Fallout: Lavender Wastelander

The light stayed on all night.

Daniel stared up as he lay on his back, tracing the patterns of red, orange, and brown on the metal ceiling as he absentmindedly thought about the night before.

Shame seared his mind. There were probably dozens of other ways to resolve the situation. He could have walked Twilight back to Rarity’s room, or insisted that waking up Fluttershy would be a better alternative than… than just drunkenly meeting her in the middle and saying ‘yes, we can sleep together, but clothes stay on’.

He looked down to Twilight’s broken horn as her head lay halfway on his chest. At some point she had snuggled right up to his side. A guilty part of him enjoyed having Twilight this close, her body hugging against his. Every time his mind drifted away from the guilt and back to her, a headrush slammed his brain like a super mutant with a sledgehammer, then the shame returned as his body reacted to those lecherous thoughts. It was an ever repeating cycle that had lasted for about an hour so far by his guess.

He knew it was morning, at the very least, despite the windowless room. His Pip-Boy showed a little after six-thirty A.M when he had checked a few minutes prior. He wanted to let Twilight sleep, get a good long rest after the long day, but there was a reason he had awoken so early. Even after two glasses of strong alcohol had helped put him to bed, it had been two glasses.

Daniel waited for what he guessed was another minute or two, before finally the pressure became too much. He needed to wake Twilight up.

“Hey, Twilight,” Daniel said gently, tapping Twilight on the shoulder three times. “Can you move? I have to go pee.”

Twilight groaned. As she rolled off him, her wings brushed against him until she had folded them under her as she went right back to sleep. It allowed Daniel to easily slide out of bed. Getting Twilight to move had been easier than he thought it would be. And as a bonus, she was still out. Awkward conversation was put on hold.

Walking over to the chair where he had placed his backpack and armored Vault suit. He hesitated and stood there, occasionally glancing back at Twilight several times to make sure she wasn’t going to wake up yet.

After a minute, Daniel stripped out of his night clothes. Shame crushed him once again. He was changing with Twilight still in the room, but there was little other convenient choice. He wasn’t going anywhere outside of a bedroom without armor on. Even a civilized town could be dangerous. Taking part in a short gunfight in Moriarity’s Saloon back in Megaton was all the evidence Daniel needed. The gunfight had started when a man named Mr. Burke had tried shooting the sheriff, Lucas Simms, in the back.

After a quick change, including grabbing his Pip-Boy from the nightstand, Daniel carefully walked over to the bedroom door. Even with his precautions, every booted step on the metal floor produced a soft ‘clink’. He double checked to see if Twilight was still asleep. Thankfully, she was.

He left the room as silently as he could. Out in the hallway, he saw Fluttershy’s door was open, and the light was on. Having moved around, the pressure in his bladder had lessened, allowing curiosity to take the forefront. He approached the open door and peeked inside.

Fluttershy was busy doing pullups on a thin overhead pipe close to the door. He took a moment to watch. The arms of her jumpsuit were tied around her waist, revealing her shirtless but cloth-wrapped upper torso. The winding snake of scars continued from her neck, down her torso, then disappeared from sight in the lower half of her jumpsuit. The light in her room danced off the beads of sweat covering her.

She had more well-defined abs than he had.

Daniel wasn’t attracted to Fluttershy. He was jealous. With her buzzcut, scars, athletic build, and almost total lack of cleavage under the cloth wrap, Fluttershy could have passed for a teenage boy.

She was close enough to the door to spot him after a few reps. She let go of the bar mid-pullup and landed just in front of him. Daniel’s jealousy of her grew when he realized Fluttershy was a hair taller than him, probably just under or exactly at six feet tall. Daniel wasn’t small, either, coming to five feet, ten inches tall.

“H-hey, Daniel,” Fluttershy said through exhausted breaths as she leaned one shoulder against the doorframe. “Twilight in your room?”

“She is, but nothing happened,” Daniel blurted out as he stepped back from the woman who could probably make him lose a few teeth if she took a swing. He assumed that if Fluttershy had been up long enough to work up a sweat, it was possible she had checked Twilight’s room. He looked left and right, making sure no one else was in the hall. “Can I ask you something personal, about Twilight?”

