Fallout: Lavender Wastelander

It was a commonly known fact that the Marejave desert was the hottest desert in Equestria. A fact that Sergeant Winter Frost was constantly reminded of as he flew in formation over the baking sand of the Vulture Valley region. He wiped beads of sweat from his brow with a foreleg. Even with the wind whipping through his mane, the heat was inescapable.

“You good, Frosty?” Private Gaia Flower asked as she pulled up in formation.

“I will be when we can get back to Las Pegasus,” Frost replied with a wince. The sunlight had bounced off Gaia’s golden armor and had nearly blinded him.

Private Swift Strike chuckled from his point in the formation.

“Eager to lose all your bits, Sarge?”

“No,” Frost said. “Just don’t like the fact that we’re headed right for a cave full of humans.”

The info had claimed that the humans should have cleared out after one of their side turned traitor—the only reason his squad knew where to look in the wide open Marejave desert—but nothing was ever that simple with the humans. Their mission was to locate the cave where the secret portal was once located and secure the site. Investigators would then arrive to look for any clues that might point to where this SOCOM terrorist group had relocated the portal.

“Well, if we run into any, at least we have guns,” Gaia said as she tapped her red crested helmet. All of them wore a similar helmet; it marked them as ponies with firearms, and told the troops who didn’t have guns to rally behind and stay out of the line of fire. Not that that would be an issue with this mission, since it was only the three of them. The fastest response team in Las Pegasus.

Frost glanced at his shotgun. It had sounded like a cannon at the firing range, probably packed as much of a punch, too. Gaia, on the other hoof, had a long, boxy laser rifle that cracked like lightning and left the taste of ozone in the air.

Both weapons had been confiscated from humans, meanwhile Swift Strike wielded one of the new Equestrian-built guns.

Frost glanced quickly at the monstrosity dangling from Strike’s side by its strap. The human who had instructed them on firearms had said it was crude by their standards. It wasn’t difficult to see what he meant. Swift’s weapon was little more than an open-bolt collage of stamped sheet metal with a wooden mouth-grip wrapped in linen padding.

“I think I see the rock formation we’re looking for,” Swift said. He pointed a hoof down towards a small pillar of stacked orange-red desert rocks. It wasn’t a natural formation—it was a cairn.

Frost clamped his wings to his side as he pitched down into a dive.

He spread his wings towards the end to slow his freefall and landed gracefully a few meters from the cairn. It sat on top of a hill, and less than a hundred meters down the slope was the mouth of the cave.

Gaia and Swift landed seconds after him.

“Nice dive, Sarge,” Gaia chuckled.

“Thanks,” Frost replied. He raised a foreleg to keep the sun out of his eyes. “Stay on the lookout. There’s no telling if the humans left any guards.”

“Why would they guard an abandoned outpost?” Swift asked. He stepped closer to the cairn. “Looks like they left something behind.”

Frost turned. Swift glared down at something green among the stones. It was a curved piece of metal on four small legs.

“Front towards–OH SWEET CELES—”

<>~<>~<>

Fluttershy stayed on the move. It was the only way to avoid another hit. Blood streamed down her face from her broken nose.

Deathclaw Joe lived up to his name and took a wide open-handed slash through the air like he was trying to claw the rest of her face off. She dodged underneath the massive swing and leapt back.

She knew that if this was a serious fight she’d already be dead. She was being pushed farther and farther away from the semi-circle of cheering and jeering raiders behind Deathclaw Joe. She gave too much ground to keep herself vertical, and there would be only so much to give before she was considered a coward.

Fluttershy dodged back from an extra-wide left-hook, only for Deathclaw Joe to send a sudden right-hook. It slammed into the chestplate of her combat armor like a sledgehammer. The meteoric blow sent her sailing backwards as if she were a child’s toy carelessly tossed in a temper tantrum.

She landed hard on the pavement, pain exploding through her chest and back as she rolled over her flailing wings. She skidded to a halt by the rusting hulk of a bus.

“Oww,” Fluttershy groaned as she rolled onto her back. At least her wings didn’t feel broken as she lay on them. Only sprained. Pain throbed from them with each beat of her heart.

Spike landed beside her, Rarity in his arms. Slim Joe and Kerri landed on her other side.

“Oh my gosh,” Spike gasped. “Your nose!”

Fluttershy grabbed her pant’s legs and pulled herself into a sitting position. She then grabbed her nose and yanked. Adrenaline and fury were not enough to keep her from screaming. Cartilage shouldn’t crunch.

