Chapter 14

Hands covered in Crimson

As the door to the bunker of Brotherhood of Steel closed behind them, Sunset muttered:

"Whelp. That's one fine task we've gotten ourselves into."

"Would you rather force Applejack to break her promise or risk conflict with the Brotherhood?" Twilight asked.

"No. Although I do think they need to be knocked down a peg or two. And honestly? When that creep fondled my breasts, I wanted to introduce my shotgun to his testicles."

"You wanted to hit him with your shotgun?"

"No, I wanted to shoot his balls off."

"Ewww! That's... too cruel, Sunset."

"I don't like the idea of some sex-starved creep fondling my erogenous zones. It's... practically violating."

"So I shouldn't allow anyone to, err... touch my breasts, too?"

"Or your butt. But yeah, you really shouldn't. And if someone does, remind them that testicles are really a painful spot to hit."

"What if a female tries to do that? They don't have testicles."

"There aren't really that many of those... but on the off chance you do meet one, feel free to threaten bodily harm."

"Does this need to invoke threats of bodily harm?"

"Typically, it's the only language people like these can understand."

"As Rarity would have said: gah."

"Gah indeed."

The uncomfortable topic of molestation and appropriate violent responses to it was wisely considered exhausted by both girls, and they continued their way in silence.

"I really don't like some of them Paladins, though," Spike spoke up from the rucksack. "Anyone else thinks that they are very arrogant?"

"Not all of them, Spike. Ion Titanium seemed nice enough," Twilight replied.

"That he did, but some of them are real jerks. Take Star Paladin Rampart, for instance."

"Urrrgh," Sunset growled, "don't remind me of him."

"He just gives these... bad vibes, I think," the dragon continued.

"And Elder Aegis?"

"I don't know. He smells nice, but he's also not friendly. Perhaps he simply is slow to trust?"

"Who knows, Spike," Twilight spoke again. "I hope you are right in this case. If the whole Brotherhood (or overwhelming majority) is like Rampart, dealing with them is going to be... vexing."

"Understatement of a century," Sunset muttered, but she was still heard by her companions.

"I liked how Twilight glared at that guy who was searching for... something on her, though," Spike continued.

"You did?" the fiery-haired girl turned to her compatriot.

"I assumed that since you snarled at that guy, I should not let mine do the same. So once he looked at me, I gave him a glare."

"I assume that worked. Lucky you."

"Hey, don't think about that insensitive ruffian, Sunset."

"Fine, I'll try."

The trio went on their way, oblivious of being watched by someone.

Someone who bore ill will...

A figure was lying in the shadow of a tree, carefully observing the surroundings.

As soon as something caught the eye, the human looked into the optical sight of a sniper rifle. The hands carefully adjusted magnification and focus, and soon, an eye was pressed against the rubber protection.

After several movements, a head with fiery-red and yellow hair was in the crosshairs.

Moving the rifle a bit, the human studied the armour and armaments that the detected person wore, and then shifted to another person.

The reticle fixed itself on sapphire blue, almost violet hair with bright violet and pink streaks.

The unknown human frowned, and then hit something on their left forearm.

Suddenly, the light shifted, and then the figure became... invisible.

Nothing indicated the presence of an unknown watcher near the tree.

Both girls and Spike made their way through one of the empty villages which could be found not far from Appletown when Twilight felt that she should admit her... misdeeds done in Hoofington underground tunnels.

"Sunset?"

"Yes?"

"I... need to admit something to you."

"Oh Celestia. You aren't a changeling, are you?"

"What? No, changelings have nothing to do with this!" Twilight facepalmed, and Sunset snickered quietly, covering her mouth with one hand.

"OK, joking aside, what did you really want to admit?"

"Remember these underground tunnels near Hoofington, when you were rendered unconscious and me and Lyra had to go on?"

"Yes."

"I... had done a very bad thing there."

"What exactly?"

"Well... we were close to that hideout that Lyra had pointed out, when we encountered some men on our way. They blocked the path, and we had tried to negotiate for a pass. Or rather, I did. But... we weren't successful. I tried everything I could think of," Twilight felt tears gathering in her eyes, "offering caps, leaning on the conscience, but nothing worked, and I became furious, very furious, because you were in danger and here they stopped me from doing the right thing..."

"Oh, Twilight," Sunset hugged her friend's shoulders, understanding the emotional turmoil that raged within the lavender-skinned girl.

"...and then one of them went for his gun, and I shot him, I shot him first, and everything went to Tartarus from there, because others went for their weapons, and me and Lyra started shooting everyone else. One of them tried to run, but I didn't let him - I shot him in the back, like a coward," at this moment, Twilight hung her head ashamedly, "and then I realized what I had just done, but then there were others runnig and shooting at us, so we fought with them, too, and... and killed everyone..." finally, she gave in, and tears flowed downwards on her face. She turned away from Sunset, drowning herself in misery and shame.

Suddenly, she found herself turned around forcibly, and then engulfed in a bear-like hug.

"Oof," she breathed out from surprise.

"Were you worried I would get angry with you for what you've done?"

"Yes..."

"I am not angry."

"But how can you not be? These were not even raiders or bandits, or they didn't seem so, at least. They were common people who tried to survive in Wastelands just like us, and yet... and yet I killed them just because they stood in my way..."

"Twilight, answer me something. Was there any bypass in that tunnel?"

"Er... not that I'm aware of. Lyra certainly didn't look like she knew of one."

"Then I can't get angry with you. You saved my life. I do admit that the cost was... too high, but you had exhausted all your options. I am sure that had that guy not pulled his weapon, you might have found a peaceful solution."

"And the fact that I shot him once he went for his gun?"

"It was reflexes, Twilight, and sometimes they are the only thing that can save you. When it comes to this, milliseconds may decide your survival or death, and you sought to defend yourself, me and Lyra. Who knows whether he would have shot you or just pointed his gun at you?"

Still not convinced, the Princess of Friendship sniffed. Sunset put a small distance between themselves, so that they could look each other straight to the face, but did not break the hug.

"Twilight," turquoise eyes met violet ones, "I know that you consider this wrong, and it is wrong, but you are not to blame for it. It's the government and the worst parts of human nature that reared their ugly heads that forced you into this situation where you had to kill someone just not to die and not to fail your friend. But I, for one, am very grateful that you pulled my sorry flank out of the fire. For these last seven years, I had no one to look out for me, and I was certain that should something happen to me, I would have no one to rely on. But you saved me. I won't hate you for it," with these words, Sunset hugged Twilight tightly again. Her compatriot returned the hug, giving an unsure smile.

I am so lucky to have such a friend, even if I do not feel like I deserve to have friends at all after this, the lavender-skinned girl.

"Well, well, isn't this heart-touching," a mocking voice came out of nowhere; Twilight and Sunset jumped away from each other, guns in hands and trained at the newly-arrived man in his early thirties and in decently-looking armour who had just interrupted their friend-bonding moment while holding a modded AP-79, "but it's so sickeningly saccharine sweet, I've got diabetes just from seeing it."

"No insulin for you," Sunset snarked, scorned at the fact that a private moment between friends just got so rudely interrupted.

"How rude. But I guess I'm not the one to talk, given I haven't introduced myself," the man's face became deadly serious. "Foul Shot, Crimson Hand mercenary group."

"Why do I get the feeling that you are not alone here?" Twilight asked. Her gut churned around, inducing the feeling of something very, bery bad incoming.

"How perceptive of you," Foul Shot snapped his fingers, and both girls discovered to their horror that they were surrounded surrounded by more mercenaries who had hidden themselves in houses and now aimed at them from the windows or door entrances.

Oh shit! Sunset thought, and with good reason - with them being "on street" and mercenaries in cover, the Equestrians just got caught in the worst possible positions. Moreover, they most likely wouldn't even be able to deal good damage in return, and quickest ways to cover meant close quarters combat with mercenaries who outnumbered and outequipped them.

Nine mercs - four on sides and this smug git ahead. Great, Sunset thought. Twilight, in turn, felt that she was ready to curl into a teeny-tiny ball and cry, but decided against it.

Focus, a voice spoke. If he wants to gloat, there is a chance you can turn the situation into your favour.

She raised an eyebrow.

"I take it you are not here with friendly intentions. So who's the client?"

"Wha?"

"The client? You know, the one who hired you to dispose of us?"

"Curious one, aren't you? It's not really in our group's policy to reveal this, you know..."

"Oh come on, you got us into a perfect trap and even took time to introduce yourself and your companions. I hardly think several more seconds will have that great of an impact on our fate," Twilight frowned.

She didn't know that the words would be prophetic...

The watcher from before looked around the corner to see their previous targets of surveillance surrounded by mercenaries.