Fluttershy frowned. Her head bobbed slowly in a single nod.

“She came to my room last night, sometime after half past midnight, sounding scared,” Daniel said, starting slowly so he could reassemble the drunken memories into what he recalled as the truth. “I let her in and she asked if I didn’t want to be lonely, or something along those lines. I was drunk, but sober enough to realize something was wrong. From there, Twilight broke down with an anxiety or panic attack. She didn’t want to spend the night in her room alone, so I let her stay. The personal thing I want to ask is, how long has she had anxiety problems?”

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth. “She’s had a long, rocky history with it… I should have known. I was just so relieved to see she hadn’t snapped and gone raider that I didn’t consider she could have a panic attack.” She shook her head. “The Weatherly’s dining area should be open soon. We can all talk and de-stress over breakfast.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Daniel said with a nod.

He bid Fluttershy goodbye and jogged to the restroom.

<>~<>~<>

The Weatherly Hotel’s dining room was, unlike the night before, populated. There weren’t many people for the size of the room, but there were enough to allow a low din of conversation to echo off the walls. It stopped as Twilight entered with her plate of apple slices, diced carrots, and razorgrain porridge.

The handful of guards coming off night shift, as well as guards about to start day shift, gave Twilight the most looks. They ranged from caution to outright suspicion. The half-dozen other various people scattered throughout the room were more of a mixed bag. A few gave her skeptical looks similar to the guards, while others were curious, and two smiled and waved at her, much like the humans she had passed in the hall the night before.

Thankfully, the looks didn’t last long before the humans went back to eating and conversing. Twilight thanked Celestia that two glasses of scotch hadn’t been enough to give her a hangover. Otherwise, the sounds of metal scraping ceramic plates and people talking would have been like icepicks jamming into each ear canal.

She was ready for breakfast, and to finally talk at length with Daniel. There hadn’t been any conversation with him since he had woken her up, or during the walk over. The most they had spoken to each other was an apology on her part, which Daniel interrupted by suggesting they eat breakfast first.

Twilight remembered everything from the previous night. Every drunken moment that had led to her entering Daniel’s bedroom, only to have a panic attack. Thankfully, sleep had done wonders in resetting her frazzled mental state. Twilight felt calm and more in balance with herself. More in control. Part of her accepted that it had been a mistake to try and sleep with Daniel after the first date, and while drunk. But it would have been a mistake she could live with. It hadn’t just been fear and alcohol at the steering wheel, Daniel had been such an enjoyable person to be around that she had chosen his room to be the one she slept in. She hoped he would give her a second chance after the mess she had made.

She pushed the thought aside as she crossed the room, scanning for a place to sit. Fluttershy’s ears and Rarity’s white fur were easy to pick out as they sat in the same booth from the night before. It didn’t take long before she was sitting in the same spot she had been hours before. Daniel took a seat beside her.

“So, um, hey, Fluttershy, Rarity,” Twilight said as she settled in, nodding to each friend in turn. “Did you two sleep well?”

“We did, Darling,” Rarity said as she tapped the tips of her pointer fingers together. “So, Fluttershy already told me what Daniel told her, and I blame myself for letting you leave my room alone and inebriated.”

Twilight winced. She hadn’t been aware Daniel had even been awake before her. Although after a moment of thinking back, she faintly remembered him getting up at some point. It didn’t matter, what mattered was that her two friends had already been brought up to speed on the Grand Galloping Gala level disaster.

“It’s fine, honestly. The only one of us who hadn’t been drinking was Fluttershy,” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “It’s fine now. I’ve had some sleep, and I’m in a much better headspace. I say we all agree to share some blame and try to move past it.”

“Move past it, but admit it happened,” Daniel said. “Maybe a second date without alcohol? See where things go from there? At least take it slower than whatever was going on last night.”

“That would be great!” Twilight almost shouted. Daniel was already giving her a second chance. She realized she had nearly shouted, and sure enough, there were a lot of stares directed at her. She shied away from them and curled a length of hair around a finger. She repeated herself in a lower tone of voice. “I mean, yes, that would be nice.”

