Chapter 3

Plans and crash course of survival

Sunset Shimmer could not tell if Twilight cried for minutes or hours. She did not really keep track of time. After all, she had shocked her friend with a gory scene of death by gunshots, and then dropped an info-bomb of a truly massive scale on her. And after that, she basically told Twilight that she and Spike are probably doomed to remain in this anti-utopian, cruel, dead world forever.

For a moment, Sunset imagined an evil version of Pinkie Pie, with her hair straight instead of cotton-candy like usual, telling both of them with a maniac grin:

"You are doomed to stay here forever!"

"But..."

"FOREVER!!!"

Shaking the silly picture out of her head, Sunset focused her attention on Twilight, who only now managed to calm herself somewhat.

"So..." the purple-skinned girl said quietly, and then continued in a slightly raised voice, "are we to stay here... until we die?"

Good question, Twilight.

"To be honest, Twilight," the fiery-haired young woman said, "I really do not know. Interdimensional portals and effects of nuclear detonations on them are not exactly what I studied when still under Princess Celestia's wing. Given that you appeared here, however, I can safely assume that there is a way back. You did not come here from Canterlot, did you?" Sunset chose not to add the words You and Spike would have died ten times over before getting here into her question.

"No... when we arrived, we saw some wooden buildings, all of them in extremely bad condition. I noticed that some of them were less damaged on one side, and decided to go this way. Me and Spike were walking for... an hour, I think, before we stopped to have lunch under that tree, where I met those... raiders and... you," Twilight finished, still uncomfortable with what had transpired

That girl is surely smart, deducing where there is a higher chance of meeting survivors. Had she gone somewhere else, she would have stumbled into radiation pocket, Sunset mused.

"I see... from what I know, you appeared in a village near the city known as Baltimare. It was destroyed during the Day of Burning..."

"The what?" Spike interrupted.

"The Day of Burning. That's what the locals now call the day when the massive nuclear attack on UFE happened. On this day, many cities were destroyed, and millions perished," Sunset explained. "It's after this day when the United Federation of Equestria basically ceased to exist as a country."

"I'm still having trouble comprehending the scale of this attack..." Twilight muttered. "A weapon that can kill millions in one single explosion? I know of no spell that can do that, even among those of the darkest."

"Well, humans have no spells, they have got science instead," Sunset replied. "And science can bring both positive and negative results."

"And what of the war?" Spike inquired. "You told that this country, UFE, ceased to exist. Does this mean you guys lost the war?"

"Technically, the war is not over yet, but as far as I am concerned, there were no winners," the pony-turned-human answered. "Both UFE and TODC unleashed atomic bombs on each other. And given what destruction occurred here, I believe that TODC suffered the same fate as we did. But we really do not know. We do not even know who started dropping bombs first. I do know that when bombs started falling, Vault-Tec, the company that built the Vaults like the one where I and inhabitants of Vault Village hid from detonations, sent the order to seal all the Vaults and to cut all communications, to avoid detection. The Overseer of our Vault apparently received some additional instructions, but he never told us much about them. The members of federal government were supposed to hide in a special bunker somewhere, the one which could withstand more than the Vaults can, but they most likely did not survive, otherwise they would have assumed control of the country by now. The same with Vault-Tec headquarters, wherever it was located."

"Is there nothing left of the government? Nothing at all?" Twilight asked incredulously.

"As far as anyone is aware, nothing. There is some organization named "the Enclave" that calls itself the remnant of UFE, but no one really believes they are what they claim. Even if they are, they are not controlling this territory anymore."

"And they had no way to defend themselves from the bombs?"

"Canterlot had some sort of anti-missile defense system around it that was supposed to protect it from nuclear warheads," Sunset started, only to meet blank looks of fellow Equestrians. "Bombs are put into what we call "warheads", and these warheads are delivered by missiles; that's the mode of transport that allows warheads to fly very, very far, to put it quickly. But Canterlot was destroyed, thus it is safe to assume that the defense system failed."

"How does it work?" Twilight asked, her eyes having a manic trinkle in them. Horrible as these inventions are, I must know about them!

"Well... there are some books that will explain it better. I have a bookshelf, you can use it..."

"Thank you!" the Princess gave a hug to her fiery-haired friend.

"Tomorrow."