Even from afar, the mercenaries did not look friendly towards two young women.

The human frowned. Then, tapping the wrist once again and disappearing from sight, the mysterious stranger proceeded in the direction parallel to the girls and mercenaries, taking care so as not to be heard.

"Well, if you are that curious, I can indulge you," Foul Shot was walking from side to side without a care, knowing he was perfectly safe from any forms of retribution. "Our client is Curve Blade."

"The leader of the White Knives hired you?" Sunset spoke incredulously. "His goons are not good enough?"

"Pffft, think what you are talking about, Miss Shimmer. White Knives, while well-equipped, are still a bunch of undisciplined thugs, and Curve Blade realizes it. That's why when you two made such a ruckus along with Appletowners that he lost eighty-seven of his men, he bit his pride and agreed to pay us five thousand caps just to have you two taken out. You should feel proud of yourselves. It's not so often when someone agrees to pay that much just to have two young women killed."

"Oh we are proud of ourselves, make no mistake about it, but it would not make me or my friend here any less dead."

"Well, it might make it easier for you to go on knowing that you have managed to cause quite a ruckus. Feeling better?"

"Let me think..." the fiery-haired girl put her left hand to her chin, striking a thinker's pose, and exaggeratedly moved her eyes from right to left and vice verca while looking at the sky. "Hmm... nope. Not feeling better at all."

"Well, I hope that you have said your prayers, 'cause now it's time to die, Daring Duo," any pretense of cheerfulness was gone from Foul Shot's face, and in her peripheral vision, Sunset saw that the mercs prepared to fire. "It's been a pleasure... hey, what's that sound?"

A rapidly approaching vrooom of a car engine was unmistakable over generally-quiet village, and the sound was getting louder.

Suddenly a car swerved from behind one of the houses, and the machine gun immediately spat:

Dra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Foul Shot did not even have a chance to exclaim "This cannot be!" before powerful bullets pierced his armour, creating a mish-mash of his internal organs and blood vessels, which was, naturally, fatal.

Other mercenaries were shocked into stand-still, and as the gunner turned the machine gun turned to its left, the mercenaries there ducked into cover as one of them reacted too slowly and was torn by lead storm.

Twilight and Sunset turned away in sync and opened fire on the Crimson Hands who were hiding in the opposite house. Some of their bullets were stopped by armour, but both girls managed to hit one merc in a throat and one in the forehead, and other two disappeared inside the building, clearly frightened.

The brakes screeched as the car slowed down and stopped slightly behind them, and both Equestrians saw the familiar figures of Applejack (who was behind the steering wheel) and Big Macintosh (who continued to rain bullet storm of justice upon Crimson Hand mercs).

"Come on!" the farm girl bellowed.

Neither Twilight nor Sunset needed a special invitation, and jumped into the back section. As soon as they got in, Applejack put gas pedal to the metal, and the wheels screeched before the car moved, rising clouds of dust.

"Who were those guys?" Applejack asked the others as everyone returned to Appletown.

"They introduced themselves as Crimson Hand mercenaries," Sunset replied. "Nasty bunch, very mean-looking and quite well-equipped. They hid themselves so well, me and Twilight basically walked right into their trap."

"Well, Ah certainly ain't going to let them enter Appletown, that's for certain," the farm girl said sternly. "They go after you, they'll hafta go through us!"

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh supported his sister.

"Yeah, I just worry that they may come here in an attempt to find us," the fiery-haired girl said worriedly.

"Or try and assist the White Knives," Twilight added.

"They were paid to kill us, Twilight, not to attack Appletown."

"And if they decide that the best chance to kill us is to unite with Curve Blade's goons?"

"Eh... Celestia banish it to Tartarus, I really missed that possibility."

"Er," Big Macintosh spoke again, "what does our Principal have to do with this?"

"Sorry, pony habit. In Equestria, Celestia is a Princess, responsible for raising and lowering the sun, and she's almost always deified by ponies," Twilight explained.

"Ah, Ah see."

"Anyway," Applejack interrupted, "what's with the Brotherhood of Steel? What happened out there?"

"We underwent frisking and I got molested by a bastard who had too much testosterone for his own good," Sunset growled, getting irritated at the memory of undue treatment of women.

"Oh, hay, that's no way to treat a girl."

"Nope," the eldest Apple browser voiced his agreement.

"And what 'bout Twilight?"

"Once I expressed my extreme disapproval, Twilight gave the guy a glare of death, and he didn't molest her."

"All hail the Glare of Death!" Applejack joked, and everyone chuckled, even Sunset. "And what happened later?"

"We talked with Elder Aegis. He's not totally... unreasonable," Twilight took over the conversation, "but he still looks out for the Brotherhood first. Long story short, here is what we have come to, Applejack: he agreed to let Appletown have the water chip and they won't try to take it away. However, he did not relent on the topic of power armour. If you don't want to return it..."

"Ah still don't."

"...then he insists that we bring him at least four full sets of power armour in one month, or they will come in force to claim Silicon Stone's suit. He explains their "need" for such armour with the fact that he needs to supply his troops."

"Holy guacamole, that's one fine task. Ah mean, it's not like these suits are lying around."

"No, but one of their Paladins mentioned that a military base that lies nearby may have some. And if we do pull this off, Elder Aegis promised to have someone teach you how to properly wear Silicon Stone's armour."

"Mighty generous of them. Well, the game's worth the candles, Ah think. But what about that base? Is it guarded?"

"Most likely. Maybe we should ask Bon Bon about this?"

"Won't hurt to try..."

"A military base?!" Bon Bon almost spat out her Nuka-Cider. "Do they want to get you killed?"

"Who knows? Elder Aegis is not very forthcoming about his plans for us," Sunset replied.

"How hard would it be to accomplish this task?"

"Quite hard for someone with our current weaponry and protection tier. Even if the sensor net is down, there would still be warbots patrolling the base, provided it hasn't been touched yet."

"What kind of warbots?"

"Mr. Gutsies, which are the military versions of Mr. Handy helper robots, Protectrons, maybe Siege Breaker sentry bots. And don't get me started on advanced military robots. If even one of them is there, then, without heavy weapons, we are screwed. And I am willing to bet that the defenders would have laser or even plasma weapons. I take it there's no chance of avoiding a trip to that base?"

"Nope," Applejack replied.

"Well, before we go there, I strongly insist that we go find that DOI base first. We may encounter some defenses there, too, but I think we will overcome that. The only other problem is - how do we transport suits?"

"The car has been repaired," Big Macintosh said. "We can drive the car and transport the suits straight to that bunker."

"Then I suggest we move out tomorrow," Bon Bon spoke. "You agree?"

A chorus of "Yeah" followed.

"Nice. I don't think we'll need to take the car, since who knows what White Knives may try."

"You aren't worried about Crimson Hands?"

"Admittedly, they do present a problem, but I think we'll be able to avoid them. I suggest we get up very early, then, like 3 a. m. I don't think they'll expect any of us to act that early."

"Then we'd better hit the hay early," Applejack spoke. "Big Mac, you stay here in Appletown and help with defenses, OK?"

"OK, but what about heavier weapons? Bon Bon, is there a chance you may need one?"

"It could be needed," was the answer.

"Then you'll take mah LMG, sis."

"Wha? What about you?"

"We have the jeep, if it stays here, there's no need for me to hold onto that. And Ah know you can handle that stuff."

"Oh... OK then, big bro. Thanks."

"No problem. Alright, settle your needs, and go to sleep no later than 9 p. m."

"They came back."

"What?! I sent Foul Shot and eight others after them! How the fuck did they escape?"

"Applejack and that bulky brother of hers repaired the car. I think they wanted to surprise the Duo with a quick ride and stumbled across Foul Shot as he was bragging his ass off. Did anyone come back?"

"Haven't seen anyone yet. Tartarus damn it. Now what? Do they have any plans?"

"They said they wanted to try and go to the abandoned military base nearby."

"The one where some Mechanized Infantry battallion was stationed?"

"The 9th, I think, yeah."

"Are they going there immediately or do they plan to do something else?"

"I can't find out without blowing my cover."

"Try your best."

"I will. Over and out."

"Witching hour," Twilight whispered, as she, Sunset, Applejack and Bon Bon were creeping their way to the ruins of Hoofington.

"What?" the fiery-haired Equestrian whispered back.

"I just remembered Rainbow Dash saying this phrase in similar situation."

"Ours or yours?"

"What do you... oh, I mean the pony Rainbow Dash."

"Similar situation, you say."

"Yes. It was deep in the night, we were trying to figure out who was sucking apples dry in Applejack's orchard."

"Wasn't it vampire fruit bats who did such things?"

