Chapter 2

...rescue?

Once Twilight spent all oxygen in her lungs screaming, Spike felt it safe (relatively) to remove protection from his ears.

"Better now?" he asked sarcastically.

"No..."

Oh snap.

"...but we cannot afford to panic. We need a plan!" Twilight exclaimed, not looking on the verge of collapse anymore.

"Okie-dokie. Any ideas?"

"Well, we don't see Canterlot High School in sight, so it means that the portal dropped us somewhere else. The fact that our travelling here was Discord-worthy also adds to this theory. As such, to get back, we will need to get back to CHS as soon as possible!"

"And our friends?"

"I didn't forget about them, Spike. We need to find them and find out what happened here, and why there is so much desolation."

"Desol... deso... what?" Spike was not un-intelligent, but Twilight had a tendency to use very sophisticated words.

"Destruction!" the purple-skinned girl exclaimed, annoyed (as always) when her assistant stumbled upon hearing a complex word. Seriously, he has been my assistant for years, surely he could have enriched his lexicon?

"Oh... right. And in where should we go to fulfill your plan? CHS and our friends could be... well... anywhere!"

"I have no idea!"

Deja vu, everyone? Spike asked his imaginatory audience. The audience did not dignify that question with an answer, but Twilight continued her line of thoughts:

"However, if there's a chance of seeing a settlement that is still inhabited by someone, it would be... there!" she said, pointing her finger in a random direction.

"And why there?" Spike asked. He could not see any signs that indicated that one direction was better than others, so that was a legitimate question to ask.

"There's an asphalt road that is partially covered by sand," Twilight pointed to the object in question. "And if you look closely at the buildings, you'll see that some sides are more damaged than others." (When Spike looked at wooden homes more attentively, he understood that Twilight was actually right.) "And further to that side, one can see that the buildings over there suffered a bit less damage. This means that if we go there, we have a higher chance of finding a settlement not touched by whatever destructive force ruined these houses."

"Wow. That's impressive!"

"I try," Twilight smiled bashfully. "Now, shall we proceed?" she opened her backpack (that, fortunately, was still present with her) and held it in her hand, inviting Spike in.

"Let's do it!" the miniature dragon-turned-dog exclaimed with bravado, climbing into the backpack.

Once Twilight secured her backpack safely on her shoulders, she and her faithful assistant went into the chosen direction...

"So, Twilight," Spike decided to initiate a conversation to prevent boredom from setting in, "what do you think happened here?"

"Sunset Shimmer told us there was a war going on, but she did not mention where the frontlines were. Plus, a lot of time has passed. For all we know, this country could have been defeated."

"Or maybe they unleashed some superweapon that killed everything?" Spike asked nervously, looking as if he was about to start biting his claws.

"Spike, you've been reading too much anti-utopia again," Twilight sighed. Why wouldn't he read some classic books instead of that bunch of hooey? "I highly doubt that there was a superweapon capable of killing everything. The probability of such an event happening is below one percent."

"But still above zero, right?" the nervousness was not gone.

"Spike," Twilight's voice indicated that she was starting to lose patience, "to achieve such a horrendous result, one would need to create a weapon the attack by which could encompass the whole world, and not just surface, but air and ground as well, to the very planetary core! The requirements for such are so enormous one could call them infinite, which are unachieveable by default! Unless one can devise some sort of previously unknown all-permeating killing agent capable of what I had said, this scenario is not possible!" When the girl finished, the tones of her voice were considerably higher.

"OK, OK, I get it... but we still haven't seen anything living in sight."

"I'm sure we will!" Princess of Friendship exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"And those buildings we saw? What could have damaged them like that?"

"It looked as if there was some very strong gust of wind that tore them like that... although I am baffled as to what could have created it. Humans don't control weather like pegasi back in Equestria do, remember?"

"Maybe they could have learned how to do so?"

"And weaponize it? That sounds silly to me. This would be very cost-inefficient."

"Cost-ineff-wha?" Again with difficult words!

"It would cost so much to use wind as a weapon here that no one would use it like that!"

"Now I get it. And the war? Who do you think won it?"

"I surely hope it was this country, Spike. I don't know anything about the enemies, Sunset didn't tell me much. They could be more or less honourable, or they could be like Sombra or Tirek. I hope it's not the latter."

"She also mentioned that local army or police could think you are a spy..."

"We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it, Spike. Given the devastation that happened here, it may be within the realm of possibility to lose one's... passport, as Sunset called it. Do not worry, I am sure that everything is going to be fine."