“Oh,” Rarity interjected, rubbing her hands together with a smile. “I could loan Daniel a suit and you a dress, make it a nice, formal, and romantic dinner.”

“And I can be the waitress,” Fluttershy said. “If I can find some mole rats, I could get them to help.”

“R-right,” Daniel said, scratching the back of his neck as he blushed. His gaze shifted quickly back and forth between Fluttershy and Rarity. Twilight was in the same boat. Her friends had turned around fast to offer help. “Twilight told me you can literally talk to animals and understand them on a deep level.”

Twilight nodded. The whole mess was being resolved better than she hoped.

“Yes,” Fluttershy said as she nodded as well. She stopped and chuckled. “I’m serious about helping for the date. From what little we’ve talked, you and Twilight seem like a good match. Just, don’t feel pressured by my opinion, you two love who you love. You both may not be a match, but you both will never know unless you try. It’s just so beautiful that people can come together in this broken world.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Fluttershy,” Rarity said. She turned to look at Daniel. “Could you be a dear and let us girls have a few minutes alone?”

“Uh, sure,” Daniel said with a nod. He picked up his plate and soda before sliding out the booth.

Once Daniel was sitting at a table on the other side of the room, Rarity leaned forwards and spoke softly in a dead serious tone, all formality and friendliness lost. “Blink three times if he did anything without your consent.”

“Whoa, girls, hang on,” Twilight said, leaning back. “I don’t know everything he told you, but I had a panic attack that brought the night to a screeching halt before it went that far. Yes, we slept in the same bed, but we had our clothes on, and I was the one who went to his room because my brain was a mix of drunk, terrified of being alone, and… ugh.” Twilight facepalmed, sighing heavily. “Apparently, my brain goes all horny when I’m partially a human. This is Flash Sentry all over again, but ten times worse because Daniel and I connect better. Can you girls give me some advice? What should I do?”

“I’m not sure how good my advice will be,” Fluttershy said. “But relationships are a messy nightmare, full of twists, turns, and complications you never expected. They take a lot of work, and you will never know if you’re going the right way about it. Just don’t jump too quickly to sex. Discord and I waited until after our sixth or seventh official date. That’s not counting all the times I had him over for lunch before we even started dating. But that’s me, you go at your own pace.”

“Fluttershy is right,” Rarity added. “Be patient, don’t get alcohol involved again unless you feel absolutely safe, be yourself, and if anything makes you feel unsafe, get away and find us. We’ll have your back.”

“We sure will,” Fluttershy said. “And while I think Daniel seems like a good guy, it never hurts to learn some self defense skills. I’ll teach you some Brotherhood C-Q-C and my own G-B-C moves when we get back.”

“And those abbreviations are for…?” Twilight asked.

“Close-quarters-combat and grizzly-bear-chiropractic moves,” Fluttershy said with a smile.

Twilight had seen Fluttershy wrestle bears to give them a spinal readjustment. She wondered how well those skills actually transitioned to fighting a super mutant. She knew it was likely a vain hope that she wouldn’t have to see her formerly gentle friend snap the neck of something. Hopefully, it wouldn’t have to be Daniel.

“So, girls,” Twilight said slowly. She breathed deeply. “Last question. In your honest opinion… how bad did I mess up by going to his room?”

Fluttershy answered first.

“He came to me and told me what happened, almost to the letter of what you said. The fact you both were drunk and nothing happened is a miracle. There is a reason I avoid the harder stuff.”

“And you, Rarity?” Twilight asked.

“I agree with Fluttershy on this one. She’s the one who honestly is the most qualified since she’s the only one of our friend group in an interspecies romance… not to mention my own track record with a love life isn’t the best. Are we all good to call Daniel back over? I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine if Twilight is,” Fluttershy said.

“Same,” Twilight said. She waved Daniel back over.

<>~<>~<>

Breakfast continued after Daniel had returned, and Rarity departed to open her shop. Wanting a change of topic, Twilight opened the largest pouch on her belt, which was more of a satchel bag, and pulled out the arm terminal. The casing was a matte black, while the glass had a mildly purple sheen to it.

