Rainbow in the Wastes - Redone

Rainbow Dash shifted as she woke up. Her current resting place offered little comfort, and although she wasn’t particularly surprised to find that she was lying on the ground – she’d fallen off of clouds and out of trees many times in the past – something about the way it pressed against her fur was off. Even the chill that gradually seeped its way through her coat felt somewhat unnatural, somehow colder than normal. The only reason that she could think of was that she had been asleep long enough for night to fall, but it didn’t explain everything.

She cracked one eye open to test her initial theory, and was rewarded with the sight of pitch blackness no matter where she looked. Grimacing, she rolled over onto her other side and covered her face with a foreleg, curling up into a ball in an attempt to preserve at least some of the warmth she had previously had. It worked temporarily, allowing her to stay warm for perhaps a minute or two longer, but in the end it was a lost cause. The biting ambient temperature alone was enough to suck most of the warmth out of her, but when combined with the frigid ground beneath her, it left her shivering.

Groaning in annoyance at her predicament, Dash rolled back onto her stomach and stood in one quick motion. “Was it really that close to sunset?” she said under her breath, idly stretching her legs. “Could’ve sworn it wasn’t for another hour or two.”

For a few minutes she just stood there, eyes closed, head down, thoughts adrift in a sea of cold-induced drowsiness.

Eventually, something clicked. The spot where she had napped wasn’t too far away from her cloud home. At a leisurely pace, she could easily get there in seven to ten minutes, although she would definitely shave at least a couple minutes off her time if she flew faster. The only issue she might run into – figuratively or literally – would be if she came across another pegasus who happened to intersect her flight path. Even then, that would’ve been a bigger risk in a more populated city like Las Pegasus or Baltimare. It was an unlikely occurrence in such a small town as Ponyville.

The thought of making it to the warmth of her home reinvigorated her, bringing back some of the energy that had been sapped away by the cold. All she would need to do before she was ready to take off was pop her neck and, much more importantly, stretch out her wings. While doing so, she remembered another important lesson she’d learned over her years of flying: finding obstructions with her eyes, before she found them with her head. Seeing as it had usually paid off in the past, Dash opened her eyes and looked up, searching for anything that might interfere with her flying.

She couldn’t see the night sky.

Alarm bells started going off in her head. As she looked around, she realized that she was unable to make out anything more than a few paces away from her. Her vision extended to a rather small circle around her, and there were only two things she could actually recognize: what looked like a ceiling of some sort above her, laced with cracks that hinted at deeper structural damage, and the floor beneath her, worn away to a bare, smooth monotone from either use or age. Other than that, she couldn’t tell; darkness shrouded everything outside of her limited perception.

Numerous questions raced through her head, but one stood out above the rest.

Where am I?

Dash turned in a circle, trying to make out anything, any sort of detail in the shadows that surrounded her. All the while, she became more and more aware of just how vulnerable she was. Alone, in an unknown location, surrounded by a darkness that seemed almost alive at times. Anything could be hiding out there, waiting for her to lower her guard, or even turn her back.

She backed up, eyes open wide, head swiveling back and forth. Her ears flicked at every noise, imagined or not.

Something brushed up against her, and she shot up into the air.

She whipped around in mid-air and searched the area she had just been, ready for a fight.

Instead of the creature she’d expected, she saw a wall. A rather deteriorated wall, but a wall nonetheless.

Dash shuddered and floated back to the ground. She sat down, staring blankly at the floor in front of her. What am I gonna do? If there’s actually something out there, it’ll find me sooner or later. She shook her head and snorted. I need to find an exit. If I can get out, I’ll be able to find out where I am.

Her best bet was to search along the wall she’d run into. If there was an exit, that would be the safest and easiest way to find it.

As Dash inched her way along the outskirts of the room, she noticed more and more just how decayed the walls were. Most of the outer coating had been worn away, leaving gaping holes in the wall that left the wooden skeleton easily visible. She paused her search and thought for a moment. I could probably kick through this pretty easily.

She froze as a low groan echoed throughout the room, its origin point directly behind her. Turning around slowly, so as to make as little noise as possible, she frowned and tilted her head in confusion when she again saw nothing. The groan sounded again, and this time she was able to pinpoint the location: the ceiling in front of her.