“I’m… fine,” Fluttershy wheezed. She flapped her wings just hard enough to launch herself upright onto shaky legs. She dusted herself off, and her hand brushed over a dent in her chestplate. One that hadn’t been there moments earlier.

Did he pull the punch to my face? Flutterhsy thought as she snapped her gaze to her opponent. He faced his raider gang, one fist raised in triumph. His back was a quilt of criss-crossing scars that ran from his shoulder blades to his loincloth. They were the most prominent of the dozens of scars marking him.

Fluttershy had seen abused circus tigers with shallower whip marks.

Deathclaw Joe’s glowing horn pulled her attention away from his backside. A leather flask floated to his lips in a field of electric blue as he spun back to face her.

The cheering and jeering of the raiders died down as he drank. It was quickly replaced by several of the raiders pounding their fists onto their chests or armor. Several more joined, until nearly all of them were pounding their chests in unison.

Deathclaw Joe gulped down a mouthful of wine before he pushed the wineskin through the air, his booming voice trailing with it.

“Is this where your saga ends, O maiden whose mouth was faster than her wits?” Deathclaw Joe sang to the beat that the raiders hammered out. “Is your fight finished so quickly? Are you calling it quits?”

“Why is he singing?” Fluttershy wheezed. Her knees threatened to buckle.

“He really likes you,” Kerri whispered through a grin of pure glee. “The Knock’s started early for us. Play along and he might knight you.”

Knight me? Fluttershy thought as she plucked the wineskin from the air. She sniffed the open spout. The burning scent of alcohol assaulted her bloodied nose. She coughed and the pain in her chest and face magnified with the spasm.

Okay… maybe just one sip for the pain.

The concoction tasted like swamp-water mixed with sugar and berries. It left a sweet-tart aftertaste. Punga fruit wine or mead.

“Why in the name of Equestria is he an alicorn?” Rarity scoffed incredulously. “I feel like we’re glossing over that, but how do you expect to win against that brute?”

“I’m not,” Fluttershy replied. “Just got to prove him wrong and get in one more hit.”

“Fluttershy, I love you like a sister, but I’m starting to think you’re insane,” Rarity spluttered. “You don’t need to do this. Weren’t you invited to his party anyways?”

Fluttershy didn’t reply. She didn’t want Deahtclaw Joe to overhear. He was an alicorn.

She had a reason. A member of his gang would have more trust put into them than a guest. Making friends with Deathclaw Joe would be the best chance to see if he was hiding anything. And if the New Horde had as much sway over the other raider gangs as was claimed, she could use that to change the gangs from within.

And… maybe some part of her was insane. Deathclaw Joe would be the second time she had gotten involved with a dangerous, taller, older, powerful man.

She shook it off. First, she had to survive winning his favor.

He likes shows of strength and bragging. Time to adjust my role a little. I just wish I could pull off rhymes like Zecora.

Fluttershy chugged another foul gulp from the wineskin before she handed it to Spike. The strong yet fruity alcohol helped ease her pain like she hoped. Straightening her posture to stand as tall as she could, she raised her fists and took one step forwards.

“You boastful braggart, you tall bastard, your head so far up it’s in the clouds,” Fluttershy chanted as she rolled her shoulders and popped her neck. She circled the impromptu fighting ring. “It's a shame really, to be so high, it only gives you farther to fall.”

Deathclaw Joe matched her movement. They were like snarling dogs, growling at each other before it came time to bite.

“Your comeback was weak, your voice is meek, I’ll probably forget you by next week,” Deathclaw Joe chuckled. “You’re already toast, if all you can call me is a boast, lady who was nearly a super mutant’s roast.”

Fluttershy sprinted forwards, only for Deathclaw Joe to sidestep her.

She had no time to react before he was behind her, his massive arm swinging around to clamp her throat in the vice-like crook of his elbow.

“You have spirit,” Deathclaw Joe said aloud as he pinned her to his chest and lifted. She clawed at his arm and kicked her feet as he squeezed. Darkness crept into the corners of her vision as she spluttered and gasped.

He was going to pop her head like a cork.

“Sadly, spirit can’t replace experience…”

He let go and spun her around. She stumbled back as she dragged a ragged gasp of air into her burning lungs and threw up her arms to block a blow that never arrived.

“You may not be much of a fighter, but welcome to the New Horde.”