"I had enchanted them previously to make them not want to eat apples."

"Oh... that's a big feat. Did you find the culprit?"

"Thanks. And yes. It was... Fluttershy."

"Very funny, Twilight."

"No, I am serious. Dead serious."

"Oh come on! Why would she do this?"

"Well... an unknown side effect made her more like vampire fruit bats."

"Oh... oh. Spooky."

"Indeed."

"Y'all aren't helping matters, you know," Applejack interrupted.

"Sorry."

"Bon Bon, how far is it to that DOI base?"

"Four more kilometers," was the answer. "Hopefully, we can get there in an hour and avoid any super mutants or night hunters."

"What night hunters?"

"The animals that hunt at night. There is a reason people don't really like going out at nights, you know."

"Well, that's just fan-flippin'-tastic."

"Don't worry; with luck, we won't meet any of them."

"Now you are just temptin' fate to screw us all over."

Several dozen minutes later, Bon Bon raised her hand in a universal "stop" gesture.

"IFF detects hostiles," she warned, preparing her Buffalo SMG. "Be ready."

The clicks of safeties being flipped (where applicable) seemed to reverberate traitorously loudly across the area. Bon Bon ducked, and others followed suit.

The beige-skinned girl looked around, trying to determine just where they should expect a meeting with someone unpleasant, which was not really simple - the area they were traversing was rocky enough so that the hostiles could hide from their eyes. As far as she could tell, the enemy was somewhere behind one particularly large rock to the right, and was moving slightly, as the red mark was moving from left to right and vice versa. She waved her finger in the direction from where the target could appear, and everyone aimed there, when...

GRRR-ROOOAAAAR!

A large hulking mutated bear jumped from above right in their direction. With fight-or-flight instinct triggered, all girls scattered around, not allowing the monster hit anyone, although Applejack, with her mobility reduced a bit, barely avoided a hit of its front paw.

"Yao guai!" Sunset shouted, notes of fear tangible in her voice as her R91 was spewing Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat sounds and bullets. "Shoot it, shoot it!"

Bon Bon immediately opened fire at the monster, although it appeared that all the bullets did was to simply tickle him. As the yao guai attempted to swipe at Applejack again, Twilight opened fire with her AP-79. Most of her bullets dug into the creature's hide, some went wide and few embedded themselves in its left hind leg. Apparently, they hit some painful spots, as the creature flinched... and turned its attention to her.

Oh ponyfeathers!

She squeezed the trigger again, hoping to deal critical enough damage to the monster. One bullet hit the monster's left eye, making it roar in pain, and more tore into its face, but it still was charging.

As it swiped at the lavender-skinned girl with its right paw, she was trying to avoid it by turning to the right and moving away. As such, instead of a cutting strike, the paw hit her like a blunt hammer, making her stumble and sending her flying forward.

Letting go of her assault rifle, she landed hard onto her stomach, face first to the ground and a barely audible crack signifying that her nose was broken; moreover, several blood blots appeared in front of her. despite armour protection, she still felt as if something just hit her solar plexus, making her gasp for air. As she tried to crawl towards her weapon, some part of her realized that the chances of her succeeding were too close to zero.

GR-ROAR!

Horseapples! Not another one! Twilight thought. With memories of how difficult one yao guai was to kill for her and Sunset, she was not certain that outnumbering them two-to-one was a guaranteed victory.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

Sunset's assault rifle joined the fray. The stream of bullets went straight into the monster's face, making it howl, and as Twilight finally managed to recover her own AP-79 and fire at the monster from point-blank range, its skull finally cracked under the lead rain.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

Applejack's LMG joined the fray as she valiantly attempted to draw the attention of another yao guai towards her instead of Bon Bon, who was forced to play a lethal game of tag with it.

"Come here, ya varmint!" she shouted. Her wish got granted, as the monster charged her. Unluckily for it, Twilight and Sunset just finished reloading their assault rifles, and the creature buckled under heavy crossfire, falling down.

"Everybody OK?" the farm girl shouted.

"No," Twilight replied with a messed-up voice, "my nose is broken."

"Let me see," Bon Bon came up to the Equestrian and, after a few seconds, grabbed her nose and set it back with a crack. In her rucksack, she picked out a small plastic bag filled with some liquid and another bag sealed inside. Hitting it hard, she caused the internal bag to burst, releasing its contents, and gave it to Twilight.

"Hold it against your nose, that should stop the bleeding," she said.

"Oof! Thank you," Twilight said, following her advice.

"Come on, people. The base is still faraway, so let's just quickly cut ourselves some yao guai's meat and go on."

One hour and fifty minutes later...

"Here it is," Bon Bon spoke.

The quartet (quintet, if Spike is to be taken into account) was standing near a door that lead to a small cave located in a small mountain.

"Ya sure, Bon Bon?" Applejack asked, doubtful.

"Of course. I wouldn't come here if I didn't know about this place.

"This doesn't kinda look... secure enough."

"Well, first and foremost, this cave has a bad reputation. In this cave, there is a complex system of grottos deeper underground, and allegedly, several speleologists went missing in there, and were never heard from again, so the local folk didn't like going there. And even if they did stumble across the mini-Vault, they wouldn't find anything unusual or different from a normal civilian-class Vault. So no one really bothered in making reinforced steel doors and stuff. Hiding in plain sight and all that jazz."

"Do we have to go through the grottos?" Twilight asked nervously.

"Not too deep. We'll have to pass one, and there is a barely noticeable passage in the second grotto, and we'll be able to get to the DOI base very soon."

"Any automated defenses we must worry about?" Sunset asked.

"I have the codes, remember? They must recognize us as allies."

"OK then," Sunset inhaled and exhaled sharply, "let's get this over with."

Twilight put Spike onto the ground and said quietly, "Scout ahead for any trouble."

"Woof," the dragon replied as a sign of agreement. Bon Bon opened the door, and he ran in first, followed by the beige-skinned girl, then Equestrians, and Applejack came in last, closing the door behind them.

Click!

Several Pip-Boys chased away the darkness around them, illuminating the foreboding cave. Not having a Pip-Boy of her own, Applejack took out a flashlight, turning it on.

"Welp," she spoke, "those are some darn creepy caverns. Where to, Bon Bon?"

"After me," was the answer, and the ex-DOI agent lead the party through the cave.

As they went on, feelings of claustrophobia began creeping up on them. Given there was no natural light in there, it was bound to happen, but the additional knowledge of several speleologists finding their doom in this very place made hairs want to rise even in places where they could not exist in principle.

After a couple or so minutes, Bon Bon led them to the first grotto, which was not too big, but certainly presented a challenge in terms of passing through: anyone who would want to go deeper would need to go down step by step, using the rocks and stones like a ladder, and in several places one would need to jump across several (thankfully narrow) chasms, where one could easily get their leg stuck. Fortunately, there were phosphorecent plants growing around, which made it easier to plan their moving.

The party went on, Bon Bon instructing them where and how to step so as to avoid any trauma that might occur. As they all went down the uncomfortable staircase made by nature itself, they went through the narrow corridor which led to the second grotto.

There were more phosphorecent plants there, and while the land was not as rough as in the first grotto, there were small water streams flowing around, making a complex network of rivers. Twilight noted to her displeasure that many rivers had to be crossed by stepping on stones, and said stones did not have flat surfaces fifty percent of the time. Moreover, some of them were glistening, which meant that they were slippery.

In the far end of the grotto, Twilight could see several passages that undoubtedly led into that complex underground system that held an infamy among the locals.

Makes sense that Directorate of Intelligence would create a base here. Few would want to wander in this place. Although I wonder whether this base would survive the nuclear attack.

"We need to go there," Bon Bon showed the direction with her finger.

"Ah don't see any passages there," Applejack replied.

"You aren't supposed to, at first sight. You'll see. Come on," the beige-skinned girl lead the group further.

The path through small streams was relatively easier than the descent in the first grotto, but there were several times when one girl or another would have trouble keeping balance. Sunset was unable to remain on a stone once, and her right foot went into the water. With a hiss, she immediately set it on another stone, and once she found herself on solid ground, she took off her boot and did her best to shake out the water.

"Curses," she spoke, "that water is flipping cold. And I'll have to tolerate my foot being wet now. Shucks."

"Whow-whoa!"

Splash!

"ARGH! Horseapples! That's freezing! Oh! Ah! Ponyfeathers!"

As Twilight Sparkle rose up from the water, clothes wet and dripping water, she marched onto the stony bank and gave Sunset (who was still standing on one leg with the boot in her hands) a hard look.

"You were complaining about your foot?" she said.

The fiery-haired girl wisely decided not to comment on the situation, despite its absurdity.

A minute later, Bon Bon led them to something that resembled a hole some snake would come out of.