“Whoa,” Daniel said from beside her. He lifted up his left arm to compare her device with his own. “Looks even better than mine. It’ll fit your new suit nicely.”

Twilight had to agree. Black was a good color. She inspected the machine more closely, taking on all the angles and details of the wide screened device. ‘Pip-Boy 3000’ was stamped onto the casing. Flipping the Pip-Boy over, she found a latch close to the bottom edge of the screen and unlocked it. The inside cuff was padded with soft foam covered by maroon-colored leather.

“Try it on,” Daniel said, nudging her with an elbow.

Twilight did so, locking the device over her left forearm, like Daniel’s. The Pip-Boy had some weight to it. Her finger trembled as she pressed the faintly glowing orange button labeled ‘power’, and jerked with a gasp as the Pip-Boy clicked and whined.

Internal machinery stirred to life as the soft-purple screen illuminated with a lighter-purple, almost pink light.

“Seeing someone put one on for the first time is amazing,” Daniel said with a light chuckle. “I won’t be like Stanley and pull a fast one on you. When I was ten and got mine, he had put wonderglue on the latch before the Overseer gave it to me.”

“Why’d he do that?” Twilight asked, watching strings of numbers and code crawl up the screen. A cartoon human-pony unicorn in a Vault suit smiled and gave her a thumbs up. The whining and clicking sounds ceased as the Pip-Boy boot process finished, bringing her to a menu screen.

“Wanted me to think it was biometrically locked to me forever,” Daniel said with a laugh. “All it needed was a little solvent and more muscle than a ten year old could manage.”

“Now that’s just mean,” Fluttershy said from across the table.

“Yep,” Daniel said. “He had me convinced for a few hours.”

“Can you teach me how this works?” Twilight asked. Curiosity got the better of her and she turned the dial on the top right of the Pip-Boy all the way down to ‘radio’. A selection of channels appeared. Galaxy News Radio, Enclave Radio, and several unidentified signals.

“Looks like you’re figuring it out for yourself well enough,” Daniel said. “Go on, experiment. I doubt you’ll break it. Pip-Boys are tough. Waterproof, fireproof, and EMP shielded.”

Twilight nodded. She intended to do just that.

“Do any of you mind if I turn on the radio?” Twilight asked.

“Fine with me,” Daniel said. Fluttershy nodded.

Twilight took a few moments to figure out what combination of button presses and knob turns would get the desired result. After a minute, Galaxy News Radio played on a low volume from her Pip-Boy.

Everyone ate while listening to the radio. After two songs, Three Dog’s voice came out loud and strong, giving Twilight pause.

“Helooooo, Capital Wasteland,” Three Dog howled. “They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so have I got something for you peeps to chew on this morning. Get this—and this needs to be taken with a super mutant’s body weight in salt since the source was raiders—but there have been multiple sightings of green eyed robo-dogs in the metro system, this is on top of the mysterious balls of light that will mutate you to hell and back if they touch you. Now, I try to only give you kiddies the facts, but enough reports have come in from multiple sketchy sources all saying the same weird shit is happening. Anyways, I’ll be back this afternoon. Three Dog ouuuuuut!”

As the next music track played, Twilight looked up from her plate to Fluttershy.

“Any idea what that was about?” Twilight asked.

“Not a clue, but Daniel and I need to head through the Metro, so I’ll look into it.” Fluttershy said.

<>~<>~<>

Fluttershy turned and waved goodbye to Twilight and Rarity as she crossed the bridge out of Rivet City, side-by-side with Daniel. It was later than she would have liked, almost afternoon, as a trip to a machinist was needed to carve wing holes into the rear plate of her new combat armor.

It was concrete gray, much like Rarity’s mercenaries. It was all thanks to Rarity generously heaping caps and supplies onto them that she was confident enough to head to the Mall.

“Think it’ll be safe to fly the wagon?” Daniel asked from beside her.

Fluttershy shook her head as they stepped onto the tower platform at the end of the bridge.

“Sun’s out,” Fluttershy said flatly. “Anything that looks up can get a bead on me. We can take Anacostia Crossing to the Mall.” She pointed to the entrance of the metro station that descended into the earth near the tower to Rivet City.