Another groan, this one much louder than the previous two, was punctuated by sharp cracks as the ceiling began bulging inward.

Her eyes widened as she realized it was about to collapse.

Ears pinned back, she dove away from it just as the ceiling broke, sending out a plume of dust and bits of debris.

She didn’t know how long she lay there, head covered by her forelegs, waiting for the ringing in her ears to die down. When it finally did, she shakily stood up and turned to look at the pile of stone and wood that had almost crushed her.

Dash shivered and walked up to it. Okay, new plan. Get out of here as soon as possible.

Although caution was still her main priority, speed was now much more important than it had been. There was no telling if something like that could happen again. Thankfully, her search didn’t last long after that, and she found the opening a short distance away from the newly-deposited pile.

Slipping through the doorway, she found herself in a hallway. The path to her right offered no luck, as it was blocked off by a pile of rubble that stretched from floor to ceiling. Therefore, her only option was to head left, down the hall.

The end of the hall held the same darkness that had once surrounded her in the room, yet Dash wasn’t worried. She’d already overreacted to it once, and had ended up making a fool of herself; there was no point in doing so again. She took a deep breath and set out. Despite the hesitance in her step, there was hope in her heart.

As long as I keep searching, I’m bound to find an exit eventually. Right?

Carter sighed, a small smile on his face as he stepped through the front door of Craterside Supply. It hadn’t changed much in his two-month absence, considering who the owner of the store was. Apart from a few new items that graced the collection of random things on the front shelves, nothing else in the store itself was different. Of course, that wasn’t taking into account Moira’s personal quarters, which changed almost weekly, but that was another matter entirely.

The clatter of pots and pans came from upstairs and alerted him to her current location. His early arrival had likely caught Moira unawares, and so he was going to make the most of it. His smile grew as he crept his way along the carpeted sheet metal that made up the floor of the storefront, as well as the rest of the floor now that he thought about it. Moira had gone a bit overboard in her quest to make the building as comfortable as possible, but he couldn’t fault her dedication. It had gotten them through a lot more than he would’ve liked to admit.

Carpet. He remembered when he had been called to the Laboratory in the Citadel to see something that was supposed to be revolutionary, only to find something that had been rather prevalent before the War, at least according to some of the books he had scrounged from the ruins. Then again, now that he thought about it, the making of carpet was one of the many pre-War wonders that had been lost when the bombs fell. So, in a way, it was revolutionary, if only because they had been able to create a synthetic alternative.

He was brought back to the present by the sound of Moira’s voice. “Now, where did I leave the apples? I could’ve sworn they were right here.” He listened closer as she muttered to herself. “Maybe I left them downstairs on accident...”

Uh oh.

He sprinted into the corner underneath the stairwell, and waited. Not too long afterward, he heard her footsteps above him, and saw her slowly, methodically descending the stairs. Peeking around the corner, he watched as she stopped in the doorway that led to the store and brought a hand up to her mouth to stifle a yawn. Then, something unexpected happened.

She sighed.

Carter frowned. It wasn’t the normal kind of sigh that she would occasionally do when she started daydreaming about science in the middle of a conversation. Or when she was just thinking about science in general, for that matter. No, instead, it was wistful, holding none of the energy that was so essential to Moira that he couldn’t imagine her without it. It had been so ingrained in his mental image of her that it actually kind of hurt to see her like this.

Hang on just a little longer, Moira, he thought, smiling at her even though she couldn’t see it. It’s almost time.

7:57 AM, read the clock on his Pip-Boy. Three minutes before Moira would open up her store for the day. Three minutes before he could finally surprise her.

Several hours later, Dash was really starting to regret tempting fate.

The inside of the building was a maze, filled with piles of rubble that made navigation even more difficult. Certain areas were dark enough that she couldn’t even see her own hoof in front of her face, and she had to navigate her way by sound and touch alone. Combined, those two factors had slowed her search to a painful crawl. In the entire time she’d been looking, she had found perhaps one or two flights of stairs that led to a lower level, as well as a gaping hole in the floor that she’d nearly fallen into, but every time she thought she might be getting somewhere, she found herself going back to the upper floor. At this point, it wasn’t just frustrating; it was as if the universe itself was toying with her.

“If this keeps up, I’m going to make an exit,” she grumbled under her breath.