"This is the place," she declared.

"Is it?" Twilight spoke, in doubt.

"Yes. We will need to crawl through this small tunnel here. You will need to take off the rucksacks and push them in front of you," as she said that, the beige-skinned girl put her own rucksack into the hole, lay on her stomach and pushed the rucksack, crawling up after it. "Well come on, we haven't got all day!"

One by one, the girls entered the tunnel. Sunset went after Bon Bon, Twilight went next and Applejack went last. The tunnel itself was not particularly scary, but the free space was very limited; it was somewhat problematic to see in front of oneself when pushing the rucksack, but as everyone not familiar with the place quickly understood, keeping their gear on their backs would have been impossible. The only one relatively comfortable with the tunnel was Spike.

As Bon Bon crawled out, she helped Sunset to get out of the tunnel, and then both of them helped Twilight and Applejack.

"How soon until we get there?" asked the farm girl, shaking dust off of herself and putting the rucksack on.

"Around the corner to the left, and we'll be in front of the door."

True to ex-DOI agent's words, there indeed was a Vault blast door in front of them, along with the console.

"Whoa nelly," Applejack spoke, in awe of seeing the most well-known product of Vault-Tec. "Is that what a Vault looks like?"

"Sort of," Twilight answered. "The Vault that me and Sunset saw had a bigger blast door, and the console looks more advanced."

"That's because these particular Vaults have never been intended to house more than fifty people at a time," Bon Bon spoke, coming up to the console with a magneto-optic disk in her hand. "OK, here we go..."

"Close your ears, Applejack," Sunset recommended, "it's gonna be loud."

Twilight already heeded the advice, fingers in her ears. Meanwhile, on inserting the disk, Bon Bon pulled down the switch on the control panel and also covered her ears.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Hissssssssssssss!

The sounds of alarm bells and hydraulic systems of door access mechanism filled the tunnel as the base of Directorate of Intelligence was about to reveal its mysteries. After several seconds, when silence reigned, Applejack uncovered her ears.

"Ah don't understand," she spoke. "What's so loud in that..."

SCRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!

"ARGH! Consarnit!" her swearing could barely be heard because of the screeching sound of metal scraping against metal as the gear-shaped blast door slid back first, and then rolled to the left. Only when the door stopped did everyone uncover their ears.

"Well," the farm girl said, "ain't that loud. How come this base even remains a secret if the door makes such a racket?"

"I didn't design the place," Bon Bon spoke, taking out the magneto-optic disk. "Let's go. The codes I punched in should allow us to go through without a hitch."

"You do know that saying things like these is tempting fate, right?" Sunset replied.

"In the books, yeah. In real life? I wouldn't bet on it."

The party crossed the airlock room.

"Ah don't get it. Where are those defenses?" Applejack inquired again.

"You don't see them here in the airlock. They are in corridors and vital base points, such as reactor, armoury, clinic and so on..." the beige-skinned girl spoke, coming up to the door and pulling the lever on a control panel near it. With a hiss, the door opened.

"OK, now we..."

Whirrrrrr!

As the door opened, everyone saw a turret mounted on the ceiling - and it was turning in their direction now.

"Oh shit..." the ex-DOI agent spoke, her eyes wide, her finger flipping off the safety of her Buffalo submachine gun, and her other hand grabbing Sunset and pulling her away from the line of fire. At the same moment, Twilight and Applejack rushed to the opposite side.

"...take cover!" she finished.

Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

The machine gun, which was strapped to the ceiling, spat a line of bullets which (thankfully) missed everyone. As the targets disappeared, the computer within the turret calculated the variables and opted to remain trained on the side where Bon Bon was hiding - for some unfathomable reason.

"What in tarnation, Bon Bon?" Applejack shouted from her side. "Ya said your codes would let us through!"

"They were supposed to let us through! I have no idea why the security system considers us hostile!" Bon Bon replied, bewildered.

"Maybe they changed the codes?" Twilight shouted.

"No, I had the latest pre-apocalypse codes, and even if someone did change them, there was a contingency plan to let DOI agents access to bases under circumstances like catastrophic line of succession collapse! This shouldn't have happened!"

"Told you that you were tempting fate," Sunset's voice sounded from behind the now-apparently-unrecognized ex-agent.

"Of all the times when this could have happened..." the girl with bi-coloured hair replied, and then shouted, "OK, new plan! We must get to the main security post and deactivate the defenses!"

"Any ideas on opposition aside from turrets?" Twilight shouted again.

"Protectron robots, maybe a couple of robo-brains or sentry bots!"

"Sentry bots?!" the fiery-haired girl spoke with incredulity evident in her voice. "Fan-fucking-tastic!"

"Shut up and fire!" Bon Bon released a short burst before the turret forced her back into cover. Twilight fired at the turret in turn, making it turn to her, and once the lavender-skinned girl was in its sights, it opened fire - only for her to jump back into cover in time. Sunset and Bon Bon stuck out and opened fire on the turret together, causing it to turn to them. This gave Applejack the opportunity to come out of cover and unleash a stream of bullets at the turret from her LMG. At least a dozen of bullets hit the base of the ceiling-mounted machine gun, disrupting its work and causing sparks to fly out. The turret's business end aimed at the floor and stopped moving.

"Well..." Sunset said, "things just got a lot deadlier."

Directorate of Intelligence did not hire slouches when it came to designing the defense of their underground Vault bases, and the quartet (Spike didn't participate, since his skills were not really useful in that combat) saw it first hand.

Every corridor had a turret that they had to destroy without exposing themselves to counter-fire, but larger rooms had more than one, which presented a real challenge. To top it off, they had to deal with Protectrons, too.

When they encountered the first one, Twilight almost got a fully-charged laser blast to the face and only a desperate turn to the left and a jump to the side saved her - but she still suspected that her hair were singed.

Aside from laser weaponry, the Protectrons also had better armour that resisted bullets relatively well. Everyone was forced to aim for the "eye" or the joints of the limbs (except Applejack - her LMG did quite fine against Protectrons' armour). Twilight and Sunset eventually settled for laser pistols - the damage might not have been that great, but armour penetration paid off.

"Typically, Protectrons were not that much of a defensive force," Bon Bon explained when everyone decided to take a small rest before attacking the main security post, "and shouldn't have posed that much of a threat. But the models commissioned by DOI were improved: more powerful laser weapons, better armour and combat programming, and so on."

"Were the robots popular as defenders?" Twilight asked.

"Quite so; hell, warbots became a significant part of UFE armed forces before the apocalypse. It allowed to reduce casualties."

"Spent a lot of tax payers' money on that stuff," Applejack replied, having finished reloading her light machine gun.

"That the government did. OK, everyone ready?" receiving a round of confirmations, Bon Bon led the party further.

The fight got tougher when they came close to the medical center. When the party was trying to turn around the corner, some floating robot appeared from a nearby room.

"Die, TODC scum!" it shouted, and from one of its legs, a burst of flame emitted, forcing everyone to duck. Only by sheer miracle did everyone not suffer a third-degree burn.

The combined fire quickly put the robot out of commission.

"Mr Gutsies, brilliant," Bon Bon spoke. "In the corridors, flamethrowers is exactly what we needed."

"Why did it think us to be TODC soldiers?" Sunset asked.

"Pre-programmed response, most likely. Security system considers us hostile, and since the main enemy was TODC, the robot would taunt the invaders as if they were TODC troopers."

"How far it is to our destination?"

"According to the layout I have on my Pip-Boy, there are two rooms we need to pass through before we get to the main security post."

On opening another door, the group had to deal with another ceiling-mounted turret in the corridor. In the first room, they quickly took out the turrets, only to encounter another Mr. Gutsy that turned one of its "legs" with a strange weapon-looking gizmo towards them. Something green flew out of it.

"DUCK!" Bon Bon shouted.

The green bolt flew over their heads as the advice was followed, and it hit the door behind them. Instantly, some part of it melted away, while the edges of the newly-made hole were dripping hot metal.

"Plasma weapons?!" Sunset shouted, as the team unloaded bullets on the unlucky robot and reduced it to scrap. "Are you fucking shitting me?!" she continued, losing her brain-to-mouth filter.

"Are you seriously saying that this weapon just shot something at us that is actually composed of something you encounter on the surface of a star?!" Twilight continued the train of incredulity.

"Yep," Bon Bon replied, "it just did."

"A weapon that shoots miniaturized suns. What else the humans had invented in terms of weaponry?"

"Technically, it's not exactly a sun, per se, but yeah, the effect may be somewhat... similar. And we created many things."

"I don't even want to know."

"Maybe it's for the best."