“Have you ever been in the metro?” Daniel asked, cradling his new semi-auto carbine close to his chest with the barrel pointed down at an angle so it pointed away from his feet. Fluttershy had briefly instructed him on the ‘patrol carry’ position, as she had been instructed. Finger off the trigger and safety engaged.

“Yes, but not this station,” Fluttershy replied. “Thankfully, the Brotherhood has partial maps of the metro.” Fluttershy pulled out a folded map from a pouch to show Daniel before placing it back. “We just need to follow the Red Line northbound and we’ll be at Museum Station. We’re probably going to be in for a fight, though. The Brotherhood has pulled out of most of the metro system, so raiders and worse have taken over.”

“From the sound of it, the Brotherhood is stretched really thin if they can’t hold the routes between their outposts. Right?”

“Unfortunately,” Fluttershy said with a grim nod. They were heading outside of a town, so her military persona was front and center. She repeated verbatim something Paladin Gunny had told her. “We can’t exactly build more suits of power armor. So we’re limited on how many we can throw into the field.”

“And why doesn’t the Brotherhood use combat armor like we’re wearing, rather than just relying on power armor?” Daniel asked.

Fluttershy shrugged.

“To use a crude phrase an older initiate told me when I joined… you learn fast that shit rolls downhill, and you’re never the one at the top with your pants around your ankles.”

Adopting the way human soldiers walked and talked had been too tempting. They were assertive, confident under pressure, and everything Fluttershy wasn’t when back home. Every time she took on the mentality of a soldier, it made her feel like she was Rainbow Dash, or a less bitchy version of herself after Iron Will’s lessons.

“And that means?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t make the decisions,” Fluttershy said with a shake of her head. “I just try to survive the decisions of those in positions above me and hope we’re moving in the right direction.”

The conversation died away after that exchange.

Fluttershy was glad to be off the subject. While she wasn’t blindly dogmatic to the Brotherhood, openly criticizing the Brotherhood wasn’t a position she’d like to put herself in. She was still a mutant in the eyes of many members. It was just easier to dismiss the question than face the truth that stupid decisions and tactics had gotten people she had known killed. Too many for her to not hold the Brotherhood to blame.

It wasn’t long before they reached the base of the tower, and were almost to the escalators which lead down to the metro’s entrance gate. Someone was certainly ahead. Outside the metro, beside the escalator steps, was a crude wooden sign painted with white lettering.

‘Toll Booth: Caps, Chems, Ammo, or Ass. NO EXCEPTIONS, NO MUTANTS’

“Huh,” Fluttershy said, scratching her chin. “No guts, and the sign says toll booth.”

“Might not be raiders, then,” Daniel replied with a nod. “They’re within spitting distance of the bridge into Rivet City, so I guess the city security is fine with whoever is down here.”

“I wouldn’t put caps on that until we check for ourselves,” Fluttershy said. She kept her rifle in the patrol carry position as she started walking down the escalator. “On the few patrols I’ve been on, I’ve seen mutant camps within a hundred meters of raider camps. Some days it felt like they were more interested in causing us problems than each other.”

“Are you sure you’ve only been with the Brotherhood for two weeks?” Daniel asked. “You talk and act like you’ve been in the military for years, but Twilight never mentioned if you were part of the military back home. Were you?”

“No, I’ve just had a very busy two weeks,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. “On top of all the range time I’ve put in, I’ve volunteered for every patrol the Brotherhood would let me on because, for one, it would give me an excuse to look for my friends while driving a mechanical suit of nearly bulletproof armor, and two… I felt like I had to work twice as hard to prove to people like Danse a mutie could make it in the Brotherhood. Especially after ‘Flagging Fluttershy’ caught on as my nickname around the Citadel.”

“Oh… are you okay?” Daniel asked. “You seem like you’ve been through hell and back.”

Fluttershy clenched her jaw. He didn’t know half of what she had gone through. But he was trying to be nice. While it stung that he had phrased it that bluntly, he wasn’t some random kid asking about her scars, or if she had killed anyone, or what it’s like being a soldier.