Fluttershy blinked several times. The fight was over? She tried to understand how she had managed to win his approval. He had destroyed her. He hadn’t even broken a sweat. Meanwhile, she wheezed like an asthmatic pug.

“D-Did I impress you?” Fluttershy stuttered.

Deathclaw Joe leaned close and his electric blue eyes bored into her.

“Not in the way you expect,” Deathclaw Joe whispered. “Your people often speak about their heroes… Fluttershy, Bearer of Kindness.”

Fluttershy’s entire body went rigid. Her heart dropped into her stomach and bladder threatened to empty. He knew from the start.

Deathclaw Joe patted her on the shoulder. “You are the kind of person that would defend the innocent to her dying breath, right?”

Fluttershy nodded, and he chuckled.

“Thought so,” Deathclaw Joe said. “You wanted to know the truth about why some of your people stayed with me. The truth is that they chose to be my subjects, no strings attached.” His horn flared, and he dragged his cloak towards him. He ripped the large iron clasp off of it with his magic. “I want you to take this as a mark of my favor to a specific building near here. Bring a few well trusted friends and strong fighters with you, except for Princess Sparkle. She’s an honored guest.”

Fluttershy cautiously grabbed the iron clasp.

“You’re giving me a job to do?”

“It is the most important task during a Knock,” Deathclaw Joe said as he nodded. “You're going to defend the pregnant women and children of my kingdom.”

“What!?” Fluttershy gasped. Raiders have kids? But… the New Horde aren’t normal raiders. No chems means they’re all healthy adults.

“Did you think we kept the little ones around while the riff-raff came over for a party?” Deathclaw Joe scoffed as he turned away.

I’m going to need to ask Slim Joe and Kerri everything they know about Deathclaw Joe… right after a stimpak and some sleep.

The giant knew how to make someone feel a punch.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight’s jaw worked itself over as she stared at the chartreuse unicorn waiter.

The waiter stared back and asked again, “Did Celestia fix the portal? It’s been two centuries.”

Daniel approached the cafe table and plopped in a seat. He didn’t speak, and he didn’t look happy.

Oh no, did my track record of bad reunions rub off on him? Twilight thought.

“To answer your question, Mister…”

“Tumbler Glass,” the waiter said.

“Thank you,” Twilight said. “And, no. The mirror cracked when the bombs fell. Celestia didn’t know how to repair it. My friends and I found it in a cave, and I tried to fix it with a mending—”

“You didn’t disenchant it before attempting to repair it!?” Dr. Braun screamed as she leapt out of her chair, her voice switching back to male. “That’s like trying to vork on a junction box with the power still on! Do you have any idea vhat you’ve done!”

Of course I know…

“It didn’t exactly come with an instruction manual!” Twilight shot back as she leapt up in turn, slamming her hands on the table. “I messed up, I’m aware of that, and I’m going to have to live with the fact that my mistake has killed dozens of ponies and gotten most of my friends disfigured in some way.”

And if Electrum hasn’t smoothed things out with General Beckett… so many more could die if the madman decides to go nuclear.

“Sorry,” Dr. Braun apologized as she sat back down. She inhaled a deep breath and held it for several seconds. Then released. Twilight knew a breathing technique when she saw one. “That vas rude of me. I apologize.”

Tumbler Glass patted Dr. Braun on the shoulder and smiled. “Anger is a state of mind, and you’re in control of what state you’re in.”

“Danke, Glass,” Dr. Braun said. “Vould you be so kind as to make all three of us some tea, please? Unless you two vanted something else?”

Before Twilight could reply, the door to the cafe opened, and a green earth pony mare with a yellow mane stuck her head out.

“Did I hear something about Celestia?” The pony asked.

There are more ponies here?

“How many Equestrians are in this vault?” Twilight asked. “More to the point, why?”

“It vas supposed to be my personal vault until ve discovered the Equestrians,” Dr. Braun said. “The Defense Intelligence Agency vas very keen on getting Equestrians into medical machines ve could monitor.”

There was the DIA… again.

“Celestia sent a hundred of us to this side to act as cultural ambassadors,” Tumbler Glass said as the green earth pony joined his side. “We were only supposed to spend a week inside this simulation before going back, but the bombs and General Chase’s meddling put a stop to us ever leaving. I guess it wouldn’t matter if Celestia fixed the portal or not.”

Twilight jerked. She hadn’t heard that right, had she? One hundred ponies?