This latest word earned Sunset a look that basically said she just spoke blasphemy.

Yeah, when it comes to Twilight, it is blasphemy.

"We all need a rest, Twilight. No one knows what tomorrow will bring, and we need to stay strong in this world," she explained.

"Fine," came the answer, although the tone said I agree under protest.

"Let me show you where you and Spike will sleep tonight..."

Hard as Twilight Sparkle tried, she was unable to get good sleep that night. She either thought too much about the day's events, or she suffered through a nightmare when she fell asleep and could not get her nerves in working order after that. In the end, she found herself in some state where she was neither fully asleep nor actually awake, and remained like that until morning.

When she woke up (relatively speaking), she noticed that Sunset Shimmer was missing. On looking around, she found a note on Sunset's bed. It said:

Twilight,

I need to talk over some things with Swift Sentinel, the de facto leader of Vault Village. If you wake up while I am gone, please wait until I come back (it won't take long, I promise).

Should you or Spike feel hungry, I have got some food in the box that has "Food" written on it. I am afraid we have only water to drink. Please use the water sparingly; we can't afford to use a lot of it, even with the water purification system.

After that, I will have to teach you some things about surviving here.

Sunset

"Oh... Twilight, you awake already?" Spike's voice made its way to Twilight's ears.

"Yeah... awake."

"Bad dreams?"

"You could say that."

"Still thinking about these two raiders Sunset had killed?"

"Yes..."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I don't know, Spike! Killing is bad! Taking another's life is bad! That's what I always believed in! We never had to actually kill someone as far as I remember! I know that this world is not Equestria, and these raiders do sound like very bad people, but still... there could have been a way to deal with them without shooting them, right?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"You do not seem that upset over their deaths, Spike," Twilight muttered accusingly.

"They hurt you! They tried to kill you, Twilight!" Spike actually growled. The purple-skinned girl involuntarily took a step back; she had never seen him act like that. "And I could not arrive in time to prevent that! If Sunset had not done that, I would have LOST YOU! And if there's one thing dragons hate, it's losing what's precious to them!"

Twilight stood, mouth slightly agape. Spike was on the roll, however, and didn't notice that.

"You remember that dragon that pursued us when I was behaving like a numbskull over Owlowiscious? He was ready to burn all of us into a crisp, and that was because I ate his gems! Gems! Consider yourself lucky that you have never seen a dragon when his family is threatened! Even desciptions of their fury from books are scary enough! Hate me all you want, Twilight, but you are like my mother (you did hatch me), therefore, you are family, and while I am conflicted about what Sunset did, I am certainly not going to cry over those bandits! If I have to choose between their lives and yours, I will always choose yours!"

Twilight felt tears coming to her eyes at this declaration. While disapproving of his callousness towards the deceased raiders, she was floored by his admission on how dear she was to him. Am I glad he followed me here. He may not be the Element of Loyalty, but he is not lacking it.

"Thank you, Spike," she gave him a hug, "and I don't hate you. I do not want to die, of course. It's just... what Sunset did... reminds me of the time before her reformation."

"You mean when she turned into a raging she-demon and hurled a fireball of dark magic at you?"

"Indeed. I can't help but think that this side of her has returned after all these events played out..."

"A Pip-Boy? You want me to give this friend of yours a Pip-Boy?"

"I am not asking you for one of those fancy C-series or, fates forbid, one of those 5000 Exclusive collector's items!" Sunset exclaimed incredulously. "I only need a simple Pip-Boy 3000A for Twilight! She is going to remain here for a long time, plus, we do have a surplus of them due to latest attacks, do we?"

"We do. And do you know that we also need them to get the bottlecaps the local merchants now use instead of pre-war money? We don't really have that much to trade with them, and those Pip-Boys rack an income," Swift Sentinel was not willing to budge.

Great. How do I persuade him to part with one?

"Moreover, I am very certain that you and this Twilight Sparkle will leave Vault Village as soon as you are able to. I'd hate to lose you and valuable equipment."

"Well, we aren't planning to leave immediately. Twilight has virtually no knowledge of surviving in the Wastelands. She does not even know how to fire a gun!"

"Your point?"

"My point is that Twilight needs some tutoring and experience. Vault Village is a good place to get some. I'll be helping her, we may work on jobs together. And once both of us are confident that we can take care of ourselves, only then we will go."