“I’m doing as okay as I can,” Fluttershy said with a shake of her head, compartmentalizing and shoving the stress away for later. “The mutant camp wasn’t the first time something wanted to eat me. Honestly, I think some of the stuff back home would fit right in with the Wasteland, so after my experiences, I can kind of forgive the super mutants more than I can raiders. Super mutants butcher people for food. Raiders are just… raiders.” Fluttershy limply ended with a dismissive wave.

It was hard to explain how absolutely terror-inducing raiders were to someone who didn’t have a vagina. Rape was so rare in Equestria that it was practically nonexistent. Here it was like raiders made it a competition to outdo each other when it came to brutal sexual violence. Fluttershy had vomited when she had been told some gangs use rape as a right of initiation. Then she found Melissa in that cage and the Wasteland had shoved it right in her face that children weren’t exempt either.

“Interesting point of view.” Daniel said from beside her. They were almost to the bottom landing already.

Fluttershy blinked several times as she looked around. She had spaced out, lost in dark thoughts.

She wanted to be thankful that there was no typical raider decor to be found at the landing, no mutilated bodies impaled on meathooks, or heads on spikes, but the lack of big ‘shoot me conscience free’ signs had Fluttershy on edge. Not knowing if whoever was ahead were people trying to get by or just very clean-living raiders was discomforting.

“Keep your finger off the trigger,” Fluttershy said. “But chamber a round and take your weapon off safety. The metro corridors make great funnels and we could be walking right where they want us. Not sure who these people are so just stay cautious.”

“Got it,” Daniel replied. Fluttershy flipped the safety on her rifle in time with Daniel flipping his.

Fluttershy took point as she crossed through the open scissor gate and down the steps, descending once again into the winding bowels of the cursed, blasted, DC ruins. The spike to her heart rate was instant as she stepped from the final stair down and into Anacostia Station proper.

Even though she loved living on the ground with all the cutesy animals, she was still a Pegasus at heart. The arched concrete roof of the station was too low for her liking. It held several dim but still burning light bulbs. They poorly illuminated the cracked brown tile floor and tan brick walls. The walls themselves were plastered with old, faded posters, advertisements, and fliers shouting in bold letters some product to consume or buy.

From her short stint as a model, Fluttershy knew the smiling faces on the posters were as artificial as they come. They practically screamed, ‘Buy this and be happy enough to forget the world is about to end’. The irony of half the products having ‘nuke’ or ‘bomb’ in the name wasn’t lost on her. The old world had fallen into some sort of collective self-referential psychosis. She had gotten so tired of hearing music about setting the world on fire on Galaxy News Radio that she was probably the only Brotherhood member to willingly listen to Enclave Radio.

And now, two hundred years later, people were still dealing with the insanity of the old world.

The original goal of the Brotherhood of Steel was to reclaim technology and keep it out of the hands of the ignorant. Prevent a second apocalypse. With the tunnel vomiting advertisements in her face, Fluttershy could see some merit in the Outcasts point of view in holding strictly to the old beliefs.

She was stalling again with a long internal ramble.

Overhead, several lights flickered, on the cusp of burning out. It was a testament to the engineering of humans that their infrastructure could last so long with little to no maintenance.

She pushed aside the thoughts, trying to keep her head clear and her eyes peeled as they traveled further in. After seeing Twilight’s injuries, and without the comfort of a suit of power armor, Fluttershy wanted to make sure to look out for landmines, tripwires, or bear traps.

Bear traps. Now there was one human invention Fluttershy had had a different idea of when she’d first heard the name. She had pictured something like a cage falling from above that was thick and heavy enough to trap a bear. Not some cruel device that would shatter leg bones and snare flesh with metal teeth.

Thankfully, no threats like a bear trap revealed themselves as she crept down the corridor. On the left-hand side a door was open, revealing the collapsed room beyond, past it the path sharply curved, almost to the point it was a ninety-degree angle.

Fluttershy sidestepped like she was trying to not disturb bunnies sleeping until she hugged her right shoulder against the wall. She slinked towards the bend to peek around it. Daniel had quietly followed behind. The only noise Fluttershy could hear was their boots crunching on the cracked tile floor.

