Fallout: Lavender Wastelander

Applejack smiled as she sorted the stack of papers on her office desk. Her day had just started—only a little past six A.M according to her wall clock—but the reports were miraculously more good than bad.

Enclave troops and vertibird fire support in The Mall had helped the Brotherhood of Steel push from their positions at the Washington Monument and retake some old trenches. It had driven the super mutants occupying The Mall all the way back into the Capitol Building, which was both good and bad.

While they had retaken territory from them, the front steps of the Capitol Building created an uphill battle against super mutants hiding behind sandbag walls and piles of rubble. And with how overengineered the Capitol Building was, and symbolic to the Enclave, bombing the position into rubble was not viable.

In the same area of The Mall, a group of former slaves had seized the Lincoln Memorial with the help of mercenaries identifying themselves as ‘Belle’s Butchers’. Vice President Autumn was scheduled to meet them later in the afternoon. It would be after his visits to Big Town and Arefu. Both towns had elected to join the New Enclave States.

The new colonel filling in for her vice president—Colonel Douglas Morhaus—had left comments on the report that Arefu and Big Town were in key positions to pressure the slaver settlement of Paradise Falls.

With Enclave patrols keeping watch over the area and harassing slaver caravans, slavery would grind to a halt.

A knock on the door snapped Applejack out of her reading.

“It’s open,” Applejack said, sitting up in her chair. The overabundance of good news had put a smile on her face, and it only grew once Rainbow Dash walked in. Applejack nodded and tipped her hat. “Howdy, Rachel.”

“President Jacklyn,” Rainbow Dash replied with a smirk as she quickly closed the distance to the desk. “I’ve got good news and bad news that turned out good in the end. What do you want first?”

“Umm, the bad, I guess?” Applejack said, her smile wavering. If it turned out good in the end, wouldn’t that make it good news?

“So get this.” Rainbow leaned her hip against the edge of the desk. “I fly all the way out to the far edge of the Capital Wasteland region while doing some scouting, and I find this little town calling itself the Republic of Dave. Well, I land and ask to talk to Dave, and they immediately declare war on us. Had to use my implant chip to dodge a few bullets.”

Now that Rainbow had mentioned it, Applejack could see the remnants of a bloodstain under her nose.

“I really wish you’d take that darned chip outta your spine,” Applejack said. “Even usin’ it for emergencies is killin’ ya.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, almost in a whisper. “But I only use it for emergencies like getting shot at or protecting you, AJ. Still, I know using it upsets you and that it's a performance enhancer and I can’t keep letting that fly, even if it can push me to the point where I’m fast enough to dodge bullets.” She sighed heavily, before giving Applejack a half-smile. “And now I have a reason to take it out, but I need to tell you how this story with the Republic ends.”

Rainbow took in a breath before speeding through the next part. “Anyways, I’m flying away from town, these farmers are shooting at me, so I call a vertibird over the radio to strafe the dirt in front of the gate. The town put up a white flag and the war was over without anyone getting hurt… well, except for Dave who got kicked out. The Democracy of Rosie now wants to be part of the Enclave.”

Applejack didn’t find the story as amusing as Rainbow Dash had. It sounded like someone in town wanted to stay independent and got roughoused, but Applejack would be a liar if she said that every town that would enter the Enclave would go smoothly.

Still, it was the responsibility of her and every diplomat to make sure that every annexation and addition to the New Enclave States was done so legally and with as few hiccups as possible. Bullying towns into joining would only plant bad seeds that would sprout into weeds that strangled the growth of the burgeoning nation.

“So, why do you have a reason to remove the chip now?” Applejack asked. She hoped it wasn’t for some newer, more secret and powerful upgrade someone found in a storage closet. Her mare-friend had too much metal in her as it was.

“SOCOM is surrendering to us,” Rainbow said, pumping a fist with glee. Applejack stared in shock. “They’ve already turned over General Beckett to Equestria. His replacement, Hoffman, is offering to move their portal wherever we want, and that they’ve already surrendered their portal to Equestria. He’s asking for you to grant them a conditional surrender where SOCOM is integrated back into the Enclave.”

Applejack hadn’t expected SOCOM to capitulate so easily. Liberty Prime wasn’t even ready to stomp its way to their base. Power consumption issues with the giant robot had never been resolved before the Great War, and the Brotherhood of Steel were unable to find a solution. Maybe Liberty Prime would be ready by the time they had to march on the next super-secret underground base they found.