Celestia had admitted to sending humans back to their probable deaths, but she had never mentioned anything about ponies being trapped on Earth. Did she know they were preserved in pods?

“You can’t leave your pods?” Twilight asked, trying to avoid suspicion leaking into her tone.

“No,” Dr. Braun said, venom in her words as she scowled. “General Chase bombed the mainframe, damaging the life support control center. Most of us vere brain-dead by the time I rerouted the system. Thankfully, Chase forgot that the supercomputer the loungers are hooked up to can save brain scans.”

“What did you say we became, Dr. Braun?” Tumbler Glass asked.

“Ghosts in the machine,” Dr. Braun whispered as if she were speaking over a campfire. “Vhich brings me back to the damage to the mainframe. Entropy is eating away at us year by year. Even the sections vith no moving parts are subject to outside forces. Ve need replacement parts, and soon. By my predictions, in ten years or less ve’ll suffer a critical failure. If the machine breaks, it could vipe the memory banks and take all of us vith it.”

Refusing to help with something like that wasn’t an option. She would save them.

“Have you asked my father for help?” Daniel asked. “He’s a scientist.”

“No,” Dr. Braun said, shaking her head. “I do not trust him, and he does not trust me. Vhich is fair. I vas vell known before the var as… nevermind. Two hundred years vith ponies and their stubborn tenacity to make friends and solve emotional problems helped me take a better path. I accept that I vas an evil person, even by pre-war America’s standards.”

Much like many of the villains that she had redeemed.

“Yeah, she used to be super villain levels of evil,” The green mare said. “For the first few years we were in here, Dr. Braun was a creepy little girl named Betty.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow and looked at Braun, who rubbed the back of her head.

Braun better have a good explanation. If it was some kind of fetish…

“I vanted to experience the things I vas never allowed as a boy. Vatering the flowers, gardening, sewing… the ponies helped me grow out of that point in my life, as it vere.”

Fair, but still a little creepy.

“So, why don’t you trust my father?” Daniel asked.

“James told me the story of his journey from Vault 101 to get to me,” Dr. Braun said. “Please take no offense, but I doubt that a normal fifty-five year old man outpaced his prime-aged son over the most inhospitable and enemy-filled terrain imaginable. James may be a man of many talents, and if he vas self taught, then he’s the most successful teacher I have ever met.”

<>~<>~<>

Daniel stepped back into the control room of the simulated Project Purity… alone.

Twilight had stayed with Dr. Braun to meet the rest of her long-lost people. The eighty seven of them that remained. Thirteen had already been permanently lost to the bombing and the following decay of the mainframe.

Daniel walked around the curved room until he found his father. He was still standing in front of the chalkboard, but his eyes were closed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Hey, Dad?” Daniel called.

“Yes, Son?” His father asked softly. “Before we get off on the wrong foot again—”

James rushed forwards and nearly crushed him with a hug.

Daniel stood frozen in place. His father practically vibrated with bottled emotion.

He felt a single wet drop hit his shoulder. The first time Daniel could ever recall his father crying.

“Son… I don’t know how to tell you this… but… but I left for a reason,” his father choked out. “I left to finish what your mother and I started… because I wanted to finish what we started together before I see her again.”

“Dad?” Daniel asked.

“Son,” his father choked out. “I don't have much longer in this world.”

Daniel’s throat closed. He couldn’t breathe. What had happened? How? Why? His father had always been in good health.

“What’s wrong? Can’t you fix it?” Daniel asked. “You fixed up everyone in the Vault.”

“I can’t fix what’s already been done,” his father whispered. “Only make up for it.”

<>~<>~<>

Colonel Augustus Autumn coughed into the handkerchief once again. The officer sitting in the jump-seat of the vertibird across from him tilted her head.

“You okay, Colonel?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” Colonel Autumn lied. He shoved the bloodied handkerchief back into his pocket. “Surface air does not agree with me at times.”

“Colonel,” she insisted, “are you sure a Full-Bird like you isn’t better suited directing back in Raven Rock? Frontline missions should be for junior commissioned officers. We don’t even have a full platoon to take the purifier.”

“I have orders from the President herself. I will personally oversee that this mission goes smoothly.”

<>~<>~<>

“So you act out normal lives to stay sane?” Twilight asked the cashier of the clothing store. The human she had seen peeking through the window was an Equestrian who had chosen to remain human in the simulation.

Everyone but Braun was a pony. Even if they didn’t walk around as one.