Slowly peeking around the corner with her rifle raised, Fluttershy saw another door, this one closed, again on the left hand side of the corridor. The door was ten or so feet from a wall where the corridor abruptly ended, though the wall had an archway. Through the arch was a short set of stairs that likely led to the metro platform, but the distance and angle Fluttershy was to the arch kept most of whatever was beyond obscured from view.

“No contacts yet,” Fluttershy said in a low voice to Daniel, recalling the terms and tactics Paladin Gunny had taught her for urban combat and squad movement. “There is a door on the left, the pictogram sign says it’s a male bathroom. Advance to it, and I’ll keep my gun on that archway. Run around and behind me, don’t cut across my front.”

“Once I’m there?” Daniel asked.

“Keep your eye on the archway and I’ll leapfrog to where you are,” Fluttershy said, “Then we’ll clear that bathroom. If these people are raiders, I’d rather not leave a room unchecked and get a shotgun barrel shoved up my ass.”

Unfortunately, Fluttershy had seen the end result of a raider having done just that to a captive. Raiders were much, much worse than super mutants. She could at least feel sad for taking the life of the simple minded green giants. Raiders were beyond mercy.

She winced.

You who showed no mercy will receive none.

Angel of Death and Mercy indeed.

“You okay?” Daniel asked from behind her. “You looked a little spaced out there?”

“It’s nothing,” Fluttershy snapped faster and louder than she had wanted as she was ripped back to the present. She had spaced out… again. She sighed, shaking her head. “Just… I’ll tell you later when we’re in a safer spot. I got an angle on anyone trying to come through that arch. Get to the bathroom and cover my advance. Ready?”

“Ready,” Daniel replied.

“Go,” she said with a nod. Daniel half-crouched, half-ran diagonally from the corner to the bathroom door. Bracing himself in the door’s alcove, he watched the archway as Fluttershy sprinted in a half-crouch as well. She reached the door in only a few seconds.

“Now what?” Daniel asked, his voice a whisper.

“Try the handle, slowly, crack the door slightly and check for any wires,” Fluttershy said in an equally quiet whisper. “Don’t force the door open if it’s stiff, either. Someone could have booby trapped it.”

Raiders were smarter than people gave them credit for, and outright evil with traps.

Initiate Lisa Halls had died on one patrol to a trap that had nearly snared Fluttershy. It was a baby carriage filled with landmines and a holotape recording of a crying baby playing on a loop. There had been enough explosives that it left a three foot deep crater in the concrete below the pram.

Daniel cracked the door open with no issue and had it fully open by the time Fluttershy realized she had drifted to thinking about things other than the mission again. With a shake of her head, she entered the room behind Daniel, rifle raised and checking corners.

It was indeed a bathroom. One filled with the rancid pang of spoiling meat.

“Something–” Daniel started to say, but was cut off by a gag. He shoved his nose and mouth into the crook of his elbow. “Something certainly died in here.”

Fluttershy’s stomach was doing flips as well. However, she had to use her nose to follow the greasy, clawing smell to the source. It was coming from a bathroom stall, the door cracked just a hair.

With a shaky breath, Fluttershy raised the barrel of her rifle slowly. The muzzle brake danced and swayed as her unsteady arms held her weapon aloft. She knew she was going to find a corpse. But ghouls tended to stink as well, and they needed to make sure it wasn’t a ghoul raider that would jump them.

Taking a few more breaths, Fluttershy finally summoned the willpower to push open the stall door. The thin wooden door creaked on ancient hinges, laboriously swinging open to reveal a corpse in cobbled together armor sitting on the toilet.

Fluttershy almost screamed as she saw the red-brown cone of dried gore fanning upwards and outwards from the shredded, unidentifiable remnants of the corpse’s head.

The only hint the corpse could have been a female was the shape of the chest armor, which was more curved around the upper chest. By her boots was a blood coated sawed-off-shotgun.

“Shit, fuck… fucking shit,” Fluttershy cursed through clenched teeth as she stepped back, placing a hand in front of her face.

Daniel stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the stall.

“H-hey, you okay?” Daniel asked, his voice quivering with fear. “You aren’t going to break down like Twilight, right?”