"Leaving me with those less experienced and security personnel that is diminishing?"

Oh no you don't get to guilt-trip me! Sunset thought, irritated at Swift Sentinel for trying this tactic. If she were honest with herself, she did not like this idea too, but Twilight's well-being took priority in her mind.

"If there is one thing I am not planning to do, it is abandoning my friends. Twilight is my friend, and as far as I am concerned, no one in this village qualifies as one. Besides, I am not obligated by any instructions from Vault-Tec or the late Overseer to stay anymore. I will not be the first one to leave the village, remember?" she said bluntly.

"No. But I have no desire to have anyone leave this village while we are still vulnerable to beasts and those raider remnants."

"Fine," Sunset said in a clipped tone, "how about this: you give me a Pip-Boy for Twilight, I teach her everything needed, we help in securing the area and once you do not have to worry about beasts and raiders, then we go?"

Swift Sentinel lowered his head, clearly in thought. After what felt like hours to Sunset, he said:

"You really think you can take on these threats and stop them?"

"It wouldn't hurt to attempt to do so, at least."

"Fine," the head of Vault security opened a drawer and pulled a Pip-Boy from it, "we have a deal. Take care of threats to Vault Village, and you and Twilight may go wherever you wish."

Clearly, he does not expect us to actually do so, Sunset thought, taking the coveted device.

"Deal."

"But how will you teach Twilight to shoot a gun?"

The fiery-haired girl stopped for a moment, clearly surprised, but then a lightbulb went in her head:

"Do you still have that BB gun that nobody wants?"

"That pop gun? This stuff is useless. Even merchants do not want it, you can barely kill radroaches with it," Swift scoffed.

"Useless for defense, but to teach basics of using guns? That gun is perfect," Sunset said with a smirk.

"OK, you can have it, along with the ammo for it," came the answer, and Swift opened the gun safe, giving Sunset the BB gun and round boxes with metal balls for it. Now why didn't I have that idea? he thought.

"Thank you!" he heard the sing-sung answer, and the door closed behind the fiery-haired young woman.

"I have to learn how to shoot a gun?!" Twilight exclaimed, unpleasantly surprised.

She, Spike and Sunset were standing in front of improvised fire range where various bottles stood at various distances, joined by a security officer called Point Blank. The latter was chewing a bubble gum and had an expression of extreme disinterest on his face, listening to two girls bickering.

"Yes," Sunset replied unforgivingly, "if only in self-defense at least. The Canterlot Wastelands are very dangerous, as you may have noticed. Aside from raiders, there are mutated beasts that attack every human they see and cannot be tamed. And merchants also tell stories about aggressive mindless mutated humans as well. Not everyone believes them, but if they are true, walking without weapon is suicide and the height of stupidity."

The last words were spoken with intent to irk Twilight a bit. If she hates something, it is being called stupid.

"Fine," Twilight grumbled, "I'll do it, because I definitely hate being stupid."

Worked like a charm.

"And you said that on purpose."

What the..? Sunset almost jumped upon hearing that. Oh, very smart of you, Twilight.

"So how do I do it?" the purple-skinned girl asked, eyeing the BB gun as if it offended her.

"Here," Sunset helped Twilight to hold the gun as a human would usually do, "now, to properly aim the gun, you need to use the iron sights. There is rear sight and front sight," she pointed at objects in question.

"Uh-huh."

"Now, you need to put rifle's butt against your shoulder, like this," the fiery-haired girl adjusted her fellow Equestrian's position accordingly, "and look through the rear sight with your right eye."

"Uh-huh."

"Now you must align rear sight and front sight. To do so, center the front post in the notch of the rear sight and the tops of both sights should be level."

"Uh-huh," Twilight stood rigid, listening very attentively.

"Typically, when both sights are aligned and you can see the target through them, it means you aim the gun correctly," Sunset turned to Point Blank. "Did I miss anything?"

"Only the part where the slightest deviation of front sight can cause a complete miss," grumbled the security guard. "Otherwise, it is a fine, if amateurish description on how to aim a gun. I'm certain your bookworm friend can learn the details later from the books."

"There are books on this subject, and you didn't tell me?!" the equine Princess rounded on Sunset.

"This is not something you can learn solely from books, Twilight," her compatriot defended herself. "Practice is the best teacher here, trust me."