The Equestrian gave a faint nod. “Pretty much anything to distract myself from the fact I’m a bunch of ones and zeros trapped in a machine.”

Most of them had a similar story. Go through the motions to forget that they’re dead. Ghosts acting out a life that had ended two centuries ago.

“Thank you,” Twilight said. She turned to Dr. Braun. “I think I’ve spoken with enough ponies now. I’m going to help keep this place running any way I can. You said that you needed parts; is there anywhere you know of that I can find what you need?”

“I do in fact,” Dr. Braun replied. “The supercomputer here is almost an exact copy of the one at Virtual Strategic Solutions, a private contracting company that helped make the Tranquility Loungers.”

“Are you sure it’s still standing?” Twilight asked.

“The important parts veren’t built above ground,” Dr. Braun laughed. “Ah, the times I had there. Oh, absolutely magical. Vhich is ironic considering that is vhere I designed and built the portal to your world. Vould you like to hear the story?”

Twilight eagerly nodded. The longer she spent with Dr. Braun, the less creeped out she became. Twilight was enjoying speaking at length with her.

“General Chase and I vere both obsessed with VR. He vanted to recreate the Alaskan military campaign… and then turned it into a total fantasy devoid of reality, but that is a story for later,” Dr. Braun said. She smiled happily, her eyes distant as she lost herself in the old memory. “I vanted to use VR as a way to simulate scientific experiments, as vell as preserve my own life. Chase and I met in the company canteen by sheer chance. I started to talk to him about other uses of VR besides military training simulations. He suggested using VR for Research and Development for the ongoing var effort. By that time I vas already dabbling in technomagic and had created the G.E.C.K., a terraforming device the size of a metal briefcase. Very expensive to make, only a few vaults vere ever given them. I’ve told James about the one in Vault 81.”

Dr. Braun shook her head. “I’m rambling like an old crone. To make my long story short, I teamed up with those flat-Earthers from the Think Tank and used their transportalponder as a basis for vhat I hoped vas a teleportation gate. Project Slingshot, the military called it. A vay to get our troops deep into China. Vell, it turns out that it took us to Equestria, and less than a year later the bombs fell.”

“So, why did General Chase try to kill you and the Equestrians?”

“I pissed him off,” Dr. Braun replied. “It all started after Celestia’s visit to Earth—”

“Celestia visited Earth!?” Twilight blurted. She clamped her mouth shut and held up a hand. “S-sorry, my turn to be rude, I guess.”

Dr. Braun rolled her eyes and smiled. “As I vas saying, General Chase challenged her to enter the Operation: Anchorage simulation. I don’t know if he vas hoping to embarrass her or vhat, but she performed too vell. He told her to come back the next day and that he’d make it even more challenging.”

“So what happened next?” Twilight asked eagerly.

“The next day happened,” Dr. Braun said with a heavy sigh. “Celestia returned. Took Serum 9 and entered the simulation again. I vanted to monitor her progress, and realized only after she had entered that General Chase had disabled every safety limiter on the pod. If she died in the simulation, the shock vould have killed her.”

Twilight’s throat tightened. She knew it never came to pass, but the implication still sat like a weight in her chest.

Dr. Braun shrugged. “Celestia, to my surprise, beat the simulation. I did not tell her vhat Chase had done, I vas still a bastard back then, but I did confront General Chase about it. Our partnership died. The ambassadorial program happened. Then the bombs dropped.”

Twilight stared at Braun with her jaw half-open from the horror story she had just heard.

Celestia knew how to use guns.

And she was good at it.

<>~<>~<>

Princess Celestia stood behind a table at one end of the buckball field. At the other end were wooden cut-outs. They were meant as simple bullseye targets, framed in different ways. Still, the vague shapes were difficult to see through the golden glow surrounding her Type 1 Equestrian assault rifle.

She would have preferred it to be more like the American R91 than the Chinese Type 93, but Equestria needed weapons. And fast.

The most radical elements of the Enclave had refused to let go. Rather than making peace, they wanted to continue what the DIA had started two centuries ago. Set up Equestria as a puppet and steal everything of value. Leave Equestria with nothing for themselves. And if Equestria refused to cooperate…

If I can’t have it, no one can.

Nukes were simple childish aggression brought to its ultimate conclusion. Cities gone with the press of a button. A sore loser knocking over the chessboard and screaming ‘Who dares wins’.