Fluttershy took several slow, calming breaths before she shook her head.

“I’m good,” Fluttershy said, taking several more shaky breaths. “Just wasn’t expecting a self-made corpse.” It was the first time she had seen someone who had committed suicide that hadn’t decayed into a skeleton.

“I’m in the same boat,” Daniel said. “Come on. Let’s see if anyone is manning the toll booth.”

Fluttershy gave a quick nod.

Compartmentalize. Deal with it later. March onwards, left, right, left.

<>~<>~<>

Fluttershy exited the bathroom first, her rifle slung over her shoulder.

Her hands were still too shaky to hold a proper aim with the scoped rifle, so instead she had drawn her laser pistol. It was one of the few other weapons she had. The only others were a combat knife on her hip, and a punch dagger in a sheath hidden up her left sleeve.

“I’ll take point through the arch,” Fluttershy said with a grimace. Without power armor, being the pointman was a guaranteed way to catch a bullet if someone was waiting in a prepared position. She’d rather be the one on point if bullets started flying. Daniel was a civilian. Remembering that he was, Fluttershy repeated herself without the military jargon.

“I’m going to be the one walking in front.”

“Context clues had me figure that,” Daniel said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“I’ll make an initiate out of you before too long,” Fluttershy smiled, attempting to copy the bravado and confidence of Paladin Gunny.

Steadying her trembling hands, Fluttershy took point.

It was a short walk from the bathroom door to the wall. Hugging her left shoulder against the brick, Fluttershy crept towards the arch to peek around.

As she had suspected, beyond the opening was a massive arched room.

Running widthwise inside was a concrete bridge covered in tile. Towards the middle of the bridge was a ticket booth reinforced with sandbags and tall fences made out of scrap metal and wood.

Leaning against the side of the ticket booth, facing sideways to them, was a thin, haggard looking human smoking a cigarette. He wore tattered clothes reinforced with a collage of scrap metal and leather. Hanging from his side by a leather strap was a 10mm SMG with the stock folded.

While he looked like a raider, and was dressed like a raider, there were still no visible gory corpses on display.

Leaning out a little, she relied on her low-light vision to look towards the ceiling and make sure there were no corpses hanging from it. She was confident that the dim light would keep her hidden.

Fluttershy froze as a human in similar gear to the first landed in front of her, folding his leathery bat-wings behind him and glaring daggers at her with slitted eyes. Then Fluttershy saw his tufted gray ears.

“Well now,” He hissed, smiling a smile that showed fangs. “Are you trying to sneak around the toll?”

“N-not at all,” Fluttershy gasped. She quickly holstered her pistol and walked around the arch, hands raised. There were other Equestrians in the Wasteland! “How did you get here? I thought it was just Princess Twilight, myself, and our friends who got sent here!”

Fluttershy was a mix of excitement and panic. She had no idea why a batpony would be in the Wasteland, but if he helped look for her friends, his superior night vision would be useful. She needed his help.

Ripping her helmet off, Fluttershy showed off her ears.

“I’m an Equestrian, too.”

The batpony took a step back.

“Wait,” The batpony said, shaking his head. “You were kicked out of Heaven, too?”

Fluttershy’s excitement spun around in a one-eighty. Heaven? What was he talking about? Fluttershy’s face scrunched in confusion as she tried to work out what he meant.

“What do you mean by Heaven?” Fluttershy asked slowly.

The batpony took a slow, deep breath.

“Some sort of light ball hit me and I ended up in Heaven,” He explained. “That’s the only way I can explain it. I was turned into one of those Giddyup Buttercup toys, but skin and bone instead of metal. I was all alone in a field where I could enjoy the sun and see a pure white city built on the side of a mountain.” The batpony’s long, sad sigh ended in a shaky sob. “But I’m not a good person, so Satan threw me back here.”

“Satan?” Daniel asked, having stepped around the arch as well.

“Yes,” the batpony nodded. “Looked like a deathclaw got blended with a brahmin, and was then stretched out like a snake. He was all hooves and claws and mismatched parts.”

There was only one creature Fluttershy knew that fit that description in Equestria.

This person had somehow been transported to Equestria… and Discord sent him back.