Several minutes later, they encountered a turret in the corridor, and in the next room, there were four Protectrons, a Mr. Gutsy and three ceiling turrets. Bon Bon said "fuck it", and threw a grenade of some sorts. Once it exploded, Twilight and Sunset saw that the robots that got caught in the blast zone had blue lightnings running on their surfaces, and then they just dropped down.

"Pulse grenade," ex-DOI said. "Does a number on robots. Just don't get your own electronics caught in the blast."

Ceiling turrets were less of a problem due to an unlucky design: when the party was near the door, only one turret could track them, and it was quickly eliminated. Two others guarded the doors that led to the security post, and were destroyed, too.

"Well?" Bon Bon told Sunset, as they stood near one door, while Twilight and Applejack went to another one. "You ready?"

"Yes."

"Twilight, Applejack, you ready?"

"Ya bet!"

"Yes!"

"OK, opening the doors on the count of three! One... two... THREE!" punching the button, Bon Bon ran first, Sunset after her...

"Oh fuck me sideways!"

The outbirst of the beige-skinned girl was not unfounded.

A robot stood in front of them. But it was not like any other robot. It stood taller than a protectron, had four "legs" that had tank-like threads. One hand had a heavy-looking weapon with six barrels, and another one had a weapon that had a much bigger barrel and looked extremely heavy.

"You were not invited," the robot said in a mechanical monotone voice. "Now you die."

The minigun turned into Twilight's and Applejack's direction, while the other weapon turned to Bon Bon and Sunset.

"Take cover!" The farm girl grabbed the Equestrian Princess and pulled her behind the sturdy stony mini-wall that supposedly was put there for the defenders of the base. The minigun's barrels started rotating, and a massive bulletstorm erupted.

Meanwhile, Bon Bon and Sunset were in a panic - both of them recognized another weapon as a rocket launcher. That stuff was a lot worse than a minigun. They rushed to the closest cover, realizing that the rocket could still kill them...

Click.

"Error. Rockets depleted. Do not think that this will save you, TODC scumbags."

"Of all the goddamn robots out here, we just had to encounter a sentry bot!" Sunset shouted, firing blindly at the big robot for fear of being torn to shreds by bullets.

"How bad is it?" Twilight screamed in their direction.

"Pretty bad! My SMG is pretty much a popgun and I don't have another pulse grenade on me!" Bon Bon replied, also trying to damage the robot - to no avail. The sentry bot simply turned to her and forced her and Sunset into cover.

"Pitiful. Bring a bigger gun," it taunted.

"Happy to oblige!" Applejack shouted, releasing a Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat from her light machine gun, Twilight following suit with her AP-79. The stream of bullets managed to inflict minor damage on the robot, and it immediately turned its attention to them, forcing both girls back into cover.

"Sunset, try using your laser pistol to hit its head, while it's distracted. It's more vulnerable, and laser works better against its armour," Bon Bon advised.

"Got it," Sunset exchanged weapons and, sticking out of cover, took careful aim at the robot and fired.

Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot!

"Ow. Ow. Bad girl. Now you die," the sentry bot aimed its minigun at Sunset, who barely got out in time.

"Does this bastard ever need to reload?" she asked.

"In a sentry bot's body, one can stock at least nine thousand and six hundred 5mm rounds."

"At least?! Are you fucking kidding me?!"

If Sunset was not looking at Twilight as the latter spoke so, she wouldn't have ever believed that the equine Princess just threw her brain-to-mouth filter out of the window - from the height of Canterlot mountains, no less.

"Gee, Twi," Applejack spoke from behind her, "Ah knew you swore sometimes, but damn, Ah'd never believe you of all people would swear like that."

"Can we please focus less on my vocabulary and more on the fact that there is a big robot with shit-a-ton of ammo trying to kill us?!" with these words, the lavender-skinned girl fired at the robot's head several times, trying to hit its optics. Unfortunately, the robot was not blinded yet - its optics were fairly resilient.

Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Sunset fired with her laser pistol again, and Bon Bon added her own 9mm bullets to the mix, but aside from the sentry bot turning to them again and forcing them into cover, it did not have that much of an effect.

Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

Combined fire from Twilight (who also took out her laser pistol) and Applejack managed to pierce the protection that the robot had around its optics. The glass of the cameras shattered despite being hardened, and the robot became blind.

"Oh no."

However, what happened next horrified everybody.

The sentry bot began waving its minigun indiscriminately in random directions. Some of the bullets splattered themselves against the walls, but some ricochetted, which presented a clear danger to the girls, possibly even a worse one than a non-blind robot.

Several bullets which ricochetted off the walls actually hit the girls. (Later, Twilight calculated that the statistical odds of their survival were lower than ten percent, but refused to disclose her methods or make a more precise calculation.) Some embedded themselves in their armour, and Twilight turned around upon hearing a gasp, only to gasp herself in horror on seeing Applejack slumping herself against the wall, blood seeping off her arm, which was closing the wound her neck.

"Ah'll live!" the farm girl shouted. "Artery's fine! Just take mah machine gun an' kill that fucking varmint!"

"Bon Bon! Shut it down somehow befor it kills us with fucking ricochets!" Sunset shouted, nearly in panic.

"Twilight, try and dislodge the minigun arm!" the ex-DOI agent shouted. "Aim for the joint!"

Applejack gave her LMG to Twilight, which she promptly took. The gun turned out to be quite heavy; without the strength that the farm girl possessed, it would be pretty hard to wield. Fortunately, it had a bipod ready for usage, and the robot was firing in another direction, which allowed the pony-turned-human to set the LMG in a relatively comfortable position. Meanwhile, Bon Bon took a chance and vaulted over the stone block; when the robot's minigun turned in her general direction, she dropped herself on the floor and slid, finding herself close to the mad machine.

Twilight aimed at the visibly damaged joint (Must have been a lucky strike, she thought) and pulled the trigger.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

When it sounded so close to her, the sound of the LMG sounded almost deafening.

Owww. What wouldn't I give for earmuffs right now...

The recoil was pretty hard to compensate for, and the girl was sure that her right shoulder would really, really hate her later, that and her ears, but still tried to persevere as best as she could.

And she was rewarded.

The bulletstorm ensued, ripping through the damaged joint and managing to dislodge it. In the meantime, Bon Bon slipped behind the robot.

Several seconds later, something within it whirred down, and it stood still.

"Phew," the beige-skinned girl came up to everyone. "That was too close. Now, the mainframe is closed in the separate room on the left, so let's..."

Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!

A beeping sound sounded from the recently shut down sentry bot. Bon Bon's eyes widened.

"Uh-oh. Get outta here!" she screamed. The girls followed her out of instinct, running out of the room...

BADA-BOOOOM!!!

As soon as the hydraulic doors closed, a loud explosion signified the final fate of the robot - which they barely avoided.

Everyone looked at Bon Bon with an eyebrow raised.

"Oops... I think I might have accidentally wired him up to self-destruct..."

"MIGHT HAVE?!" an indignant shout immediately pointed out the logical fallacy in saying the word "might"...

"...instead of shutting down..."

Fortunately, the mainframe and the terminal, which stood separated by a wall and another reinforced hydraulic door, avoided damage, even from sentry bot's explosion.

As Bon Bon tried to use the mainframe, she was greeted with an unpleasant surprise.

"What the hell is this shit?!" she shouted in surprise.

"What now?" Twilight almost whined; tired and hungry, she was slumping against the wall so as to conserve strength.

"After those skirmishes with turrets and robots, I decided to bypass the usual procedure and gain some information about myself from the system. For some reason, I am listed as a defector! What the fuck?"

Both Equestrians had exchanged brief looks.

"But you ain't?" Applejack asked, her LMG shifting closer to the ex-agent in a blatant warning.

"No, I am not!" Bon Bon spoke vehemnetly. "Why the hell would I do that? Especially since TODC counter-intelligence captured, tortured and murdered my friends?"

"Other DOI agents?" Sunset inquired.

"Yes, them. It would take a real sick person to defect to them after such a stunt."

The amount of real sick persons seems to have increased very rapidly in the last years, Sunset thought cynically.

"So what now?" she asked?

"Well, I have managed to gain root access to this mainframe, so I already shut down the security systems and unlocked the armoury. In the unlikely event someone else appears and tries to turn security back on, I have changed all the passwords and encrypted them. Now come on, we need to see if there is anything of value."

As it turned out, there were some things of value.

"Goldurn it, Ah wish we had brought the car," Applejack mused.

In the armoury, someone had stocked not only weapons, but also a good cache of ammunition and even several suits of pretty high-quality armour, which were quickly used - either put on or stripped for spare parts and repairs. Twilight and Sunset noted with pleasure that new armpour plates were less heavy than their haphazardly-sticked previous ones, and offered more mobility.