They had always been an option for the Americans when it came to Equestria. It wasn’t their planet they would be destroying.

Why did I even let those ponies go? The cultural ambassadors had been her shot in the dark. A desperate bid to show that cooperation was the better path. Who am I kidding… they were probably dissected in a lab. I hope they didn’t suffer for my stupidity.

She lowered her rifle and turned away from her weapon towards Twilight’s castle over the ridge. The once raging fire in her breast had long since faded into a guttering flame. She didn’t have what it took to pull the trigger anymore.

The moment Twilight’s back in Equestria, I’m abdicating.

Celestia knew that Twilight would be a more fitting ruler than she ever was. The last one thousand years had been a legacy of decisions that had seemed right at the time.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight groaned as she hopped out of the Tranquility Lounger. Her entire body felt stiff.

Daniel and James grunted as they too left their loungers.

Even outside of the loungers they were misty-eyed and sullen. It was the same as they had been when she found them inside Project Purity, crying and embracing one another.

They needed a moment alone together. She wasn’t going to interrupt it.

“Dr. Braun gave me the password to the pharmacy terminal,” Twilight said as she slowly backed towards the exit of the room. James nodded slowly.

Daniel smiled weakly and gave a thumbs up.

<>~<>~<>

It was a short walk to the pharmacy.

Nothing had changed within the room since her last visit. Neatly organized lab equipment atop the wraparound counter that filled most of the perimeter of the room. There were a few gaps for glass-doored refrigerators filled with beakers containing a rainbow of colored fluids.

Twilight ignored the miscellaneous contents of the room as she walked towards a desk at the center. A terminal sat there, already on and ready for a password.

Gretel_2076
<Password Accepted

Twilight rested back in the office chair, idly reading over the information within the terminal.

I see why Rarity wanted one of these for her shop. I could store so many books on here, or make lists, or do so many other things.

The possibilities when it came to technology were just as limitless as magic. Humans had made so many great things without magic. She wondered what humans could have achieved if they had discovered magic before Dr. Braun’s time.

She selected the file discussing the Serums. She knew from Dr. Braun that Serum 7 would counteract Serum 9. Twilight wanted to know what else Braun had made.

I wonder if Dr. Braun would be opposed to me copying her work. She did give me the password to the terminal.

Twilight filed the thought away for later. She would need Daniel’s help learning how to work the features of her Pip-Boy outside of the radio. The thought had her check the time. Eleven thirty-one A.M, Tuesday, September 4th, 2077.

They hadn’t spent too long in Tranquility Lane.

I wonder if Deathclaw Joe has left Rivet City yet, Twilight thought as she read over the notes.

Serum 1 was the inert basis for all the other serums. Serum 2 through 5 were simply listed as ‘failures’. Serum 6 was a potent anti-radiation potion deemed too expensive material-wise to mass produce over Rad-Away. She opened the file on Serum 7.

“Developed to induce the R.D.M—Random Dimensional Mutation—in order to better understand a way to potentially reverse or prevent it,” Twilight read aloud to herself. “Initial trials on the Chinese P.O.Ws donated from Turtledove show promise. Test subjects have been liquidated following visible mutations.”

Twilight twitched her body. She reread the entry several times to make sure she understood what was written. Liquidated was not a term used for people that had a happy ending. Given how the pre-war world had made the bomb collars slavers loved to use, there was only one way prisoner liquidation could go.

Dr. Braun had been a monster worse than any villain she had forgiven.

How much good would someone have to do to outweigh the kind of evil that infected the pre-war world?

<>~<>~<>

Daniel walked alongside his father. The air between them was thick enough to cut with a knife.

His father had admitted to a lot of things. Things Daniel didn’t want to repeat, even in memory.

“So,” Daniel said to get his mind off it. “How long do you have?”

“A year, maybe less,” James replied. “I escaped with only a few lungfuls of the gas, but my fate was sealed. I’m probably one of the last survivors of that day.”

Daniel chewed the inside of his cheek. His father, his hero and idol, was a war criminal.

“Did you ever learn the name of the town you saved?” Daniel asked.

James nodded.

“It was a small Christian commune called Drifter’s Rest. They took me in, and that's where I met Cathrine,” James chuckled. “We married in the church there.”

Daniel stopped as suddenly as if someone had punched him in the gut. James noticed his absence and turned back to him with a tilt of his head.

There was no way.