Spike was tempted to remind Twilight that saying such things was tempting fates similarly to when one poked a sleeping adult dragon in the eye, but decided against it. He too hoped that they would find their friends (especially Rarity, he thought) quickly and not stay in this strange new-old world a second longer than necessary...

After what felt one hour and a half (unfortunately, anything that could have served as a chronometer was missing) of walking, two travelers encountered a slight problem:

A ruined bridge over the river.

"Well... that kinda puts a damper into our plans," Spike observed upon getting out of the backpack.

"Not really," Twilight replied, standing close to the edge (too close for Spike's liking, as Twilight didn't have wings anymore). "This river is almost dry, and to the left, I can see sand above water level. That would allow us to get to the other side."

"So... we leave this road?"

"We will have to make a slight detour, that's all."

The detour, as predicted, did not take very long, although the way up was a bit harder than Twilight and Spike had anticipated. When they finally made it back to the asphalt road, their stomachs, however, decided that it was time to be refilled, and started growling.

"Well..." Twilight muttered, a bit annoyed at her organism's betrayal. "...I guess it is lunch time now."

"Makes sense. We have been walking for what, two hours now?"

"I don't have a chronometer with me, Spike."

"Oka-a-ay... Hey, how about we sit under that tree?" Spike pointed to the object in question that stood no further than fifty meters away (and was the first tree they have encountered).

"Sounds great," Twilight replied with a smile, "that heat is becoming slightly intolerable."

Several minutes later, the travelers were sitting in the shade made by a massive tree, and enjoying their modest lunch: Twilight was eating sandwiches with cheese, and Spike was enjoying dog treats (he did not like admitting it to anyone except Twilight and possibly Rarity, but dog food from human world was very tasty to him) that he had gotten earlier when the Crystal Mirror still operated with the help of Twilight's magic book.

Speaking of which...

"Twilight, I just had an idea. If we manage to get to Canterlot - this world's Canterlot, I mean - maybe we should check Sunset's apartment? Maybe her magic book is still there?"

"Good idea, Spike, although it is hanging on the notion that we will actually get back there. For all we know, we are walking in an opposite direction."

"I sure hope not. The Crystal Mirror is usually open for what, two days?"

"If my memory does not fail me, yes."

"There is a possibility that we may get stuck here for thirty moons, you know..."

"I know, Spike. But this world has - or used to have, at least - pretty rapid means of transportation. If we get access to them, then we have a chance of making it to the portal pretty quick. If we don't, we still have a chance of finding Sunset's book and letting everypony know we are fine. If the worst comes to pass, we will have to wait it out until the portal opens again."

"If it is still present..." Spike muttered under his breath, but Twilight heard him.

"Celestia forbid that, Spike! This will... no, don't even think about it. We still got here, that means the portal should still be here somewhere, and it must work, even if... chaotically," she said sternly, picking an apple from her backpack and digging teeth into it with a crunch sound.

Number 1 Assistant decided it wise not to push the subject any longer, and switched the topic:

"You know, I just remembered our picnics back in Equestria. Rarity would never sit on the ground like we do, you know? She always insisted on laying upon something, but not the land or grass," he recalled with a somewhat goofy smile. (Twilight silently shook her head upon seeing that Spike's crush has never ended, but decided not to interrupt, since this topic was less depressing than the probability of portal being destroyed.) "And she always brought a whole set of tableware. I recall being told what she did one day when she forgot the plates."

"Yeah, I remember that too. She loudly declared it "the worst possible thing" and lay on the couch. And everypony else looked in surprise. And she told them: "What? You didn't expect me to lay on the grass, did you?" and nopony answered that."

"Well, I kinda wouldn't have expected that too. Would you, Twilight?"

Twilight was very tempted to say that she wouldn't have, but offending her only friend currently present did not seem to be wise, so she agreed with him.

"Wasn't that the time when she called you a drama queen?" Spike continued.

"Yeah, that was the day when I messed up with "Want It, Need It" spell and caused an epic commotion over my Smarty Pants doll," was the reply. "Speaking of which, I never got it back..."

"Oh, you wanted it back? Rumours had it that Big Macintosh took it. Once we get back, maybe you can ask him?"

"That I will, Spike. I really missed Smarty Pants," Twilight sighed.

Once they finished eating, Spike addressed Twilight:

"Er... Twilight? I need to... well... relieve myself..."