The monotonous corridors had started to blend together, disorienting her even further, by the time she finally made some tangible progress. Turning a corner she could’ve sworn she had gone around at least five times already, she came to a stop at the top of a flight of stairs. It looked suspiciously like the ones she had already found, and by that point had probably worn ruts into, but something was off. The only things she saw were a few minor differences in where the frame was visible; certainly not enough of a difference to be noticeable at first glance, but it was easily recognizable now that she’d familiarized herself with the others.

From that point onward, the next few floors were smooth sailing. The lower floor she found herself on had a greatly reduced amount of rubble, and the building changed into a series of corridors, occasionally dotted with side rooms, instead of the mass of rooms that had so greatly confused her on the upper floors. Still, she made sure to stay cautious; any one of those rubble piles could come crashing through the ceiling at any moment. There was also the matter of what to do once she had finally exited the building, but she would get to that problem later.

It wasn’t until she had gone through the second of only two doors that she had seen in the entire building – both of which were incredibly deteriorated, and looked ready to fall apart at the slightest provocation – that she realized that her escape still wouldn’t be quite as easy as she hoped. Specifically, she was confronted with yet another room full of darkness, this one even larger than the one she’d woken up in.

Sighing, she inched her way along the outskirts of the room, mimicking what she’d done the first time. This time produced better results, however; this time she found the doorway without so much as a single noise coming from... anything whatsoever. Her hoofsteps on the tile beneath her echoed throughout the cavernous chamber, reminding her of just how alone she was.

The deafening silence of her surroundings was something she hadn’t noticed at first, but its paradoxical presence had crept up on her while she had been exploring the seemingly-endless rooms of the upper floor. She’d only noticed it an hour or so in to her search, when the sound of her hooves had become so repetitive that she’d switched to flying for a short period, if only for the change in noise that accompanied it. Even in an abandoned building such as this, some sort of noise from outside should have been able to seep through the walls. Something as simple as the chirping of crickets would have been enough to ease her mind, yet the stark, utter silence of the building contributed to the overall unease she had felt since she’d arrived here.

Dash shook her head and focused back on what she was doing. Spacing out like that was dangerous in a place like this, when the structural integrity had already proven itself to be poor.

Another doorway, another corridor. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say that this building had a pattern.

Her resolve was tested somewhat when the corridor opened into yet another wide, open room, but she was determined to press on. Better for the building to alternate than for her to get trapped in a nightmare like the top floor again. The tedium of it all reinforced her annoyance and, throwing caution to the wind now that she’d gotten out of the areas she knew for a fact were structurally unstable, she set herself at a brisk trot as she edged her way around the room. She didn’t really care anymore, at that point; she just wanted to get out of the building, and the sooner, the better.

She came to a stop a few moments later, a grin splitting her face as the answer to her prayers appeared like a light out of the darkness. A set of double doors stood on the very edge of her sight. The things that really made them stand out from the others she had seen, however, were the near-pristine condition the doors were in, as well as the material. Whether it was oak or some other kind, she couldn’t tell, but even from a distance the difference in quality was easy to make out.

Finally, she thought, content in the knowledge that she had successfully found an exit. After the seemingly-endless hours of searching, she could finally find out some information as to where she was. Her pace now slightly slower than its previous speed, she made her way toward the door.

She didn’t get much closer, however, before the doors burst open, slamming against the walls on either side. Dash froze, ears rigid, heart racing, waiting.

Movement from in front of her. Vague bipedal shapes, three in all, stood in the doorway, blocking her only escape route.

She stayed as still as a statue, breathing as slowly as possible both to calm her heart rate and keep them from hearing her, as they advanced into the room. Whatever these things were, it was best to assume they weren’t friendly.

“Damn, it’s darker in here than I thought,” the one in front said with a female voice. “Tom, did you remember to bring the light?”

“Jerry was supposed to get it!” ‘Tom’ replied, pointing to the third of the three shapes.

“Why’re you always blamin’ everything on me?” ‘Jerry’ shot back, raising his arms defensively. “First the water, then the Stimpaks, now the light!” He reached one hand toward his side, where Dash noticed there was an oddly-shaped lump. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you just want me to get in trouble!”

“Well maybe I do!” Tom shouted, reaching for his back, toward something similar.