There were several crates of various types of ammo. Sunset and Twilight did not miss the chance to grab themselves spare 5.56mm ammo for assault rifles and energy batteries for laser pistols. Applejack picked several full boxes of ammo for her/Big Macintosh's LMG as well. Bon Bon picked up some 9mm ammo for her Buffalo SMG, and everyone who wanted to stocked up 10mm ammo as well.

As for the weapons, there were four Buffalo SMGs, along with some modifications for them - namely, collimator sights and silencers. Bon Bon quickly taught everyone how to mount and dismount the weapon mods on something she called "Pontrottiny rails", and everyone took one fully modded SMG with them.

Twilight and Sunset also found several AP-79 and R91 assault rifles in quite a good condition, along with Pontrottiny rails mounted atop. They decided to put a collimator sight each, so as to aim better.

Bon Bon picked a scoped military-grade carbine with detachable silencer for herself, but noted with displeasure that it used 5mm ammo instead of normal 5.56mm, and took an indecent amount of ammo boxes, explaining that the explosion of the sentry bot they had destroyed would render the minigun's ammo unsalvageable.

There also was a laser rifle and two microfusion cells; however, once Bon Bon gave it a good look, she declared that the rifle hadn't been properly maintained and would not deal very big damage. Still, Sunset was dead set against leaving a weapon like this, and ended up with the long-coveted energy weapon.

There were other things they had wanted to take, but carrying them all was outside the realm of possibility, so everyone decided to get a snack and return as quickly as possible.

It was already 9 a. m., and who knew whether White Knives or Crimson Hand mercenaries would try and attack them...

"Damn, carrying this stuff is not simple," Sunset spoke, struggling a bit under the weight of the loot they had taken.

"What did y'all expect?" Applejack replied, "feathers?"

"Ha flipping ha. Says the girl who outclassed two athletic boys in table-carrying."

"Try being a country girl instead of a city-slicker, and Ah'll see what becomes of you."

The fiery-haired young woman thought of making a snarky remark, stung a bit by the "city-slicker" tidbit, but held herself in.

No use in upsetting anyone right now.

"Still," Bon Bon spoke up, "your little chat reminds me of a child's cartoon, where one small character asks a big and strong one: "Let me carry your case for you, and you'll carry me, then we'll go faster!" and the strong one says: "That's a great idea!"

"You're pulling my leg," Twilight said. "Such a statement is a logical fallacy. The added weight of the smaller character would only increase the load on the strong one and reduce speed, unless the latter tries to go faster, but that may lead to all kinds of trauma..."

"Twilight, it's a kids' cartoon we are talking about," Sunset interrupted. "Cartoons do not always follow logic or laws of physics."

"But why?!" the Princess' eyes widened as if someone suggested that she should burn a book. "Why deceive the easily-impressionable children and show them falsehoods and lies?! Why would anyone..."

"Chill out, Twi," Applejack recommended. "Good parents teach their kids to distinguish reality from cartoons."

"Oh... OK then... sorry I blew my top..." Twilight was blushing from embarrassment now and was trying to shrink herself to invisibility, which, naturally, failed. All others quietly shared a laugh at her expense.

Suddenly, Spike (who was walking ahead of them) barked loudly once, twice, thrice.

"What happened, Spike?" Sunset asked.

"Arf! Woof! Woof!" the purple dog barked several times, facing in a direction to the right and slidely ahead of them (2 o'clock, to be precise).

"Did he sense something?" Bon Bon asked.

"I think he heard gunfire," Twilight said, recognizing the "bark signal" that they had set up before.

"Any idea who is up there?"

"Arf! Arf!"

"No idea! He doesn't know them! Should we check it out?"

"Who knows?"

"Our load's kinda heavy, and we can't just leave it anywhere!" Sunset spoke.

"Ah don't like the idea of leaving someone in trouble!" Applejack replied.

"Eyes on IFF screens, if you have them!" Bon Bon decided. "We'll see who is that!"

"Them? Again? Ah can't believe it," Applejack spoke, once she saw through Bon Bon's binoculars just who was involved in a fight.

The fight was taking place in one of the small suburban towns near Hoofington which they had tried to avoid when going to the DOI underground base. This particular town was ill-famed among Appletown and other inhabitants of Canterlot Wastelands due to White Knives capturing the most intact and well-defensible stone buildings and using it as one of their bases.

While the town was not really under their full control, not many risked an encounter with their patrols to come here, even if there was a chance of useful salvage. One required either some big guts or good enough equipment to venture there, and those who did rarely bothered to try their luck when there were better places to loot.

However, this time, someone who had both guts and equipment came to town: Brotherhood of Steel.

Four Paladins in power armour were fighting a dozen or so White Knives - and were not losing - but one could see through binoculars that reinforcements were about to come to the bandits - another twenty people. Well-equipped and professional as they were, the Paladins faced a grim fate, since even T-72d power armour could not withstand automatic fire of that many assault rifles.

The quartet could help them turn the tables on the bandits, though.

"Well, isn't that fantastic," Sunset said. "They are spreading around like cockroaches, it seems. So what's the plan?"

"Ah don't know, honestly," Applejack spoke. "Ah don't like White Knives, but Ah sure am hesitant to stick my neck out for those guys."

"Won't it be useful to have someone who can actually vouch for us?" Bon Bon interjected.

"To be honest, the idea of abandoning those Paladins does not sit well with me," Twilight added. "I know that you don't like the Brotherhood, and honestly, I am not that impressed either, but I don't think they'll be the type to just dismiss our attempts to help them."

"You havn't been for long enough in the Wastelands, then," the farm girl spoke up.

"Even if the Brotherhood thinks nothing of it, these Paladins certainly will," Sunset spoke again. "The problem is how much influence do they wield and whether it will backfire. Remember, Silicon Stone got exiled for disagreeing too openly with Brotherhood's policy."

"I really don't want those guys pissed off at us. What if Elder Aegis says: "We lost men, give us more suits?" and send us out again?" the beige-skinned girl inquired.

"He may do so even if we save these guys, but I don't think this will earn him a good reputation among some elements of Brotherhood."

"We put it to vote, then? Help the Brotherhood?" Twilight inquired.

"I vote that we help," Bon Bon spoke.

"Seconded," Sunset replied.

"Oh hay, Ah'm outnumbered anyway. Truth be told, Ah hate White Knives more. Let's go," Applejack finished.

Focus Glass was not a happy Paladin of Brotherhood of Steel. Who would be when facing an overwhelming wave of bandits that could simply choke you with numbers?

I so hate it when the decisive factor is flipping numbers, he thought, emptying his LMG into the closest bandit. Thankfully, the White Knife had the decency to die almost immediately.

He had faced such bad odds before in the Last War, twice, and both fights ended in defeats, which he was very fortunate to survive. The first one was near Griffonstone, when general Deep Strike made a mistake and did not fortify their position in time. What began as a skirmish between TODC scouting force and UFE Mechanized Infantry battalion turned into a massacre, as the enemy scouts managed to call for reinforcements before dropping a comm jammer, leaving them unable to call for reinforcements. Eventually, UFE soldiers were forced to abandon their barely defensible position, and TODC forces managed to fortify it shortly before the main battle, when it gave a lot of problems to them.

If he remembered correctly, 121st Heavy Infantry Battallion suffered a lot of casualties in that main battle. Some of other Paladins had friends there.

The other time was their deployment in Bovinia, once the country decided to join TODC. The folks from Directorate of Intelligence messed something up big time, because their forces had encountered an army which outnumbered them three-to-two. The successful landing quickly changed into a desperate battle for the second largest city, which was eventually lost simply because there were too few soldiers left in the end to defend even strategically important points.

It was then that Focus Glass decided that he hated urban warfare. TODC soldiers, especially those who were born in that city, held an advantage, and guerillas from jungles did not help matters either.

And now this.

I survived in those damn hell holes, survived the fucking apocalypse, just to die now?!

Naturally it wasn't fair.

He saw three bandits coming close, assault rifles in their hands. While his LMG was naturally more powerful, his armour had already caught some bullets, and would give away soon under the constant fire.

Suddenly, one of the bandits jerked as blood and brains left his head. Immediately after that, gunfire erupted to the left, and the bandits were mowed down.

Focus Glass looked attentively. He saw three young women - correction, four - who were dressed up in decent enough armour and carried some mean-looking guns: two AP-79 assault rifles, one LMG and one RM90 marksman carbine.

When more bandits appeared, the women scattered into cover and began firing at the bandits.

We will never hear the end of it if we tell anyone we were saved by some girls... but that beats being dead.

"Guys!" he bellowed. "I think someone came to help us!"