"If you say so," Twilight replied, a hint of doubt present in her voice. "Now what?"

"Now, you've got to aim at this bottle," Sunset pointed at the bottle closest to the "rookie", "then, and only then, pull the trigger to shoot the gun."

"Trigger? You mean this little thing where my finger rests?" Twilight turned the gun so her hand would be visible to Sunset. However, when she did so, she pressed on the trigger, releasing the metal ball, which flew in Point Blank's direction and hit his arm.

"HEY!" he immediately rounded on Twilight. "Watch where you point that thing, you imbecile!"

"Sorry, sorry!" the alicorn-turned-human apologized profusedly, shrinking from total embarassment. "Did that hurt?"

"Not as much as bullet would have done, girl, but still, be careful when friendlies are present!" the guard roared, and then turned to Sunset. "Just where did you find this klutz?"

Klutz? Hey! Twilight thought, offended.

"None of your business," Sunset cut off any attempts to inquire into her friend's past. Turning to the latter, she said, "Yes, that part. Do be careful with it, OK? Bullets hurt far worse than metal balls this thing shoots; that's why I picked it first for you to try. Now, move this lever to reload," she showed Twilight where it was located, "and shoot at the closest bottle."

"OK," Twilight replied, attempting to aim the gun as Sunset told her to.

This is not as easy as it sounds, she thought. Finally, when she thought she aimed the gun correctly at the bottle, she pulled the trigger.

Phut.

The metal ball hit the bottle, breaking it into pieces.

Twilight beamed with a smile, turning to Sunset.

"Nice," the latter said, "now reload and try the second closest bottle."

The purple-skinned girl did as she was told to, and fired again.

Phut.

This time, the shot went wide. Twilight frowned.

She reloaded and tried again. Another miss.

This time, she growled quietly.

"Try and aim the gun after you exhale, while not inhaling," Point Blank adviced. "That helps to aim. Breathing does a number on aiming."

"Thanks," Twilight replied, and attempted to follow his advice.

Phut.

Another miss, but the ball flew closer to the bottle this time.

"Remember what I had said," Point Blank spoke again, "even the slightest deviation can cause a miss. Align the front sight strictly level to the rear one, and strictly in the middle of the notch."

The equine said nothing, but aimed once again and fired.

Phut.

Crash.

The bottle turned into shards that flew in different directions.

"That's better," the guard said without a hint of being impressed, "now go on to the next bottle."

Twilight spent nearly fifty minutes on her basic training. Point Blank took over her training (much to Twilight's displeasure - the man was not exactly polite, and showered her with profanities when she did something wrong), correcting her stance when needed, and forcing her to learn how to shoot when standing on one knee, or when lying on her stomach. When Twilight questioned on why she needed to do so, he gave her a look that promptly discouraged her from attempting to do so again.

Once she hit all the bottles, the guard barked at Sunset to reload the BB gun and "ensure that this rookie does not shoot me in the back" (Twilight growled when she heard that, and so did Spike, who could not afford to burst into profanities) and went to put another round of bottles. Once he did so, he picked up some rectangular object and ordered Twilight to stand behind it. She did so, but asked:

"What is that for?"

"There's a chance that whatever you shoot at may shoot back, girl," came the answer, "and thus, you're highly unlikely to stand openly, because you'll need to hide from bullets behind cover. You'll shoot at the bottles again, but you will do so as if you were standing behind cover. Hey, Shimmer, come here and hold this!" he barked at Sunset, who did as ordered. "You," he addressed Twilight again, "once I say so, hit the closest bottle while not exposing yourself fully. And don't take too long!" he took several steps away and then shouted, "Fire!"

Twilight aimed at the bottle from behind cover. She was almost ready to shoot, when...

"Bra-tatatata! Too long! You are dead, Sparkle! Get back to cover and try again!"

"I didn't even aim properly!" the girl protested.

"If you meet any of them raiders again, they won't let you just shoot them! They'll shoot back! Stand in the open unmoving and you are dead! Expose yourself for too long and you are dead! Now, get ready again!" Point Blank shouted at his "student". "Ready! Fire!"

Twilight aimed at the bottle from cover again. She tried to aim quickly, and yet as precisely as possible.

Phut.

The shot missed. Twilight quickly hid herself behind the rectangular "cover".