“Don’t even think about it, you idiots,” the female said, smacking each of them upside the head. “You’re lucky I brought a backup, just because I knew you two would do something to screw us over. Work together for just this little bit longer, and maybe, just maybe, we can live for another few days!”

As their conversation, if Dash could call it that, continued, she noticed that their features were becoming clearer thanks to the moonlight coming through the door. And they looked nothing like anything she had seen in Equestria, or even some places outside of it.

With the bipedal way they walked, her mind had originally gone to Diamond Dogs, but these things were furless, the only visible hair being on the tops of their heads. They also stood upright, which further discredited that theory, and the way they talked was closer to some of the folks in Ponyville when they were having a particularly rough day than the stilted speech she’d expected.

So, what exactly are they? she thought, frowning.

She wasn’t quite as worried at that moment as she had been earlier – these three seemed more preoccupied by their argument than actually exploring the building, and she was in the shadows – and so she listened in again with hesitant interest.

“I don’t think I can stand another few days with him around,” Tom said, grimacing. “And what is your problem, Janice? Slapping me first...”

“I slapped you first because you started it,” ‘Janice’ replied, smirking at his shocked expression. “What? You know I usually side with Jerry. Gotta learn that sooner or later, dont’cha?”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Guilty as charged. Now, if you’re done complaining?”

Tom reluctantly nodded, and Janice began issuing orders.

“Since there’s three of us, we’ll need to split up into two groups. Tom will stay here and perform guard duty-” a shout of “Hey!” from Tom briefly interrupted her, but she continued unfazed, “-while Jerry and I explore the building.”

“Why do I always gotta be the guard?” Tom asked, crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

“You said earlier, didn’t ya?” Jerry piped up. “You’d rather be alone than have to work with me.”

“And besides, I have the only light, and from what I can see,” Janice said, glancing around the entrance hall, “it’s pretty dark in here.” She turned back to Tom and smirked. “So, you either have to suffer with Jerry or suffer without him. Which do you choose?”

Tom groaned. “Fine, I’ll stay here and guard the door.”

“Good boy,” Janice said, a condescending smile on her face as she patted on the head.

“But,” Tom said as she turned back to Jerry. “How exactly am I supposed to see if anything tries to get in? I can’t exactly see too well, either.”

Janice sighed and turned back to face him again. “We shut the doors. If anything opens the doors, you shoot it. Got it?”

Tom glared at her, but gave a curt nod.

Dash watched, a sinking feeling in her chest, as he walked the short distance to the front doors, and closed them.

She was completely trapped now.

Janice chuckled. “Now, let’s get going,” she said to Jerry. “We’re going to search the Children’s Wing first, see if there’s anything useful there, then sweep around to the Media Archives. That’s probably where the jackpot is.”

“You got it, boss!” Jerry replied, giving his best impression of a salute.

“Don’t call me that,” Janice said as she turned on a lamp of some kind and held it up in front of her.

The light illuminated everything in the room.

Including Rainbow Dash.

Literally speaking, three minutes really wasn’t a long time. Compared to how many minutes, or even hours, there were in one day, three minutes was a mere fraction. Any amount of time could feel like an eternity, though, especially if you were waiting for something important.

Carter was in such a predicament now, as time crawled past him. No matter how much he willed the number on his Pip-Boy to increase faster, it stayed stubbornly set at 7:58.

He glanced back down at it. Oh, now it’s 7:59. Wonderful.

He sighed and peered around the corner. Moira was sitting there, typing away at her terminal, every now and then taking a bite from the apple she had on her desk. From what he could tell, her mood had deteriorated since his covert arrival. At that point, she even lost the motivation to keep typing in her notes; she just placed her elbows on the table and rested her head on her hands, staring down at the terminal’s keypad.

Please, just turn to 8:00 AM already!

An alarm rang out from the clock Moira kept above her terminal, and he looked down at his Pip-Boy. 8:00 AM, it read. He grinned as he watched Moira shut off the alarm with a loud “click,” then ducked back around the corner when she started turning toward him. He sat there in eager anticipation as she walked over to the front door.

Moira studied the door for several seconds before mumbling under her breath, “Huh. I could’ve sworn I locked it last night.”

Did I seriously forget to re-lock the door? Carter thought, rolling his eyes as he suppressed a groan. Well, now’s as good a time as any, I guess.

He stepped around the corner and said in an overly-theatrical voice, “Honey, I’m home!”

Moira froze, her eyes wide. Carter watched as a smile slowly spread across her face, and he tensed, prepared for her to tackle him.

Instead, she spun around on a dime and bowed before him. “Why, I am ever so pleased that you made it home safely, dear!” She looked up at him, a mischievous grin on her face, silently daring him to continue.

He took the offer, even if she was going a bit more old-timey than he’d expected. “I simply couldn’t stay away! Truly, I was fraught with dread at the thought of being gone for any longer!”

For a moment, they simply stood there, their gazes locked.

Then the moment broke, and they began laughing as one at their combined antics. They walked the short distance between each other and embraced, simply savoring each others’ company for the first time in months.

“I’m so glad you made it back,” Moira said, her head buried in his shoulder. She pulled back and looked up at him. “You said you’d be gone for another couple days! How are you back so soon?”

He chuckled and put his head over her shoulder. “Apparently, Canterbury Commons and Rivet City sent word to the Citadel ahead of time that everything was in order, and there were Brotherhood members there who were able to verify the reports, so that shaved off a lot of the last leg of the journey. And, once my entourage of Brotherhood Paladins had gone back to their normal patrol routes, I used the teleporter to get back here.”

“Oh, right!” Moira said, pulling completely away this time. “I need to ask you. How did it work?” She tilted her head. “Did you find anything – glitches, bugs, whatever – anything that might need to be worked out in future versions? I know your Pip-Boy is getting kinda old, so there’ll be some things in there that I can’t help, but anything else would be appreciated.”

Carter frowned and brought a hand up to his chin. “Do you want the short version or the long version?”

She scoffed and crossed her arms. “Carter, you know I need as much detail as possible! Without it, something horrible could happen! Like, like... your head could explode! Or, you could appear hundreds of feet above the ground!”

He raised an eyebrow. “Moira, in all the experiments you’ve done on me, nothing more life-threatening than a few benign mutations have occurred. In seventeen years.” He smiled at her, trying to calm her down. “I don’t think even this could cause something that drastic.”

She was having none of it. “Especially this! Carter, this is dangerous stuff! Teleportation has never been documented before, at least not in any of the records I’ve had access to, and we need to make sure it’s completely safe before you use it long-term.” She sighed. “I really don’t want to lose you.”

He dropped the smile and sighed. Back to business as usual.

“I understand.”

“Thank you,” she said as she walked back over to her terminal and started a new entry.

After a few minutes of setting up the new form, she looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. “Alright, I’m ready whenever you are!” she said.

Carter nodded and leaned against the front counter. “Power consumption is our biggest issue,” he said, trying to remember everything he could about the teleportation. “A teleport from near the Citadel brought the power down by 62%...”

“...which means that two in quick succession would almost certainly cut into your body’s energy supply,” Moira finished, typing into her terminal. “I’ve hard-coded the amount of energy it can draw from your body, so you know,” she said, opening one of her other files and quickly scrolling through it. “It’ll always leave you with at least... 20% of your body’s maximum energy; if a teleport would draw more than that, the teleportation will fail and you’ll go nowhere.

“Anyway, I’ll make that my first priority.” She looked back at him. “Anything else?”

He hummed. “You’ve made sure that it only takes from food energy, right? It won’t cut into water reserves?”

She gave him a confused look. “The teleporter... actually no, scratch that. Your Pip-Boy only uses a specific kind of energy, so in the eyes of the computational matrix, water’s a nonentity.” She frowned and started typing in her terminal again. “I’ll make sure to add something to prevent that, just as a precaution.”

He chuckled to himself, a bit embarrassed by the blunder, then shook his head.

“Anyway, those were the only two things I could think of that really stood out to me,” he said after she’d finished.

“Are you absolutely sure?” She responded, turning her chair around to face him. “No weakness, numbness, nothing like that?”

Carter shook his head. “Not that I can recall. And no,” he said, bringing up a hand, “there was no memory loss either. I remember everything clearly from when I teleported to right now.”

“Well, I hadn’t planned on asking about that, but thanks!” She glanced over at her terminal, then back at him. “I’ll let you know once I’ve finished my notes, then we can talk more, okay?” She smiled at him, then turned back to continue tapping away at her terminal’s keypad when he nodded.

Well, guess I’ll have to wait a bit longer, he thought as he made his way upstairs and found a comfortable position on the couch. He kicked back and stretched for what felt like the first time in years. Then we can finally spend some time together.

Dash heard a scream from her left and looked over at Tom, who was staring at her in horror. “What the hell is that thing?” he shouted, pointing a finger at her.

She reacted, leaping through the air and tackling him to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other two turn around, but her focus was on the door he had been guarding. I need to get out, now!

She looked up at the doors and realized her mistake. They were opened with vertical metal bars. She didn’t have nearly enough time to even open one, let alone get out.

Pain shot through her side, and she cried out. A deafening bang followed immediately after, and she fell to the ground, ears pinned to her head.

Dash lay there, motionless, trying to comprehend what just happened. Her side screamed at her. Her ears rang, louder than when the ceiling had collapsed. Her brain tried to process the pain she was experiencing, but it was more intense than she’d ever felt before.

She lifted her head and dazedly looked over at where the pain emanated from. There was a hole there, about the size of a bit, that was gradually staining the fur around it red. She stared at it. How? What? She looked over at where Jerry and Janice had been.

Jerry was pointing something at her.

The thing that had been on his hip.

Their mouths were moving, but she couldn’t make out the words. Probably talking about what they were going to do with her.

She closed her eyes and lowered her head.

Eventually, sound began to filter through the ringing, but she only caught bits and pieces of their conversation. It doesn’t matter, anyway.

”I will not let you kill her!”

Dash’s ear perked up.

That was Jerry.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Tom. “That thing nearly took my head off!”

“If she wanted to kill you, you’d be dead right now!”

Dash cracked an eye open. Jerry was still holding the weapon, but he wasn’t pointing it at her anymore.

He was aiming it at Tom.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Tom was standing over her, pointing a similar weapon at her. The thing that had been on his back. Another?

“Would you get over this ‘her’ and ‘she’ shit? You don’t even know!” He motioned with his weapon for emphasis.

“You’re right,” Jerry said, shrugging, “it’s just a guess, but I got a feelin’ about her.”

Janice opened her mouth, but Jerry brought up a hand. “Please, wait.” She raised an eyebrow, but gestured for him to continue.

“You two might not be able to tell, but she was just acting like any cornered animal would; she lashed out!” He nodded toward the doors. “You saw the way she was looking at the door before I shot her. She wanted to get away.”

Janice sighed. “It could have tried going deeper into the library.”

Jerry shook his head. “Too far away. She saw the opening that had been there, and tried to get out that way.”

“Quit beating around the bush!” Tom shouted, glaring daggers at Jerry. “What are we gonna do with this thing?”

“I say we keep her,” Jerry said. He smirked at their reactions. “Think, really think about it, you two! She could be valuable; a creature nobody’s ever seen before. We could get hundreds, if not thousands, of caps!”

Janice paused in thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, we’ll do it.”

“Have both of you gone insane, or something?” Tom looked between them in disbelief. Jerry, on the other hand, had on a smile that nearly split his face in two.

“Now, don’t go slinging that insult, Tom,” Janice said, glaring at him. “I wasn’t done yet.”

She turned to Jerry. “I have two conditions. One, you use one of your own Stimpaks to heal it. Since it’s your plan, and all.” He nodded.

“Two, you have to keep watch over it. I don’t want it escaping because you didn’t have enough of a brain to find your ass in the dark without a map, a flashlight, and written instructions.” He nodded again, this time more vigorously.

Janice clapped her hands together, a malicious smile on her face. “Alright, then. It’s settled. We keep it until we find some rich sod who’ll buy it for his collection.”

Jerry shook his head and walked over to Rainbow Dash. Her vision was blurred along the edges from blood loss, and she closed her eyes as he knelt down.

“You’ve been watching the whole time, haven’t you?” he asked. His voice sounded melancholic, but she couldn’t tell why. “This might hurt for a second, but you’ll feel better soon.”

Something pricked her side, dangerously close to the wound, but the pain melted away as it was retracted. Her breathing became easier. She was able to see clearer when she opened her eyes, and her hearing was back in full. Dash attempted to sit up, but Jerry put a hand on her and kept her down. She looked over at him and frowned.