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

F-pat! F-pat! F-pat!

"Took out one!"

"Nice job, Bon Bon!"

"You too, Applejack!"

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"Out of ammo, reloading!"

"Got ya covered, Sunset!"

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

"Dropped one! Reloading!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"Another one down!"

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

"Hit three of them! No, wait, two are rising up!"

"Nah, they won't, the guy with LMG killed them."

F-pat! F-pat! F-pat! F-pat!

"Dropped him, changing position!"

"Watch it, someone's comin'!"

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-CLICK!

"Goldurn it, need ta reload!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"Scratch two!"

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

"Scratch one more!"

"Nice one, Twilight!"

"Hey! They are retreatin'! And Paladins killed two more!" Applejack noticed some movement along White Knives.

"Already? Something's not right here!" Bon Bon shouted back.

"I think so, too!" Twilight said. "Maybe we should unite with Paladins first!"

"Good idea!" Sunset called.

"Well... OK," Applejack agreed. The party made their way to the Brotherhood members. The closest one noticed and came up to them himself.

"Thanks for interfering with these damn bandits. Hey, isn't that Applejack?" he pointed his finger at the farm girl.

"Pointing fingers is kinda impolite, dude, but yeah, it's me," came the answer.

"Just asking. Rumour has it that Brotherhood isn't pleased with you, but I don't know why. Kinda curious."

"Long story. What're y'all doing here? Looking for tech?"

"Sort of. We wanted to go to another place, but info came to us that there was nothing to look for. So we were scouting here, when those blasted bandits set up an ambush. We were this close to getting to our truck and outta here. Lost our CO, so our XO took command."

"Hey, Focus Glass, whom are you talking..." another Paladin with a laser rifle came up to them, and stopped at the sight of young women in front of him. "Twilight?! Sunset?! Applejack?! Bon Bon?!"

"You know them, sir?"

"Hard to forget the people you once met in school. See that no one blows my head off, will you?"

"Yes, sir."

Although the voice was distorted by the helmet, it still felt... familiar somehow to Twilight.

Where have I heard a voice like that before?

Meanwhile, the Paladin detached his helmet and took it off, revealing amber face, light-blue eyes and darker sapphire blue hair.

Twilight gasped, Sunset muttered, "Well, that's a surprise," Bon Bon's eyebrows disappeared behind her hairline and Applejack said with a grin, "Hoo boy."

In front of them stood no other than Flash Sentry.

"Hi, girls," he spoke, then, slightly hesitating, he said, "Hey, Twilight."

"H-hi, Flash," the Equestrian stammered a bit.

"Finally, we met each other without making a "splash" around here," the guitar player spoke again with a lopsided grin.

Twilight blushed.

"Eh?" Focus Glass stammered. Flash Sentry gave him a "none of your business" look, cutting off any inquiries, and then addressed the girls:

"On behalf of Brotherhood of Steel, I thank you for your help, but I think you do realize that this skirmish isn't over yet."

"Yes, about that," Sunset spoke up, "we suspect that there is a trap of sorts. They outnumbered us two-to-one or something and yet started running? Smells like a trap."

"Are you certain? Four soldiers in power armour plus your support is quite enough to make them break."

"Maybe," Twilight agreed, "but what if they are trying to lure you - us - into a trap?"

"Hmmm... I don't like the idea of letting them go, especially after what they just tried to do to Appletown, but yeah, Twilight, you raise a fair point. Focus Glass, what's our status?"

"Our bloody status, sir? Almost fucked. I'm on my last goddamn ammo box, and boys aren't faring better. I think only you can really put up a fight now, sir."

"Well yeah, I'm not assaulting them all alone," Flash Sentry agreed. "OK then, let's get to our truck and bail out of here. You girls are welcome to join us - we can give you a lift to Appletown," he addressed the girls, fastening the helmet back.

"Thank ya kindly," Applejack said. "These rucksacks are getting uncomfortably heavy, even for me."

"Wait... I'm not seeing Spike anywhere," he looked around.

"Woof! Woof!" Spike jumped out of Twilight's rucksack.

"Ah-ha-ha, come here, pal," Flash petted the dragon-in-dog-form a little bit, carefully.

"OK, Spike, come back here," Twilight said half a minute later. When Spike ran up to her, she tucked him back into her rucksack, and spoke, "Now, where's the truck?"

The path to the truck took ten minutes, during which Twilight and Flash took some time to have a small chat (lagging slightly behind the group, their talk could be somewhat private).

"So, er..." Flash began, "just to make sure - you are from the alternate world, "out of town", as we used to talk, or from this world?"

"From out of town," Twilight replied.

"Oh... but how did you find yourself here?"

"I tried to maintain contact with my friends here, and one day, I receive the news about the war going on here. And then, it just... stopped. I became worried, and decided to investigate."

"And found yourself here."

"Yes. Almost died in very first hours. Raiders," the lavender-skinned girl explained at Flash's increduled expression.

"Oh. Them. Just where do these people come from, I could never fathom. What or who saved you?"

"Me too. And Sunset saved me."

"I'll need to thank her. Do you have any plans now? Like... about going back?"

"Oh..." I've almost forgotten about our plans. "Sunset said that she left her book that she used to talk to me through dimensions in Trottingham. Her house was on outskirts, so we hope it survived. After that, I have little idea, since going to Canterlot is not an option right now."

"It isn't. Two of our scout squads did not report back from there. There's something else besides radiation. Wait... wasn't the portal near Canterlot High?"

"It threw me out somewhere else near Baltimare. I think it's not really destroyed, but destabilized."

"I see."

"How did you wind up in the Brotherhood, Flash?"

"I joined the army when war began, and aptitude testing showed I could actually try for Mechanized Infantry battallions. I have got your local counterpart to thank for that, actually."

"How come?"

"Well... when she transferred to CHS, she helped around a few people with studies, myself included. I had some trouble with Maths and Physics, but once I passed her tutoring, I could do them a lot better. And after school, she actually invented microfusion energy cells."

"Wow!" Twilight's eyes widened.

"Wow indeed. She was concerned with shortage of resources and was trying to find an alternative energy source. Her invention could have changed the whole world, but instead, UFE government got its hooks into her and her work and quickly adapted it into energy weapons and power armour like the one I'm wearing," the last part was spoken somewhat bitterly. "Don't get me wrong," he continued, "these inventions by themselves are also good. But I can't help but think that had UFE not concentrated on one-upping everyone too much, she would have eventually designed a microfusion power station, which would have revolutionized the world. Instead..." he trailed off, but Twilight still understood him.

"Everything was militarized."

"Yeah."

"And after the apocalypse?"

"Well... our unit survived the Day of Burning, but we lacked sufficient resources to last for long, and contact with government was lost. Brotherhood of Steel basically co-opted us. They always try and recruit those with advanced technology."

"What do you think of them?"

"Of their ideals?"

"Yes."

"Their ideals aren't bad per se, but can be too easily twisted into egotism. And they really don't like malcontents. Exiled one of ours, Silicon Stone, without even so much as a trial."

"Brotherhood has trials for that?"

"Yes, it was in some founding charters or something."

Might be useful later, Twilight took note.

"I have heard that Elder Aegis gave you the task of finding power armour suits?"

"That he did. Ion Titanium said we could try and find some at the military base nearby."

"Oooh, it's gonna be a doozy. This place is packed with still-active robots. At least sensor net is down, so automated turrets won't rip you to shreds. Even our Paladins would hesitate to go there."

"Well, I don't want Brotherhood and Appletown to come to blows, so we need to try."

"I can help you, if you want to."

"Really?"

"Really. I'll need to try and convince others to assist, but that base is serious business."

"If you do, I'll be very, very grateful, Flash," Twilight smiled a bit.

"Hey, we've arrived!" Applejack shouted. "Get over here!"

"Finally," both humans breathed out. Coming up to the truck, they separated,

"Hey, Applejack," Flash asked, "where are the other Rainbooms?"

"Heh, Ah wish Ah knew, Flash. Rainbow Dash was in the army an' she was transferred to counter the Eastern Gambit, no idea whether she survived or not. Rarity got herself and Sweetie Belle a place in one of the Vaults, so Ah don't know what to think about it. Fluttershy worked as a civilian medic somewhere outside of Canterlot; Ah can only hope she didn't get caught in the fallout. And Pinkie Pie just... disappeared from the radar before the apocalypse. No idea what could have happened to her."

"We hope that we'll find them later..." Twilight spoke, but got interrupted by one of unknown Paladins:

"Watch out!!!"

Everyone turned to him and then to the direction where he and the other Paladin started firing.

White Knives decided to attack them when they were supposed to feel the safest.