"Oh! Of course, Spike. I will wait for you," Twilight promised, standing up. "Just don't get too far!"

"OK!" Spike answered, and left to get himself behind a small hill.

Twilight inhaled deeply. The temperature has fallen a bit, and the air, while still dry, was more pleasant to inhale.

The sun, in fact, was starting to go down, which meant they would need to find a shelter for the night.

She was thinking of possible options, when suddenly...

"And what do we have here?"

Spike was feeling a lot better now, with hunger sated and no unneeded stuff present in his organism.

He noticed that the air was getting a bit cooler. Where will we sleep?

He thought, I need to ask Twilight this...

"AAAAAHHHH!"

Spike was shocke for a moment, and then, immediately bared his teeth.

Twilight's in danger!

He immediately started running back.

I have never seen humans like these before, Twilight thought. They are positively scary!

They were indeed. There were two of them, both of them were wearing dirty and mended clothes, plus they had vests that covered their torsos like armor, and they were holding small objects in their hands that were directed at Twilight.

While Princess of Friendship has never seen an actual gun before, her intuition was positively screaming that these objects were in fact guns, and were lethal.

Still, she hoped that she probably could settle this, and tried:

"Uh... hello?" It came out really timid. You sound like Fluttershy.

"Hello, poppet," the guy on the left said with a smile that was insincere and very unsettling. "Now mind telling us what have you got in that backpack of yours?"

They want my backpack? This sounds less like police and more like robbers, Twilight thought. Still, maybe I can just share.

"Just some food, sandwiches and apples, plus notebook and pencil."

"That's it?" the second man on the right drawled disappointedly.

"Shut it, food is better than nothing," growled the one on the left.

"Uh... well, I can share..." Twilight muttered.

"Share? What are you, five years old, or just fresh out of some Vault?" The Right (as Twilight designated him) asked derisively.

"Listen here, poppet. You give us that backpack, with everything, and you may go," threatened The Left.

"But I need that food too!"

"Do we look like we care?" interrupted The Right. "Do as my friend says, or it won't be pleasant for you, poppet," he finished derisively.

"My name is not Poppet, it's Twilight! And I am not giving you all of my food!" Twilight exclaimed indignantly, her pride wounded and blood hitting her brain, making her forget that she could not possibly offer any resistance to two armed men, and Spike was too far; even if he was here, he could bite one, but not two. But that mattered little to the angered Princess of Friendship.

Alas, if back in Equestria she could have easily put fear of Celestia into these scoundrels, she had no magic here. Which was about to be proven.

"Oh yeah?" said The Left. Crossing the distance between himself and Twilight rapidly, he punched her in the gut. The victim of brutish assault felt as if her recently-eaten lunch would leave her stomach unprocessed, and she doubled over in pain. But she still stood on her legs; this seemed to infuriate the left, as he hit Twilight with his pistol's hilt. Not being able to defend herself, Twilight felt pain in her left cheek and felt as if her teeth threatened to come loose. She could not resist a cry of pain as she fell down.

"Now listen here, missy," The Left's voice did not have any pretense of politeness anymore, "that was a really stupid thing to do, or say. And Wastelands do not forgive stupidity. So, in fact, I'd be doing you a favour by ending your life right here and right now. And your food will serve smart people well. So say your prayers, poppet."

Gasping in pain and unable to move, Twilight could only lie and cry silently, hearing a click-clank as The Left did something...

Goodbye, everypony. Goodbye, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie. Goodbye, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. Goodbye, Shining, my BBBFF. Goodbye, Mom, Dad.

Goodbye, Sunset. I am sorry I failed.

Unknown to everyone present at this cruel, but common (for the Wastelands) scene, The Left's head was currently in the ironsights of a hunting rifle.

The eye looking down at it did not twitch as the finger pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

Twilight felt...

Wait. Why is my cheek wet? Is that what is supposed to happen when I am shot? No pain?

Thud.

Twilight dared to open her eyes. In front of her, she saw grass, tilted to the left at nearly 90 degrees angle.

I am lying down.

"FUCK!"

Uh? Oh, it's The Right!

"Take that, you bastards!"

Bang! Bang-bang!

"You'll pay for that!"

Pay for what? Twilight thought dumbly. What happened?

Bang-bang-bang-bang!

"You're gonna die- AAAARRRGH!"

Twilight could not find the strength to stand, but she was able to rise a bit and see what happened.