"Hmpf," Point Blank scoffed, "at least you hid yourself fast enough. Surviving is the most important thing to do in a fight! Now try and hit the bottle again! Ready! FIRE!"

The violet-haired girl aimed again. She pulled the trigger, and the bottle broke into pieces. However, before she hid behind cover again-

"Bra-tatatata! Dead again!"

"What the hay?!" Twilight exploded. "You gave me even less time!"

"If the enemy knows where you hide, his chances to hit you are higher, and he needs less time to aim at you!" the guard shouted in turn, putting another bottle instead of the destroyed one. "Again! Hit this bottle fast enough!"

"Is he always like this?" Twilight grumbled quietly to Sunset.

"When teaching others to shoot? Trust me, he is polite with you," Sunset said in turn. "When it comes to others, he can drive everyone to hysterics."

"Ready! FIRE!"

Another forty minutes went on while Twilight learned to shoot while hiding in cover. Point Blank forced her to try all stances, as well as shooting from both sides of cover, shouting "bra-tatatata!" when she took too long and giving her gradually less and less time.

Once Twilight finished with this course, the guard barked "Dismissed!" at her, and went away.

"Gosh, I am tired," the purple-skinned girl complained.

"Understandable," Sunset replied, "I felt the same after his training course. Let's go home now, we need to eat and you wanted to read some of the books."

Home. This place feels like anything but home, Twilight thought, depressed. And I have got to spend at least thirty moons here now.

When they came back to Sunset's house and had a meal (if survival rations from Vault 75 could be called such; Twilight's displeasure at their taste was clearly written all over her face), its temporary owner said:

"Twilight, there is something you need to have, if we want to take a chance at getting you back to Equestria."

"What is it?" Twilight replied, with a hint of interest.

"This," Sunset showed her a strange object which looked like a cylinder with a small screen, buttons, a wheel and a switch on one side, "is a device named Pip-Boy 3000A. Everyone in the Vault had one, but since many of ours died, well... you need it more now. Here," Sunset unfastened the straps designed to hold Pip-Boy in place, "put it on your left forearm."

Twilight did as asked to, noticing that Sunset took her own Pip-Boy and secured it in the same place.

"What does it do?" she asked.

"It's a pre-war electronic personal information processor, so it naturally can carry any sort of information within, except video images - this option is present in other models, which are quite rare. But it also can monitor your health, for instance. It has maps, and it can show you your location on them, and there is a compass. Plus, it also has radiation detector and a radio. Its screen also doubles as a flashlight, if it's too dark. There is also an Identify Friend-Foe system, which allows you to see where the enemies and friends are."

"And how does it discern enemies from friends?"

"Based on what others do. Typically, everyone is marked as a friend, with a green marker. If someone fires at you, IFF marks them as hostile and puts a red marker. Mutated beasts are also marked as hostile."

"And can I see where Canterlot is on the map?"

"Sure," Sunset showed Twilight how to use the map. When Twilight saw the distance from her current location to Canterlot, her eyes became wide.

"That's... quite a distance. I guess me and Spike are stuck here for a long time. Like, forever," she said dejectedly.

Sunset frowned upon hearing that.

"Not if I can help it, Twilight," she said resolutely. "You taught me the importance of friendship, and I am not going to just let you two wither here. I'll help you find a way back to Equestria!"

"But how? The portal is too far, and we don't even know if it works!" Spike exclaimed.

"Well, to be honest, I was not planning for us to go straight to Canterlot. We need to send a message back to Equestria. My magic book still lies in the basement of my last pre-war home, which was in Trottingham," Sunset showed where Trottingham was; it was considerably closer to Vault Village than Canterlot. "Trottingham, as far as I know, was not utterly destroyed during nuclear attack; the outskirts should be relatively untouched."

"And what of Vault Village? Will they let us leave it?" Twilight asked.

Sunset's face fell. That's the question I hoped to avoid.

"Not right now. You still need some practice, Twilight. And Vault Village is threatened by mutated agressive animals and raiders that survived the initial attack on it. Once it is no longer threatened, we will leave."

"What do I have yet to learn?" Twilight asked.

"Tomorrow, you'll learn how to shoot from more damaging weapons than that BB gun you practiced with today. I also hope you can learn some unarmed combat, meaning using your fists and legs, although..." Sunset gave her friend an appraising look, "you are not exactly built for it. We'll see about that. There are other things you need to know, but for now, you can use the books I have."