"Everyone to the truck!" Flash Sentry commanded, firing his laser rifle. "Focus Glass, get it rolling!"

"On it, sir!"

Cacophony of gunfire erupted across the battlefield. Applejack and two Paladins with LMGs were laying down suppressive fire while Twilight, Sunset and Flash were trying to pick the bandits one by one. Flash was faring a lot better, given that he had served in the army and that laser rifle beams were a lot faster than bullets.

The troubles, however, were not over. One of the bandits carried some weapon that any savvy enough person recognised as 40mm grenade launcher. Not sticking properly to cover, he was shot pretty quickly, but not before he managed to squeeze the trigger. The grenade went somewhat sideways, from Paladins and the girls, but still was too close to them when it exploded in front of them, catching Twilight, Sunset and one of the Paladins in the blast radius.

While power armour was more than adequate protection from badly self-made grenade and Sunset was lucky enough not to get splinters embedded in her, Twilight got it the worst.

"AAAAARRGH!"

The girl's cry of pain alerted Sunset and Flash. Turning to the left, they saw her fall down on the ground as a puppet with cut strings.

Sunset's insides went cold. She knew more than enough about weapons to know that 40mm grenade launchers tend to be a very effective anti-infantry weapon. And since Twilight was the closest to the blast...

No. No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no! This cannot be! It can't!

She noticed a pool of blood forming under Twilight's body...

"They are running!"

"Casualty! Need a medic!"

"I'm on it!"

...and noticed that the bandits were indeed trying to retreat.

And something snapped within her once again, unleashing a molten lava of fury.

Where the fuck do they think are they going?!

"I'LL MURDER YOU!!!" Sunset Shimmer screamed, taking after the running bandits at speed no one imagined her capable off.

By the time when Applejack's desperate "Sunset!" was registered in her ears, she covered half the distance between their position and the one of bandits.

"That fool's gonna get herself killed!" Applejack shouted. "Sunset!"

"Someone needs to cool her off!" Focus Glass said.

"Good luck trying!" Flash replied. "When that girl's dead set on something, she can be something, trust me! How's Twilight?"

"Alive, thank every existing and non-existing deity," Bon Bon said, applying AMFAK-10 medicines to Twilight, who was now on her back, several empty RegenStim doses and two Med-X syringes lying beside her. "But she really needs medical attention, because I don't want to risk getting this shrapnel out of her in the field!"

"Our bunker has advanced medical facility," Focus Glass spoke up again.

"Flash..." Twilight croaked, weakened.

"I'm here, Twilight," Flash took her hand in his, cold metal touching warm flash.

"Where... Sunset?"

"She's..." enraged and ran off to Tartarus-knows-where, the foolish girl. "...defending us."

"Please... help... her..."

"I will, now don't exert yourself."

"Please..." with that word, Twilight lost cosciousness. Flash looked at Bon Bon, scared beyond belief.

"Sedative," she explained, "needed to use it to avoid pain shock. Now go get Sunset before she needs medical attention, too!"

"Get to the bunker ASAP," he replied, "we'll get there ourselves."

"What?!" one of Paladins spoke. "Sir, you're..."

"That's an order!"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

Checking the charge of his microfusion cell, Flash Sentry ran in the direction where Sunset ran...

"Eat this!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"AAARGH!"

"No!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Whack! Smash!

"Oof! OUCH!"

Bra-tat!

"Take that, bastards!"

"Someone get the bitch!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

Sunset slid into cover and quickly reloaded her R91 assault rifle.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"AARGH!"

"Man down!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"What is she doing?!"

"You are dead!"

"Someone shoot her- AAARGH!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

BZ-DAM! BZ-DAM!

A bandit disintegrated to ashes right in front of Sunset's eyes as she killed another bandit with a well-placed three-round burst to the throat.

"Flash?" surprised, she addressed the blue-haired human while concentrating on her next targets. "What are you doing here?"

"Seeing that the bandits don't hand your butt to you," was the answer.

"I'm managing pretty well, thank you."

"I care about Twilight too, you know!"

Shit, Sunset thought, I totally forgot that he was crushing on Twilight! Wait, after all these years..?

Later!

Being unprepared, the bandits were overwhelmed by Flash's superior technology and Sunset's rage. Two of the bandits tried throwing down their weapons and even dropped to their knees.

"No! Please! Don't kill us, we surrender!"

Disgusting, slimy, cowardly filth, Sunset's inner demon raged within. They attack others with sheer numbers on their side, they kill my friend and have the gall to ask for mercy when they gave none?!

Bra-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"No! Please, no!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-tat!

The bodies of last two bandits dropped to the ground.

Sunset stood, breathing heavily, having no other outlet to her rage. She flinched when Flash put his hand upon her shoulder, but did not move.

"She's alive," at these words, she turned around sharply, her eyes wide, "but she needs immediate medical attention. I had to send my guys and your friends away, so we are on our own right now."

"Twilight's alive?! But how..." the fiery-haired girl stammered, shocked beyond all expressions listed in dictionaries.

"Incredible luck and very badly produced grenade. If this were a real one, everyone would have felt it."

"Thank Celestia and Luna... wait... send away the truck?"

"Yes. So we have to get to the bunker on our own two legs."

Oh buck my flank, I am such an idiot! Sunset thought.

Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

SFW-85 "Buffalo" submachine gun

Developed for special forces units of UFE military and operatives of Directorate of Intelligence, Buffalo submachine gun combines the latest achievements in weapon technology, along with certain weapon design solutions typical for TODC armaments. Easily modifiable with variety of modules, starting from silencers, collimator and reflex sights to detachable butts, complex electronic target tracking systems, like V.A.T.S., and advanced flare and sound suppressors, this SMG is surprisingly light for its size and its recoil is very small. Moreover, Buffalo SMG can hold 60 rounds in its helical-feed magazine, making it a very effective weapon for CQC.

In Canterlot Wastelands, Buffalo SMG is a rare sight; aside from its intended users, only people with connections in high echelons of Ministry of Defense or Directorate of Intelligence could get their hands on this type of weapon. Certain security guards employed by Vault-Tec received special permission for using these weapons in their line of service, but they naturally would not want to part with them. Moreover, this model can be found only in DOI bases, which makes Buffalo SMG one of rarest and most expensive weapons of this class. It should also be noted that while this weapon is highly durable and reliable, its maintenance is tricky. Finally, this weapon uses 9mm rounds instead of more widespread 10mm ammo; thus, it is recommended not to use Buffalo SMG as a primary weapon.

Weapon stats:

DMG: 18 (if 100% CND)
WG: 1.5 kg
VAL: 400 caps (if 100% CND)

Ammo type: 9mm rounds
Ammo capacity: 60

Author's Note

[EDIT November 12, 2015]: Added a Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry which planned to type, but totally forgot.

Yep. Flash Sentry is also here. Huzzah! How much hate do I receive?!

Joking aside, though, I'll put a quote from my earlier blog post when I had hosted a Q&A session:

Zekromic: Waifu thief, yeah, about him...... are you planing to kill him in your story, or give him an irredeemable douche at best, to Ron the Death Eater treatment at worst? I mean, if you don't like the shipping, it's fine, there are other sensible ways to do that, but man, I would rather not read any of the above befalling him for a change

Me: Flash Sentry? I don't hate him. Let's say... if a character had "Contract Killer" Perk, then Flash would drop an ear upon death. So certainly no "Ron the Death Eater" in my head, although I don't plan for him to be without faults.
As for killing him... there isn't such a thing here as IDDQD. And plot armour can be pierced by plot magic bullet.

I mean, if you don't like the shipping, it's fine

I'm not against TwiFlash, actually, but One True Pairings for this story haven't been decided yet. And it's too early in the story for romance of any kind, anyway.

Yes, I am aware that Flash Sentry is not the best character around here and that he fills the "protagonist girl's first crush" high school story cliche (even if I am not an American, I could plainly see that). Yes, I know that TwiFlash was practically foisted upon us by Hasbro and DHX. Yes, I know that his depiction is practically one of Gary Stu (although that may be disputable now, since we did see some of his negative side, too).

Feel free to add your own reasons for disliking/hating him in the comment box, if you'd like to. But know that I, personally, do not hate him. And this story will reflect that. Of course, I am not planning to leave him as blank as he is in EG canon. I'll try and expand his character and add more to his background story, including his service in the UFE army.

Now, onto something else. I'm sorry, everyone, my update schedule is completely derailed at this moment. Either I am too busy to write, or I have no will to write. While the previous estimate of 10-20 days still holds, I may be late in that regard. If it happens, it means real life simply leaves me too little time, but I am fine. If something truly drastic happens, I'll post a blog.

Thoughts, comments and criticism are welcome

Stay tuned!