Spike silently ran to The Right and bit his leg savagely.

It came at a great surprise to him, apparently, because he forgot about shooting at whatever he was shooting at.

A figure appeared from a tree and aimed something long at him.

BOOM!

The Right twitched as something hit him, and fell. he nearly squashed Spike, but the dog had enough sense to jump away before that happened.

Forgetting that another armed person was present, Spike ran to his mother/sister figure.

"Twilight! Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"Ugh... yes, but... I think I can stand now," she replied, trying and succeeding to do this.

However, when she did, and looked around, her sight fell upon The Left's corpse. The man lay unmoving...

...he's missing a part of his head!!!

And this fact allowed Twilight to see everything that is contained within a human's skull.

The sight made Twilight sick. She collapsed on her knees, bruising her kneecaps on the process, and started regurgitating freshly eaten lunch into the grass near it, not paying attention to everything around.

Once she finished, she wiped her mouth with forearms, caring little about hygiene, when she heard a voice behind her ringing with incredulity:

"Twilight Sparkle?!"

Both unfortunate travellers turned around to see a figure in a strange light-blue suit with familiar yellowish skin and fiery red-and-yellow hair on her head.

"SUNSET SHIMMER!!!"

Two bodies fell atop the grass.

"And nopony invited me," grumbled Spike.

Sunset Shimmer had to drop her rifle so as to avoid any possible trauma to herself or Twilight.

"OOF!"

"Oh, Sunset, I'm sorry! I'm just so glad to see you because someone just tried to rob and kill me and I thought I was dead for sure and I would never see you or anyone else ever again and..."

"Twilight!" the loud shout made its recipient to pause. "I also am very glad to see you, but we need to move, and I can't do that if you are on top of me."

Bashful, Twilight stood up and helped Sunset to do so.

"No hugs for me?" came a voice from below.

"Spike!" Sunset beamed with a smile and picked the dog up. "Of course I'll give you a hug!" and she proceeded to do so, even scratching him behind the ears.

Having finished her greeting towards Spike, she gave him back to Twilight, picked up her rifle and intoned:

"Twilight, I have many questions to ask, but for now, we must get out of here. This place is too dangerous. You are lucky I was here, otherwise..."

"Yeah, I would have been dead. Thank you for saving me, but what are..." Twilight slowed down, as her brain realized something.

Sunset has this long thing - I think it's another gun - and I do remember a loud boom, and one of those falling, then the other one... Oh no! Did she..?

"DID YOU JUST KILL THEM?!"

Uh-oh, Sunset thought. I should have remembered that Equestrians, as a rule, despise killing, even in self-defense or when trying to protect others.

"HOW COULD YOU KILL THEM?! IT'S JUST..."

"TWILIGHT!" Sunset screamed, and, surprisingly, Spike joined her. This silenced purple-skinned girl, and Sunset continued hurriedly:

"Look, Twilight, I can explain why I did what I just did and what happened with this world, but we must leave, now! Just let me get you two to safety and then scream at me all you want, OK?"

"Fine," Twilight replied, but her tone clearly indicated that she was not over the events yet...

"But what are you doing here, Twilight?"

"There was no message from you via the magic book for such a long time, and I became very worried about you. Plus, my magic book could not open the portal, and I suspected something very bad happened here. And I could not just leave my friends. Wouldn't be much of a Princess of Friendship otherwise," Twilight replied, still in a clipped tone.

They had arrived at a place called "Vault Village" in an hour. Sunset presented Twilight to the chief of security, Swift Sentinel, as a "friend from out of town", and he agreed to let her stay with them. He gave Twilight the same set of clothes Sunset wore while taking away her usual clothes to wash them away of blood and "nasty-looking grey matter", and also some water to wash her face, as it was also blood-stained.

He also took away the pistols and ammo that Sunset took from dead raiders (as they were named) and gave some bottlecaps to them (when Twilight eyed those with suspicion, Sunset gave her an "I'll explain" look and she didn't push the issue).

Now, they were sitting in Sunset's house and eating remains of Twilight's food stock.

"Oh my... Twilight, I lost my magic book."

"WHAT?!"

"Look, let me tell you what happened to me. Remember me telling you there was a war going on? Well, it took a great turn for the worse at one moment. This country, United Federation of Equestria, or UFE for short, was fighting an alliance called TransOceanic Defense Coalition, or TODC. The war was brutal, and no side could achieve victory. In the end, someone decided to attack the enemy using atomic bombs."