“So, Dad, there’s something important that I need to tell you about Twilight…”

<>~<>~<>

Twilight had stepped away from the terminal by the time Daniel and James walked through the door. The latter stared at her with an intense, questioning gaze while the former tried to body block his much older and taller father.

“Daniel just told me that the two of you got married,” James said softly as he approached, brushing aside Daniel with a gentle push of his arm. Twilight snapped to attention. Even with the low tone, there was a subtle rumble to it, like the tall man was trying to keep his emotions in check. Even though Deathclaw Joe had a full foot over James, the father of her husband was no less threatening.

“Y-your son is an amazing person,” Twilight spluttered, finding herself twirling a strand of her mane. “I meant what I said when we got married.”

James stared down at her, the corners of his mouth working slowly.

“Dad,” James said. “I love her just as much as she loves me. We got married in the same church you did.”

“You’re from Drifter’s Rest?” Twilight asked. She had enjoyed her short stay in the town. Maybe some common ground would help smooth things over with James.

“No,” Daniel said. “My mother was from there. He met her after—”

James cut him off with a hard look.

“That is my story to tell,” James rumbled. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, his large hand covering his face. “I wouldn’t be as upset over the marriage if you two had spent more time with each other. A full week at the very least. Daniel is my only child, and I want to keep him safe.”

She could understand that, but it didn't make the situation any less provoking. She inhaled sharply, trying to maintain an emotional balance after the rollercoaster of experiences she had been through.

Braun, the trapped ponies, revelations about the past and Celestia’s involvement, and then her step-father was angry at her.

No, not angry. Worse. Disappointed. For Twilight, that was the most crushing of emotions to have leveled against her. She did everything to avoid it from others. Especially those she respected, like Celestia. With disappointment, she couldn’t snap back in response, it would just make her seem unreasonable, and if their disappointment was justified, she couldn’t even be disappointed back. She just had to deal with living under their disappointment or make things right.

“James,” Twilight said slowly as she held up her hand. It went right to her mane again. “We’ve all been through a lot recently, and Daniel has helped me get through a lot of it. He’s a rock I can find myself supported against whenever I’m feeling distraught or afraid.”

She looked past James to the man she had fallen madly in love with and smiled.

James sighed. The sound was as loud as a hurricane in the near-silent pharmacy lab.

“He’s an adult, you’re an adult, and both of you love each other very much,” James said. “I won’t stand it the way. If you two make it a year and renew your vows, I will be there… if I make it that long.”

Twilight saw Daniel’s eyes tense when James said that.

Her hand slipped from her hair and her heart dropped like a stone.

“What’s wrong, James?” Twilight asked.

“Dr. Braun became suspicious of me after I answered how I had found him, and he was right to,” James said. Twilight clenched her teeth everytime James referred to Braun as male, but didn’t correct him. “I was a part of the Enclave for many years. Long enough to know Colonel Autumn when he was a young Sergeant.”

Twilight took a nervous step back. Sergeant Dornan had hated mutants. Would James be the same way?

“Why did you leave?” Twilight asked. Did it have anything to do with why he spoke as if he was on borrowed time?

“I was part of the biochemistry department,” James replied, his voice laden with regret. He turned away from her, and his face seemed to age ten years before her eyes. “They wanted to field test a gas that I had developed on a wasteland town. I knew what it would do to them. It was only supposed to be for pest control—mole rats and radroaches. Not people. I pleaded for them to change their minds. The Enclave insisted because the orders came from President Eden, so I sabotaged the containers and fled after the explosion. The town I was supposed to target adopted me. Drifter's Rest lived up to its name.”

The world just kept getting smaller.

James shook his head. “I met Cathrine there, found the good Lord, and pledged to make up for what I had done. But karma has a way of catching up to people. I inhaled some of the gas when I escaped. Recently I’ve started to cough blood.”

Twilight bit her bottom lip.

“I’m so sorry,” Twilight said, desperate for the life raft of a new topic. She leapt to the first thing that came to mind. “The vault had enough counter-serums for the whole population with some to spare. From the notes I read, they can even turn someone who was never across the portal into an Equestrian.”

She had already set out two syringes of lime-green fluid onto the terminal desk.

“Really?” Daniel asked. “If Dad turned into a pony, would that kill the cancer?”

James balked. “Are we sure we can trust Braun? She was a narcissistic megalomaniac.”

Twilight blinked. James referred to Dr. Braun as female. Had he just made a simple mistake earlier?

Nobody was perfect, Twilight had to remind herself.