Twilight grinned at the last words and quickly excused herself. Spike and Sunset had a chuckle at their friend's enthusiasm.

The next day, Twilight met Point Blank once again on the improvised firing range. As Sunset had predicted, the grumbling security guard was now teaching Twilight on how to use a pistol.

"This here is N99 10mm pistol. An oldie, but a goodie. Pretty easy to find and maintain, as merchants say. This is not the only weapon you may find, but for now, we are not giving you anything else. Understood?"

"Yes," Twilight replied.

"Good. Now, unlike that BB gun, you do not need to reload after firing every shot. However, if you spend all ammo and have to reload your pistol, you will have to move the bolt to send cartridge into a chamber. Look how it's done," Point Blank showed how to do it, and after that, had Twilight memorise the sequence of actions via repeating the process several times.

"Now, before we move on to firing, you also need to know how to properly maintain your gun," he said, and spent nearly half an hour on teaching the Princess of Friendship on the subject, having her disassemble and assemble the gun several times until she could do it fast enough, screaming profanities if she missed something or was too slow. Twilight's hands were covered in gun oil and scratches after that, and she sorely wished she could wash her hands (which Point Blank allowed her to do only once he was satisfied with Twilight's progress).

"OK, now at least you will not look like a baboon while wearing and using it. Now, get to the firing range and better not miss, the ammo is very valuable!"

The live fire training was shorter than it was the day before. Point Blank went through the same routine of firing using various stances and from cover, but a lot faster, not willing to have Twilight spend too much ammunition. Whenever Twilight performed poorly, he berated her for several minutes before allowing to continue.

In the end, he had an impromptu exam for Twilight. Giving her a magazine with twelve cartridges, he ordered her to shoot as many of twelve bottles as she could.

Twilight, thanks to the previous day and several books Sunset had about guns, was now more accustomed to using iron sights and confident in herself, and hit seven bottles of twelve. Point Blank grumbled that "it was still five bottles short of perfect" and that Twilight "really must learn hitting targets at bigger distances", but admitted begrudgingly that the purple-skinned girl performed better than other "dunderheads" and allowed her to keep the pistol and two ammo clips for it.

Sunset beamed at her friend and gave her a congratulatory hug, and Spike was running around in circles, barking happily.

However, the happy moment was interrupted by a scream and sounds of shots being fired somewhere.

Twilight and Spike looked around, confused, while Sunset and Point tensed immediately and went for their weapons: Sunset for her hunting rifle and Point for combat shotgun on his back.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"I don't know, but if shots are fired, it's not good," Sunset replied.

"Less talking, lasses, and more moving! Follow me!" the guard barked at both of them.

"Spike, go back home and stay there!" Twilight ordered, taking off after others.

Spike looked like he wanted to protest, but Twilight went away very fast.

"Yeah, because getting myself worried about you is sooooo much better than jumping into the fray..." he drawled, sarcasm dripping in his voice.

"What in the world are those?!" Twilight shouted, pointing her finger at the monster in front of her. Said monster looked like a scorpion hit by enlargement spell to her.

"It's called radscorpion!" Sunset shouted back. "It is some type of scorpion that mutated due to radiation from nuclear bombs and became larger and meaner! And tougher, too!"

"Quit flapping your gums and SHOOT IT!" bellowed Point Blank. Sunset followed his advice and fired a round at it, but it was not enough. The radscorpion continued advancing at them.

"Why don't you die!" the guard exclaimed in rage. He fired his shotgun at the radscorpion, twice, and Sunset fired again. Only after that, the radscorpion fell and didn't move anymore.

"Why didn't you fire?!" Point rounded on Twilight.

"You told me yourself that this pistol is only for close quarters!" Twilight replied angrily, venting all her pent-up frustration at him. "Both of you shot it before I actually needed to fire my gun!"

"She's right, you know," Sunset defended her friend.

"Shut up and move on, both of you!" the guard ordered, taking off in the direction radscorpion came from. Both girls follwed him, slightly irritated at his rudeness.

Several moments later, Point Blank turned around the corner. The girls followed him to see three more radscorpions advancing on a dozen security guards and several armed civilians, and several more in the distance.

"Sunset, come with me and help us hold against this wave! Twilight, look around and see that no scorpion comes behind us!" he ordered, moving to join his comrades. Sunset followed him, leaving Twilight to gaze upon the battle of men versus mindless beasts.

Assault rifles and hunting rifles were damaging radscorpions from afar, while shotguns finished them off at close distance. The mutants were seeping blood from wounds, but did not relent. One of them came too close to a civilian and hit him with a sting. The man fell with a shout. Point Blank turned to the radscorpion and blasted him straight into the "face", killing the beast. One of the guards and another civilian took the wounded away, and another man in white clothes ran up to them (Twilight assumed it was a doctor). The helpers left the wounded in his care and came back to join the fight.

Twilight stood, mesmerized. She had read about famous battles that Equestrians had to fight in, and saw the drawings depicting them. While not of equally grand scale, this battle scene was no less enticing than those painted by other ponies.

A scream interrupted her musings. Twilight turned around - and her eyes widened in horror.

A radscorpion was advancing on a woman with a small girl in her arms, no more than six years old. The woman ran back into her house and closed the door, but the radscorpion started attacking it, and it appeared that the door would not hold for long against him.

Twilight turned around. Sunset and others were still engaged against the other radscorpions, and she assumed they would not hear her shouting. Running to them was not an option: the door already had cracks in it.

What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? the question rang in Twilight's head.

The woman screamed again.

Crack! Radscorpion managed to push one of his pincers through the door.

I have to do something... Twilight thought. In a split second, she realized what she had to do.

She looked at the pistol in her hand.

She flipped off the safety.

She moved the bolt. The weapon responded with click-clank.

She raised her pistol.

Align rear sight with front sight, level and center, see the target through it.

Pull the trigger.

BANG!

Repeat.

BANG!

Repeat.

BANG!

Oh snap, now it pays attention to me!

BANG!

Repeat.

BANG!

It's too close for comfort! What to do now?

RUN, you idiot, that's what!

The last sentence roared in Twilight's head like a thunder. Correctly assuming that the radscorpion's pincers or sting presented a real health hazard, she took off into direction of the defense line, expelling air from her lungs:

"HELP! I NEED HELP!"

These radscorpions just never give up! One would think that even most stupid beasts would stop coming to places which kill them!

This thought ran through Sunset Shimmer's head as she reloaded her hunting rifle. Once she was ready to fire again, she aimed her riflle at another radscorpion.

BOOM!

She moved the bolt and repeated the procedure.

BOOM!

Her target twitched and stopped moving. Sunset looked around quickly and noticed that there was only one radscorpion left in front of defenders.

She fired again, but missed.

Aimed too hastily, damn it!

Other defenders, however, quickly turned their weapons on the last mutant. A salvo of fire from assault rifles quickly finished it off.

The fiery-haired girl wiped the sweat off her forehead. The attack was over.

I wish Twilight did not have to see something this violent this soon, she mused. I hoped we would start with something less dangerous, like radroaches or maybe mole rats at most, but not radscorpions, and certainly not in such numbers.

I need to check on her. That girl is probably shell-shocked from this violence right now.

Sunset turned around...

...what in Celestia's name?!

Her eyes widened.

Twilight Sparkle was running from a radscorpion... in their direction.

Moments later, the panicked purple-skinned girl screamed:

"HELP! I NEED HELP!"

...and promptly tripped on something and fell over.

That hurts!

Twilight fell in a bad way, hitting her solar plexus. As a result, she could only helplessly inhale for a few moments, trying desperately to make oxygen stay in her lungs.

Steps behind her forced her to roll on her backside in half-sitting position.

The monster spawned by excess radiation, which she tried to evade, was advancing towards her now, his eyes visible.

Twilight fired aimlessly two times; missing the beast was an impossibility right now, but the bullets hit the base of radscorpion's tail. The beast raised his appendage to sting her...

BANG!

His sting came apart in a small shower of bloody bits.

Twilight looked behind. Sunset Shimmer was standing behind and moving the bolt of her hunting rifle.

BANG! She fired again.

The radscorpion twitched, but still did not keel over.

"Shoot! I am out!" she shouted.

Out of what? Twilight thought dumbly, but then realized that her friend meant "out of ammunition."

Meanwhile, the monster moved forward, coming very close to the Princess of Friendship. Twilight's right leg was planted feet first on the ground, making it stand up. The radscorpion moved his left pincer, pinching the standing limb with it.

"AAAAARRGH!"

Pain coursed through Twilight's leg. Panic ran through her head.

It's going to kill me! It's going to kill me! It's going to kill me!

No, it won't! said the other voice.

Twilight remembered that she still had her pistol.

Monster's eyes were close enough to eliminate the need to use iron sights.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Click! Click!

Twilight realized that she ran out of ammo.

Then she felt that radscorpion was not pinching her leg anymore (it still was in pain, but the pain was more tolerable now).

Then she saw that the monster stopped moving and was, in fact, lying down.

Dead.

Then, her head was forcibly turned around, and she saw a familiar face in front of her.

"Twilight, are you alright?" came the voice of Sunset Shimmer.

For a moment, Twilight did not know what to say.

Then she tried to stand up. Her right leg flared with feelings of pain, but she forced herself to persevere. Standing straight turned out to be somewhat problematic, however.

Sunset noticed that and quickly draped Twilight's hand over her shoulder, making it easier for her friend to stay.

"MEDIC!" she screamed.

"Already here," the man in white coat Twilight had seen before ran to them and started fussing over the wounded leg. "Damn, that girl is lucky. Skin not pierced, only some bruises. Put an ice pack and all will be fine in a jiffy," he said, and took an ice pack from his bag, proceeding to bind it to the purple-skinned shin with bandages. Twilight felt that the pain lessened somewhat.

"Thank you," she said.

"Oh, it is you I've got to thank!" the woman that was hiding from the recently deceased radscorpion ran up to the Princess of Friendship. "You saved our lives!"

"Wait a minute!" came the familiar gruff voice of Point Blank. "Dear, are you saying she saved you and our daughter?"

"She did! This radscorpion was breaking the door, and she fired at it, distracting it!"

"Yes she did! Yes she did!" Twilight felt something small hug her leg, and looked down to see the girl she apparently saved clinging to her. "She killed the meanie monster!"

That makes me look like some super-heroine from Power Ponies comic books, she thought ruefully, and said, blushing:

"It was nothing special..."

"Are you kidding?" the girl looked up at her with incredulous expression. "It was awesome!"

"Nothing special?" Twilight raised her head to look in Point Blank's face. "Kid, you took on a radscorpion with a pistol and wearing a jumpsuit, while many of my colleagues would not face one of these beasts one on one when in full armour and having an assault rifle! You could have tried running up to us and telling me about that radscorpion breaking the door, but you did not risk others' lives and distracted it so it would come after you instead! For someone who barely understands the way Wastelands work, it is not "nothing special", it is "better than one could expect", so don't be too modest!"

"He is right," Swift Sentinel came up to everyone present, "you risked your life for others who could not defend themselves and even got wounded, even if slightly. That is what a good person does."

Is it true? Twilight thought. Is killing in defense of those who cannot defend themselves justifiable, when there is no other way to defend them?

She turned her head to Sunset, as if expecting to find the answer on her face.

Her friend caught her look, and smiled, nodding to her.

Twilight smiled back... and started shaking.

"Wha-wha-what's hap-p-p-p-pening to-o-o me?" she stuttered.

"Your body is coming down from excess of adrenaline which was synthesized in reaction to danger," the medic explained. "It will pass. Just lie down and have a good night's sleep, and don't trouble that leg."

"Come on," Twilight heard Sunset say. "Let's do what the doctor says."

That sounds like a great idea, she thought, and allowed her friend to lead her back to home...

Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Bookworm: You just love reading and re-reading books, and have a keen eye for details described in there. Whenever you read a book, you gain +2 bonus points to any skill the book augments, in addition to any extra points it gives.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Hunter: You have learned the intricacies of defending yourself from aggressive animals. You gain +5% damage bonus against mutated beasts, e. g. radroaches, mole rats, radscorpions, etc.

Author's Note

I am back! Now that I am at home, writing is so much better.

I do not have an update schedule, because I need to wrap up next chapter's plot in a presentable way, and that takes time. Hopefully, the next chapter will be there within 3-7 days.

Twilight is starting to learn the Wastelands' way of life, but her "tutorial" is not over yet...

I hope you like this chapter Stay tuned!