"What are atomic bombs?"

"A weapon of incomprehensible destructive power. One single bomb like that can destroy, say Manehatten or Canterlot like nobody's business."

Twilight felt that her eyes were bulging out.

"That can't be!"

"It can. What you see around is the result of enemy's bombs falling on our cities. I survived only because I managed to get a place in the Vault."

"And the Vault is..?"

"A massive underground bunker that can protect from atomic bombs if they do not fall too close, and supply the people within with clean water. One can live there for ages, Twilight. Unfortunately, I had to rush into the Vault straight from my job, and my magic book remained at home, so I couldn't tell you what happened here. I am sorry, Twilight."

"No need to apologize, Sunset," Twilight replied, still in shock from hearing all the information. "So you hid in the Vault?"

"Yes, and initially we thought we would have to live there for a very long time. You see, atomic bombs leave behind invisible poison known as radiation. When they fell, people thought we would spend our whole life in the Vault. It was not true, but calculations said radiation levels would be too high to live on the surface for twenty years. But something was not right there, as we lived there for seven years only, and yet now one can walk around relatively freely, if one has a radiation detector. There are still pockets where one shouldn't go, but they can be avoided."

"So you left the Vault and came to live here?"

"You can say that. Remember these two who tried to kill you? They were raiders. These are extremely bad people, with no sense of moral whatsoever. They used to live in this village. When the Overseer, leader of everyone in the Vault, wanted to negotiate with them, they simply killed him and his bodyguards, and attacked us. Vault security counterattacked and drove raiders out if the village, but some of them survived. They rob and enslave everyone they can. And you barely survived meeting the two of them."

"So... you kill them... so they don't kill you?" Twilight said quietly. This is horrible! How did it come to this? How can these people be so cruel that putting them down seems to be the only defense?

"Precisely."

"And... Canterlot High School?"

Sunset sighed. Twilight felt as if a stone brick fell into her stomach.

Oh no...

"I got separated from our friends, Twilight. I have no idea what happened to them. I did not even live in Canterlot anymore, when the bombs hit. And that place was bound to come under nuclear attack, because it was the capital city, like back in Equestria. There was some defense system in place, but it was imperfect. At least one bomb did fall there. I am sorry, Twilight... but it appears that the portal back to Equestria is either heavily damaged, or destroyed."

Twilight felt wetness coming into her eyes. Am I to remain here, in this dead world? Forever?

The events of the day, combined with this knowledge, were too much.

Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, did a very un-Princess-y thing: burst into tears.

Sunset moved over to give her a comforting hug, words rining through her head:

Welcome to the Canterlot Wastelands, Twilight Sparkle...

Character creation complete.

Twilight Sparkle's S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:

Strength: 4
Perception: 7
Endurance: 4
Charisma: 7
Intellect: 9
Agility: 4
Luck: 5

Sunset Shimmer's S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:

Strength: 5
Perception: 6
Endurance: 6
Charisma: 5
Intellect: 8
Agility: 5
Luck: 5

Unique Trait (Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer)

Pony In Disguise: You are not a human, but a pony in a human form from magical land of Equestria, which lies in parallel dimension. Only you and other characters with this trait can actively sense and harness Equestrian magic... not that this world has it in abundance.

Unique Trait (Twilight Sparkle)

Make Friends, Not War! You react very badly to idea of killing, even when defending yourself or your friends. Killing a human or any other sapient being, plus attacking any beasts first, lowers your Karma. Killing a beast in self-defense or defense of others has no effect on Karma. Befriending other sapient beings grants you positive Karma.

Unique Trait (Sunset Shimmer)

She-Demon Inside Me: Some part of you is still tempted to commit bad deeds. When no friends accompany you, committing evil acts has no effect on your Karma. However, if you commit an evil act with friends nearby to see it (or your misdeeds are heard of later), the negative effect on your Karma is doubled.

Author's Note

Phoo-ey! That was one hell of a chapter. I forewent my usual process and wrote everything straight into FIMFiction chapter editor, and it still took me 8 hours overall.

The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. and Trait tidbits are my views on what kind of characters Twilight and Sunset would be if they were playable in Fallout. Also, this is a tribute to original "Fallout: Equestria" by Kkat. I always enjoyed those little tidbits on Littlepip's new Perks.

Tomorrow I'll embark on a travel which will leave me without Internet access. Until August 5th, any activity here is highly unlikely. I'll reply and say my thanks as soon as I am able to.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter