his spine. Even if he were to survive the latter, there was no way to survive the former. The last man of the five fell down as a puppet with cut strings.

Twilight's breathing became erratic, as if she was running a marathon and just stopped for a rest.

Her brain struggled to come up with a coherent thought. She just realized that she had shot a non-hostile person, who did nothing to her; who was the smarter one.

However, she was unable to ponder much on the issue. Nine more men ran out, sporting pistols, SMGs and huntng rifles, all determined to punish the intruders for their aggression.

"Kill the bitches!" one of them shouted.

"Cover me!" Lyra screamed, trying to drag Sunset behind a pile of stones near the wall while using only one hand. Meanwhile, Twilight fired a long burst of bullets while dashing to the train car which stood abandoned on the rails, trying mostly to halt the attackers in their advance than kill someone, but due to the fact that the attackers were all forming a single line, not hitting someone was impossible.

By the time she ran out of ammo and hid herself, three men were already clutching their wounds, and one of them dropped dead.

"Eat this!" she heard Lyra shout while she was reloading the rifle. Once she moved the bolt, she heard a panicked scream and a BOOM sound. When she stuck out from cover, she noticed that four more people were killed, lacerated by shrapnel, and two were out of fight from their wounds. A bra-ta-ta-tat, a scream, and another man fell victim to Lyra's shooting skills.

"How do you like them apples?" the green-skinned girl shouted mockingly, releasing another burst. Twilight aimed at the closest enemy and fired, dropping him in an instant.

The remaining attackers tried to shower them with bullets, but their aim was pretty bad, and their weapons were not automatic. As such, their "suppressive fire" did not have much of a desired effect. Twilight hid, crouched, then fired again. Another enemy fell, and the last one was vaporized by a well-placed shot from Lyra's laser pistol.

In a course of one minute, all attackers were dead.

And then, the equine Princess realized what she had just done.

Oh no. I just killed these people just because they refused to let us through. In my bid to help my friend, I have stained my hands (hooves, whatever) with their blood.

And that poor man who tried to run? He did not even try to take his gun, and yet I shot him in the back. Oh Celestia, what am I becoming?!

Twilight' breathing became erratic once again. The rage was washed down along with adrenaline, and the feelings of guilt and shame started flooding her. The legs gave out, and she fell to her knees; the familiar sting of tears could be felt in her eyes.

"Hey! Hey, hey, Twilight! You fine?" Lyra's face appeared in her vision, full of genuine concern.

"No... I'm not..."

"Wounds? Are you in pain?"

"No... it's just..." unable to form a coherent thought, Twilight shakingly pointed her finger towards the dead men.

"Them? Well yeah, that could have gone better. Then again, someone who is idiotic enough to give grief to alraedy-strained persons is simply begging for a bullet," Lyra replied, helping Twilight stand and giving her back the assault rifle she had dropped. The latter looked at the primary weapon of TODC soldiers as if it were slime.

"You aren't bothered?"

"I do wish we didn't have to kill them. Then again, that obnoxious person went for his gun. What was he going to do? Intimidate? Or shoot to kill? I can't blame you for the trigger-finger reaction. And after that, well... diplomacy didn't work, so guns spoke. It's not unusual for the Wastelands."

The lavender-skinned girl remained silent, still not at peace with herself. The subsiding rage also made her feel all the tiredness and pain return with a vengeance.

She only wanted to help Sunset now, and drop down, come what may.

"Look," Lyra said, "how about you carry Sunset while I move forward? We have almost arrived. I'll open the coded doors and then we'll help her."

"OK," Twilight replied monotonously. Once Lyra helped her to carry the fiery-haired girl comfortably enough, they moved forward.

Suddenly, she felt stirring.

Oh no. Sunset, please, don't see that carnage, don't see that...

Sunset Shimmer was not feeling well.

Her right leg felt as if it was put through a grinder, then frozen for some reason and reattached.

She realized that she had been pumped with Med-X, and now the cocktail of morphine and regenerative medicines was preventing pain shock.

She also realized that...

What is Twilight's butt doing in my vision field?

While she did see the aforementioned part of Twilight's body, she has never seen it from this perspective.

Once she raised her head...

What in Luna's name? Twilight's legs walk on the ceiling? Did the world turn upside down? What the hay?

"Uhhh..." she tried to speak, but her attempt quickly turned into a moan.

"Oh, Sunset!" She heard Twilight's voice somewhere behind and below. "You're awake!"

Did I get dumped into Discord's Chaosville or something?

"Yep," she replied. "Is it me or we're on the ceiling?"

"Ceiling?" Lyra's here, too. "Did you hit your head?"

"Er... no? But why..."

"Sunset, what's the gravity vector in this world?" she heard Twilight speak again.

"Down, I think. But..."

And then it hit her that she was not actually looking upwards.

"Oh... am I flung over your shoulder, Twilight?"

"Yes."

"Was I unconscious?"

"Yes."

"Am I on Med-X?"

"Yes."

"Is your hand touching my butt?"

"Yes - whoa, what?" Twilight sputtered, embarrassed.

"Never mind, you already answered."

"Sorry, but if I move my hand, I'll drop you..."

"No problem, Twilight," Sunset said, "just tell me, are we there yet?"

"Almost."

"All right," Lyra spoke, "I opened it! Get in!"

"Finally," Twilight breathed out. Something in her tone made Sunset pause.

She doesn't just sound... exhausted, but there's something else...

"Where do I put her?"

"On this cot. Wait, I'll help..."

Sunset felt another pair of hands grab her, and then she was lowered onto her back on a relatively soft cot. She groaned, feeling pain in her right leg coarse through her despite Med-X.

"OK, let me see, there's supposed to be something... Oh look! We are in luck! A bag of AMFAK-10!"

"How do we use it?"

"Come here, I'll need your help..."

Fifteen minutes later, Sunset felt a lot better as the advanced military medical science helped restore her leg into a working order.

"Thank you... thank you both," she looked into Twilight's and Lyra's eyes. "If you didn't carry me, I would have been a goner for sure."

"Unacceptable," Twilight replied, steel ringing in her voice. "I'm not about to lose you."

"And you're welcome," Lyra smiled. "I have locked the door. You rest now and don't move you leg much, and we need to sleep, too. Spike will guard us." The purple dog barked in agreement.

"OK," Sunset replied. The other girls went to other cots and almost collapsed onto them.

The fiery-haired girl closed her eyes, wishing for some real rest.

It sure is very good to have good friends in this world. And to think I had laughed at Princess Celestia's lessons of socializing. Holy nightmares, the old me was not only a despicable person, but an idiot, too...

Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

You Do Not Hurt My Friends! Whenever your friend's HP falls below 50% and/or their limb is crippled, you gain +10% Damage bonus and +25% Critical Damage bonus.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Hardened (Rank 1): You gain additional 50 Health Points with each rank of this Perk.

Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

AMFAK-10

While RegenStim has proven to be a great medicine for healing wounds, there are cases in the battlefield where even this remedy is useless. Aside from obvious fatal wounds, RegenStim can't help when a limb is crippled or the torso has received significant damage. While it can speed up the regeneration, the wounded person would still need extended medical care.

Military R&D division has been searching for a way around this issue for a long amount of time. Ideally, it wanted a set of medicines that could be carried by field medics into combat and applied to crippled body parts when necessary. The research was called Advanced Military First Aid Kit Project, or AMFAK for short.

After a period of testing, the tenth version of such first aid kit was approved for use and dubbed AMFAK-10. The bag contains heavy painkillers, tissue regenerating medicines, tourniquets, surgeon tools, bone fixers, blood generation stimulants and other things a medic needs to restore a crippled limb (or several). Whenever a limb is crippled, a person needs to follow the instructions found inside the bag to help themselves or others. It is still recommended to let the medicines run their course, but in emergency situations, one can return immediately into combat as if their limb(s) had never been crippled.

Unlike RegenStim, AMFAK-10 was not intended for distribution among civilians, and is harder to find (and more expensive as a result). The only places where one can hope to find this item are military bases, outposts and hospitals not destroyed during the Day of Burning, as well as some hubs and bases of Directorate of Intelligence. Sometimes AMFAK-10 can be found in smugglers' hideouts as well, since it was a popular contraband item.

Item effect: Restores all crippled limbs.
Weight: 0.5 kg
Cost: 200 caps (average)

Author's Note

Another chapter done!

Phew.

And only 12 days left until the premiere of Friendship Games. I cannot guarantee that I'll be able to squeeze Chapter 10 out before that if it turns out to be another 10k-monster, but I'll try my best, because there's something special planned after the next chapter...

Challenge: the fragment where Sunset regains consciousness is based on a novelization. Guess: which one?

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Stay tuned, and leave your opinion in the comment box belo-o-o-o-ow