“She may have been those things,” Daniel said as he scratched his goatee. “But she’s also a perfectionist and good at her job and proud of her achievements. Do you think she would brag about playing God and not try and back it up?”

James stared at the syringes on the table, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“If we’re going to try anything that Braun recommended,” James said with a grim chuckle. “Maybe it would be best to test it on the dying man first.”

<>~<>~<>

Pinkie Pie harrumphed in boredom, idly spinning an empty Nuka~Cola bottle on the floor.

Twilight and Daniel had been downstairs for a long time, and her cannon wasn’t fixed. Not enough spare parts around the garage. She couldn’t help but let her worry stew over her friends. With her Pinkie-sense being super totally unreliable, she couldn’t sense if they were in danger or not.

Her vision snapped away from the spinning bottle when she heard hoofsteps echo up the stairwell.

Twilight emerged first, followed by Daniel. Then a third unicorn emerged with a brown coat who looked like Daniel, but was old enough to have gray hair.

They were all glummed out, with their faces all frowny and depressed. It gave Pinkie Pie a surge of energy to spring upright.

“We should throw a ‘we found your dad’ party when we get back to Rivet City!”

Twilight smiled, but it wasn’t as big as Pinkie Pie had hoped.

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Twilight said.

“Want to start us off with some music?” Pinkie asked. “Anything will do.”

Twilight hesitated. It was for a second, but Pinkie still caught it. She fiddled with her wrist thingy that Pinkie had heard play music and selected a station. The song only lasted a few seconds before someone howled out.

“Helloooo, capital Wasteland, Three Dawg comin’ in for your twelve P.M. fix of that sweet, sweet, news,” Three Dog inhaled loudly. “Just smell it.”

Pinkie Pie giggled. Three Dog was who she had sent the holotape to. She had heard from Tobar that he was a good radio host. She would love to meet him.

“Hearing him again helps lighten the mood,” James said. “I wonder what he’d think of me choosing to be a pony.”

“Now you all know how Enclave Radio went all numbers station a few days ago. Well get this, I was just sent a request via holotape. The Enclave’s NEW president asked me to give you all a message on her behalf, delivered to me by a pegasus cyborg of all things. I haven’t listened to this, so take this with a wheelbarrow full of salt, kiddies.”

There was an audible click. Someone hastily cleared their throat and took in a deep breath.

“People of the Capital Wasteland, you do not know me, but my name is Abigail Jacklyn. I will not claim to be your president, as the power to govern comes from the consent of the governed. If y'all wish to join the New Enclave States, we will be sendin’ diplomats to your towns to negotiate the opening of embassies where you can apply for citizenship. And to the Brotherhood of Steel, who have been fighting in the ruins and rubble of Washington D.C., you have my thanks for holding the line and defending the people. We’re sending air support to the Mall, and I would like to personally meet with Elder Lyons if possible. Now, I’ll let Three Dog back on the air, and Enclave Radio should be back up soon.”

“Okay, folks, that’s a bit of a doozy,” Three Dog said before the music kicked on again.

“Hey, that’s my line!” Pinkie Pie yelled playfully at the radio. “He stole my bit!”

Twilight laughed out loud and smiled.

“Thanks, Pinkie, I needed that,” Twilight said. It was what Pinkie Pie needed, too, seeing her friend break out of her glumness. “Okay, let’s get to Rivet City, maybe take a little break.”

That sounded wonderful. It would be nice to settle down for a bit. Maybe make flashcards with her sisters' names on them to try and make them stick.

<>~<>~<>

Gale Force stepped out of her favorite coffee shop, the hot Marejave desert sun blocked by the clouds of Upper-Las Pegasus.

She whistled a tune as she walked unimpeded down the sidewalk. The ground-side streets were almost empty during the day. Only the occasional pony would pass by, usually a night-shift worker trudging around like a zombie to do chores before work the following night.

She passed in front of an open roll-up garage door. She knew the route, and the door was usually closed. Curiosity drew her to peek inside.

A pegasus stallion sat on an overturned bucket in front of a wagon. She could see one of his wings in a splint.

Force was about to leave, but the pony waved her over.

“Hey, you,” he called. “I hate to be a bother, but I really need to get this wagon to Manehattan before five P.M, but I sprained my wing. Would you take it there for me for a hundred bits?”

Force would have done it for free for a fellow pegasus in need, just like any pegasus she knew would. But a hundred bits was a hundred bits.