Still, the giant death robot was unnecessary. Even Applejack could see that SOCOM’s position was untenable, and doubted that the intelligence operatives could ignore the obvious. They faced a war on multiple fronts, between the patriotically motivated main Enclave, the experienced Brotherhood of Steel, and an Equestria with a wagonload of animosity towards them. Even if SOCOM inflated their numbers with Talon Company as reports suggested, Colonel Morhaus had not been overly worried. The mercenaries barely had any power armor and no vertibirds, and SOCOM didn’t have an infinite number of caps and supplies to hand out.

“Tell General Hoffman that I want the portal delivered to Adams Air Force Base, but we have to inspect it before delivery,” Applejack said, leaning back in her office chair. With how the portal in the Everfree had exploded, Applejack wasn’t letting one into Raven Rock. Adams AFB had the benefit of not being under a mountain, and would allow Enclave soldiers to have leave time in Equestria. “Oh, and tell Verti-Force One to prepare for a trip to Adams.”

They were going to visit home.

<>~<>~<>

Twilight opened her eyes to daylight streaming through her open balcony doors. It hadn’t been daylight when she had walked into her bedroom.

The last thing Twilight recalled was that the new general of SOCOM had turned over Beckett and offered to move the portal closer to Ponyville. Celestia agreed, and teleported everyone—even the portal which had been in a cave near the meeting spot— to Ponyville.

Twilight couldn’t remember much after walking past her bedroom door.

Regardless, she was in bed, and the teddy bear in a lab coat that Daniel had bought for her was tucked between her forehooves. She was also naked. She couldn’t remember stripping out of her armor, and she still felt dirty, so she hadn’t had a bath.

There was a concerning gap between walking into her room and waking up.

Placing Dr. Teddybear on the pillow next to her, Twilight slipped out from under the covers and softly clopped her hooves onto the magically warmed crystal floor. She approached the open balcony doors, but stopped mid-way at the sight of Daniel leaning against the railing. He was gazing out at the town with his back to her.

He was naked as well, and part of Twilight wanted to stay back from the balcony and admire his body. His clean black mane was perfectly lit in the sunlight, the same went for his light-brown fur. Even his flank caught the light just right, the golden shield inlaid with a silver scalpel was practically shiny as if the mark on his flank were made of actual metal.

A jolt of surprise sent Twilight straightening up as she rapidly came to full consciousness.

“Daniel, you got your cutie mark!” Twilight exclaimed, running to join him. All traces of drowsiness were gone as Daniel jumped with a gasp and spun to face her.

“Yeah,” he said, before holding up a hoof to take a moment to calm himself while smiling in the adorably dorky way that Twilight loved to see. “I got it after casting a healing spell that Doctor Redblood taught me.” Daniel shifted from hoof to hoof. His smile was infectious. “Everything just felt right all of a sudden.” His smile grew even wider, and he shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t really put it into any fancy words other than that to describe how it felt. There was just a tingle on my flank and a feeling that, even with all the chaos around me, I was perfectly suited to help people through it.”

Twilight’s heart fluttered as she shared her lover’s enthusiasm for his accomplishment. Twilight considered extending their stay in Equestria, just long enough for a quick surprise cutie mark party. Pinkie Pie would be the perfect planner on short notice unless she was too busy staying at the hospital. Twilight planned to check up on her friend after asking Princess Celestia how the negotiations with SOCOM were developing.

Even with General Beckett in Equestrian custody, that didn’t automatically end hostilities. There were still many SOCOM agents dispersed throughout Equestria. And as Sergeant Pepper and Sine Wave made clear, they were so cut-off from communications that some of them had accidentally infiltrated the same group unbeknownst to each other.

“Oh, and before I forget,” Daniel said, dragging her out of her thoughts. His horn glowed as silver as his eyes. He levitated two scrolls off of a large gift box sitting in front of the nightstand. “These came for us.”

Twilight took the first of the levitating scrolls. The sun-embossed wax seal of Princess Celestia was already cracked open. Twilight unfurled the letter to read it.

To my faithful student and her darling husband,

Twilight, I wanted to thank you for telling me exactly what I needed to hear to get me out of my self-imposed mental trap. While your words were crude, they were effective at getting through to me and giving me the strength to persevere through everything.

As a thank you, I ask that you and Daniel not stress yourselves today.

I will handle diplomacy with the humans since Luna and I are still the acting rulers of Equestria. I have a feeling that negotiations will go well; Applejack arrived to negotiate with us personally a little after ten A.M. Meanwhile, Luna has departed to assist with Cloudsdale now that the immediate threat of more nuclear strikes has been solved, and Starswirl, along with most of Canterlot’s highest mages, are dealing with the Everfree.

I know how anxiety-inducing it can be to do nothing when you have the power to do so, but you need to take some time to take care of yourself. I’ve seen how injured you are. Do this for me, please. If you still have objections, I shall put it in a vulgar way in the hopes that your own method works against you:

You can’t be a hero if you’re a fucking corpse. (Last time I’m ever using that human word.)

And to Daniel, do not stress about the injured and sick in Ponyville General. Princess Cadance will handle their transfer to hospitals in the Crystal Empire. Additionally, the director of Ponyville General has asked me to grant you an honorary certificate for your selfless voluntary service and quick action in the efforts to save the life of Private Bastion.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia

P.S. Princess Cadance sends her regards, and we all wish you both a happy honeymoon.

Twilight reread the letter several times. Princess Cadance had already arrived, as well as Applejack, and it was clear that Daniel had had his own long night, but thankfully Princess Celestia wanted them both to take a day off. Twilight wanted to see everyone at least once while spending some quality time with Daniel if she could.

If she could.

Yesterday had been a living nightmare of one hectic event after another. The memories flooding back sent Twilight’s jaw clenching shut as her shoulders tensed and wings trembled, ready to spread and take flight at a moment’s notice. She was prepared for the mandatory explosion, gunshot, or the sudden appearance of some wild wasteland creature.

Whatever horror that would send her on another cavalcade of death and destruction. Her stomach coiled into a knot at the thought. She had filled more graves in Equestria than she had in the wasteland.

The thoughts and worry melted away as Daniel kissed her on the cheek. She faced him as he broke away.

“You looked like you were starting to doom spiral,” Daniel said, flashing her a pearly white smile. “I know that there will always be something bad happening either in Equestria or the wasteland, and it's healthy to acknowledge it and be on the lookout for danger, but tearing yourself apart with worry isn’t healthy. Both mentally and physically.” He nodded to her braced leg and broken horn. “As your doctor, friend, and husband, I’m going to recommend that you follow Princess Celestia’s advice to relax.”

Twilight knew that they were both right. She had been so eager for a break, and she was finally told to take one.

She forced a playful smirk.

“And what are you going to do if I don’t?” She asked in a half-joking tone to try and ease her tension. A less than joking part of her wanted to know what he would do if she couldn’t calm down.

There were so many dangers and what-ifs in Equestria now. Like what if raiders had started planting landmines. Would a young colt or filly find what looks like a flying saucer toy laying on the ground? They wouldn’t have the survivability of alicorns.

“I could try tying you up,” Daniel said jokingly as he placed a calming hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, dragging her thoughts away from the deep, dark hole they circled.

Twilight smiled as Daniel only seemed to register what he said a few seconds after he had said it. She felt a little guilty that she enjoyed watching Daniel’s face turn as red as Big Macintosh. He spluttered several times, trying to squeak out an apology through his embarrassment.

Twilight’s face flushed as well, but she wasn’t embarrassed because of his suggestion.

She was embarrassed because she was considering it.

“Right, um… what time is it?” Twilight asked, jittering as she rocketed away from that line of thinking. She was too busy to get tied up. Maybe later. She looked at her foreleg, only to realize that she didn’t have her Pip-Boy.

“Sometime past one P.M.,” Daniel said. “You didn’t get home until early morning, and you collapsed halfway to the bed.”

Twilight balked. She hadn’t overworked herself into collapse in years. She thought that maybe she’d simply forgotten about stripping out of her armor, not Daniel having to do it for her.

She really needed to take a break and leave the missions to well-rested and healthy individuals.

Twilight took the second letter, which was sealed with pink wax in the shape of a heart. It was from Princess Cadance, and it, too, had already been opened. Unlike the first letter that simply smelled of parchment, the next smelled strongly of dark chocolate and fresh roses.

Dear Princess Twilight and Prince Daniel

What wonderful news it is to hear that my favorite foal to sit for has found another love in her life other than books. I do wish we could meet up in person, but by the time you wake it is likely that I have departed back for the Crystal Empire. I would stay if I could, but Flurry Heart is with a sitter and it is imperative that I get these refugees to hospitals in the Crystal Empire as quickly as possible. Lives are very much on the line.

Come visit when you can, please. Flurry Heart misses you, and she has recently learned how to set ice on fire. Pretty please with a cherry on top? I need your help fireproofing ice.

Oh, and before it slips my mind, I’ve left you some gifts for both your bridal shower and honeymoon. Only a few shops in town were open on such short notice, so I’ll bring proper gifts on my next visit back.

With lots of love and hearts,

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza

Twilight smiled and gently rolled both of the letters back up before levitating them over to the nightstand. She then swapped her magic over to the large, heavy, decorative cardboard gift box with hearts printed on it. Something within shifted slightly as Twilight moved it, nearly collapsing her magic since she hadn’t reapplied her horn medicine yet.

“What’s in this thing?” Twilight asked. The fact that her horn wasn’t sparking was a sign that the medicine was already repairing her horn.

“I don’t know, I only opened the letters in case they were important enough to wake you up,” Daniel said as he shook his head. “Sorry for letting you sleep through Cadance coming and going.”

Twilight let out a chuckle.

“It’s fine, hun,” Twilight said as she set the box between them. “The ponies at Ponyville General take priority over anything else, and I hope she has a safe trip back.”

Daniel nodded in agreement.

Smiling, Twilight looked down at the box, and a tremble of anticipation like a filly waking up on Hearth's Warming Day shot through her. Princess Cadance always knew what to get her, even without Twilight asking. Her old foalsitter knew her that well.

“I wonder what’s inside,” Twilight said as she tugged the cloth ribbon bow to undo it.

“Only one way to find out,” Daniel said. “We take the lid off together on three?”

“Of course,” Twilight said with a smile, leaning over the box to nuzzle Daniel’s neck. “It’s a gift for our wedding, after all.”

A quick countdown later and they both sent the lid flying away like a frisbee, revealing a neatly organized care package of multiple unwrapped gifts within. Twilight slowly levitated out each of the items one after the other.

At the top of the box was a large bouquet of roses with a heart shaped box of chocolates under it. They were tied together with a pink ribbon. Under that were other simple items like an empty picture frame with a heart motif and a matching pair of mugs with Twilight and Daniel’s names painted on them. They were simple, innocent items that Twilight expected most newlyweds would receive from their friends.

Deeper down into the box was a new-looking hard-cover book. Twilight’s eyes bulged and she nearly dropped everything else in shock as she read the title.

101 Illustrated Sex Positions, Tips, and Techniques for the Newlywed Mare

As Twilight stared at the book, Daniel looked down into the box, chuckling anxiously as he pulled something out.

“Is Princess Cadance psychic or something? We were just talking about tying you up,” Daniel said, his face flushed beet red as he levitated out a pair of black shackles lined with fuzzy pink material, followed by a black faux leather crop. “And a whip, too.”

Twilight’s heart nearly stopped as thoughts ruder than the ones she had around Deathclaw Joe zipped like fireworks through her head. Twilight wanted to try the cuffs out. Maybe the whip too. But how to cover for herself to make it sound like she was less of a weirdo than she really was?

“I mean… it’s, um… rude to return a gift, right?” Twilight asked, her voice shaking like a paint mixer as her confidence wavered. She was a weirdo sex addict, and she hoped it wouldn’t scare Daniel away.

Daniel’s blush started to fade and he smirked, then suggested with the same level of shaky confidence as her, “Want to use the book like a checklist?”

That wasn’t fair. As if she needed any more incentive to want sex, now there was a checklist involved. Her free time and flanks were doomed… but later. They still had ponies to visit. Twilight considered that while they were out on the town visiting ponies, they could have a nice dinner if any of the restaurants had electricity.

Then again, their first date had been inside a rusting two-century-old aircraft carrier. Twilight was sure that they could manage something for a second date.

<>~<>~<>

Pegasi in hazmat suits and a ghoul rallied around Princess Luna as the horde swarmed them from all angles of the weather factory, even above.

The cacophony of rapid fire weapons filled the air with deafening noise, overpowering the hissing screams of the flying masses of necrotic flesh. As guns went silent when chambers clicked on empty, blades came out and the fight became a whirling melee of flashing steel and chomping teeth.

Even with all of the noise, Princess Luna could still hear her damn geiger counter screaming like a cockatrice from Tartarus. The radiation inside the weather factory was strong enough to heal the ghouls almost as fast as the ponies around her were wounding them.

“Aim for the heads!” Princess Luna yelled, her twinned swords scything out in front of her as she picked a target for each one. She cleanly decapitated one ghoul. The other split the head of a ghoul open like a melon, splatting the once living mare’s brains across another feral ghoul.

The waves of undead around them were endless. A pressing, unending, gnashing mass of hooves and teeth seeking any weakness in their ranks.

A pegasus next to Luna was pulled away from her and into the horde, his terrified screams somehow more distinct than the feral ghouls as he was ripped apart and eaten alive right in front of her.

The mission was a failure, she needed to teleport everypony to safety and get reinforcements.

“I got a plan to save everypony’s flank, Princess!” a pegasus mare on Luna’s other side yelled. Before Luna could ask, the mare sliced into an already bitten part of her foreleg, sending spurts of blood spraying as she nicked something arterial. She took off flying. “Come and get me, freaks! I got fresh meat for you zomponies!”

As if taking her up on her taunt, or smelling the blood, most of the horde immediately lost interest in the crowd around Princess Luna and flew after the self-wounded pegasus mare. A new pegasus joined beside Princess Luna as the pressure of the surrounding horde was alleviated.

“What in the name of Nightmare Moon is she thinking?” The stallion asked, panting. Like the mare who had just flown off, a hole had been ripped into the foreleg of his suit from two or three bites, drawing blood. With all the radiation in the air, the breach would be fatal in minutes.

Princess Luna watched as a feral ghoul tackled the wounded mare from above by diving down on her, sending them both crashing into the floor where the rest of the horde closed in.

The brick of C4 detonating answered the stallion’s question as the mare spent her own life clearing nearly two dozen ferals in a brief, grizzly fireball.

Luna had no time to mourn the mare’s loss as she sent her swords flying out to sweep the heads off of three ghouls in a single swing of her left blade, and one other with her right.

A quick glance for more targets revealed none as a pair of pegasi worked together to ram combat knives into the neck and skull of the last ghoul attacking them.

With the feral ghouls dealt with, at least for now, Princess Luna did a headcount.

It didn’t take long to count to five… they had entered Cloudsdale with thirty.

“Alright, everypony!” Luna called out, “Anypony with explosives start rigging them onto the machines. I’ll teleport everypony out of here when we are done!” She looked around and spotted the only one of their team not wearing a hazmat suit. The stallion was a former maintenance pony who had worked at the plant. “Wing Nut, you know the best places to wreck the machines. Your word is law when it comes to where those explosives go.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the ghoul pegasus said as he gave a salute with a featherless wing. He quickly turned away and directed the two remaining pegasi with saddlebags full of explosives on where to place them.

Princess Luna flew around and helped by using her swords to cut power cables and fluid lines at a safe distance from herself. When her swords wouldn’t cut it, quite literally, she instead smashed it with her telekinesis.

Firing a beam from her horn would puncture or melt through her suit, and Princess Luna was not eager to test to see if alicorns were immune to lethal radiation poisoning.

Her vandalism lasted less than five minutes before all of the human-made C4 and Equestrian-made high-explosives were set and ready. She flew back to the center of the factory floor where everypony else had gathered.

She could see through the faceplate of the hazmat suit a stallion wore that something was wrong.

“Windshear, right?” Princess Luna asked the stallion, who nodded. “Is there a problem?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Windshear replied. He nodded towards the gory crater in the cloud floor where the mare had given her life. Even the insides of a pegasus didn’t fall through clouds. “Brightstar was the only one out of us who made it here with a detonator or fuses. Everyone else with them didn’t make it this far.”

“Damn it, we’re so close to finishing this,” Princess Luna cursed, stomping her hoof. They would have to leave and get a new detonator before coming back. By then, more ferals would be swarming the factory. All of the radiation put off by the machinery was attracting them like moths to a flame.

“I think there is a way,” Windshear said. He nodded again to the crater. “The Equestrian-made high-explosives detonate a lot easier than the C4 bricks, right? I think the instructor said you could light C4 on fire and it wouldn’t go off, but not our stuff. I still have a plasma grenade. It should be hot enough to detonate a satchel-bomb.”

Princess Luna’s eyes widened. There was a chance.

“Give the grenade to me, Windshear,” Princess Luna said sternly. “I have a plan, and if it works, no more Pegasi will have to perish this day.”

“It's a good thing that I’m already dead, then,” Wing Nut said, his hoarse, ghoulish voice rattling like a tin can filled with hornets. “Give me the grenade and tell me how to use it. You and the others can escape, Princess.”

Windshear pulled out the grenade and, rather than hand it to Princess Luna, presented it to Wing Nut.

Princess Luna facehoofed and snatched the grenade up in her magic.

“You all have been reading too many action novels where the hero has to die heroically at the end,” Princess Luna groaned. “I can teleport us all away before the grenade detonates so we all escape the blast.”

“Ohhh…” Windshear said. “Well why didn’t you say so?”

<>~<>~<>

Princess Luna turned her gaze skyward to Cloudsdale as ponies in hazmat suits sprayed her off with water hoses and scrubbed her body with brushes on poles.

The green clouds were breaking up nicely.

It was a sad reality that the Cloudsdale weather factory would never be used again. All of the factory equipment was either destroyed or too irradiated to safely use, even after decontamination. It would take years to reconstruct a weather factory as big and powerful as the one in Cloudsdale, but it could be done with enough time and patience.

Equestria would soldier on and do as it had done for over a thousand years. Take each day as it came and survive however it could to the next. Because ponies were, if not anything, resilient and experienced at coping with disasters.

And if Windshear, Wing Nut, and Brightstar were any indication, ponies were growing past just coping with disaster. They were brave and foolish enough to laugh in the face of death and charge it head on, regardless of their own safety if it meant saving others.

If they worked on thinking on their hooves rather than committing foolhardy acts of heroism, Equestria would be in the best hooves it could possibly be in.

<>~<>~<>

To Applejack, the interior of the castle’s map room held an eerie resemblance to the meeting rooms back in Raven Rock. If all the Equestrians were swapped out for humans, Applejack could have convinced herself she was back in meeting room 3-C.

While Applejack was seated, Rainbow Dash stood beside her, keeping a careful eye on everyone. Spitfire kept glancing at Rainbow Dash through the black mourner’s veil that she wore.

So much pointless loss. At least Beckett was in a dungeon with enough truth spells cast on him to turn his brain into soup. Whatever he had admitted to Princess Celestia had led to painlessly quick peace negotiations. Beckett was at fault for almost everything that SOCOM had done.

After finishing reading the paper on the table in front of her, Applejack broke the silence in the room.

“This looks like a solid plan to me, Princess Celestia,” Applejack said, clopping one hoof onto the map table while tipping her hat with the other. “With Equestrian troops on our side, we have the numbers to not only take areas, but to hold them as well. Especially the metro tunnels. That’ll give us a whole heap of options to start chippin’ away at the mutant and raider problem.”

Princess Celestia and the Equestrian generals in the room nodded.

“It’s been a pleasure and an honor, President Jackyln,” Princess Celestia said as she leaned over the table and extended a hoof. Applejack shook it.

Once Applejack signed the paper, she would be bound by a treaty agreement to destroy most of the Enclave’s nuclear weapons over the next several years, only keeping a few in the horrific event that some other wasteland power had nuclear ordinance that needed deterring.

In return for research agreements, nuclear disarmament, and help unblocking the river upstream of Ponyville, Equestria was going to send military aid as well as wagons of food supplies and barrels of fresh water. Vertibirds or pegasus pulled chariots at Adams Air Force Base could distribute the goods to the new Enclave towns.

While using food and water supplies as an incentive for towns to join the Enclave was morally wrong, it was better than strong-arming towns into submission. Plus having the supply of food and water controlled by the Enclave meant it could be delivered safely to where it needed to be in the right amount since the Enclave would have a census on the number of citizens.

And when Project Purity was turned on, that would mean so much more for the wasteland than clean drinking water. Being able to make concrete without any radioactive gunk in it would make new construction safe and possible.

Talon Company and the Outcasts were too small to be an issue with the Enclave, Brotherhood, and Equestria working together. Even better, with Equestria’s help, the Enclave had the numbers to besiege Vault 81.

Cutting off super mutants from dragging captives back to the labs inside the vault would prevent more mutants from being created. The end of super mutants would only help stabilize the Capital Wasteland even further. And once enough towns and settlements were sufficiently developed and the region was safe, the next stop would be north to deal with Pittsburgh.

An optimistic part of Applejack planned for expeditions to The Pitt to be possible in two or three months, and trips all the way to Boston by Equestrian-made airships within two or three years. And if she wanted to be overly optimistic, Enclave personnel would be back on the West Coast in the same amount of time.

There would be setbacks and stumbling blocks, of course, but all it took to see the many good days ahead was the right mindset.

To use the phrase the Brotherhood of Steel had heavily adopted to celebrate Enclave-Brotherhood cooperation, Ad Victorium.

To victory.