“Please, don’t try anything,” he said, giving her a small smile. “I don’t want to have to shoot you again.”

What? Her eyes went to the thing at his side, then back to him. He nodded.

“Hey Jerry, you done playing with your new pet yet?” Tom called from where he’d moved to, closer to Janice’s lantern.

Jerry narrowed his eyes and stood, drawing the thing he’d apparently shot Dash with and pointing it directly at Tom. “Make a joke like that again and I’ll cap you,” he responded, staring Tom dead in the eyes.

Tom took a step back. “Whoa, okay, calm down. Sheesh!” he said, raising his hands. “You take things so seriously, sometimes.”

“I take that more seriously than you think,” Jerry said as he put the weapon back in its... carrying case? She’d need to find out what they were called eventually.

For now, though, she was trapped. Trapped by three not-entirely-sane individuals who had weapons that could kill her before she could react, in a deteriorating building that had already tried to kill her itself. It was becoming clearer by the minute that she wasn’t in Equestria.

I really want to go home.

”So, what do you want to talk about?”

Moira hummed. She leaned on the couch’s armrest and put a hand against her chin.

“I really don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “There’s so much for us to catch up on that my brain is drawing a blank!”

Carter smiled. “I guess I’ll start us off then, something simple.” He turned and looked at Moira. “What did you do while I was gone?”

She met his gaze and smirked. “You mean other than wait for you to get back?”

She rested her head against the back of the couch. “Not much, to be honest. I mean, I did the usual things – redecorated the store a bit, traded with customers, you know. I even helped Billy Creel settle something with one of the trade caravans, something to do with how he was handling the products he’d been given for redistribution.”

A smile drifted across her face. “Honestly, though, most of my free time was spent waiting for you to get back.” She scooted a bit closer to him. “It wasn’t exactly the best thing for me to do, but hey.” She shrugged. “Love is dumb sometimes.”

Moira leaned her head against him shoulder and sighed. “So, yeah. Not much interesting.” She looked up at him. “What about you, Mr. Lone Wanderer? What sorts of exploits happened on your little adventure?”

Carter smiled and shook his head at her use of that old nickname. He opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a knock coming from downstairs.

Moira frowned and looked in that direction. “That’s weird. I mean, the door’s unlocked.” She shrugged. “Must’ve forgotten to turn on the ‘Open’ sign in all the excitement.”

He frowned. “Maybe, but most of the people around here know what time you open. They’d just walk in.” It’s probably someone from the Brotherhood, then. “Let’s go see who it is.”

A pleasant surprise awaited them when they opened the door, in the form of an old family friend.

“Cross! It’s good to see you.” Carter brought an arm up to his chest, mimicking a proper Brotherhood salute. “What brings you all the way out here?” He asked, returning to a more conversational stance.

Cross returned the salute. “It is good to see you as well, Carter,” she said, mirroring his motion. “I have been sent to inform you that your presence is needed at the Citadel.”

He and Moira looked at each other, then back at Cross. “Already?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I was not given the reason, simply that you were needed. I apologize for cutting your return home so short.”

Carter shook his head. “There’s no need for you to apologize for it, but I need time to prepare for a return trip. Will 9 AM work, or do we need to leave sooner?”

Cross nodded. “That will work.” She turned to leave, then paused. “I will be waiting outside the gate of Megaton for your arrival.”

The door shut, and Carter groaned. “What was even the point? Taken off one assignment, I immediately get put on another.” He looked over at Moira. “Don’t get me wrong, I like helping the Wasteland, it’s just...” He sighed. “The Brotherhood doesn’t seem to get that I have a personal life.”

She put a hand on his shoulder. “Remember, we can always spend more time together later,” she said, a reassuring smile on her face. “Go be the hero everyone knows you as.”

He snorted. “That’s part of the problem.”

Her face fell and she sighed. “Okay, granted. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t help, though! You may not like it, but you’re more skilled in combat and diplomacy than most of their Paladins. Especially the latter. Without your help, they’d be having a much harder time keeping the peace.”

“You know, you don’t have to keep encouraging me,” he said, putting on a fake smile. “I know all of that already.”

She visibly relaxed. “I know, I just worry sometimes. That’s all.” She smiled back, hers noticeably more genuine, and gave him a quick hug. “Now, let’s get you prepared for your trip!”

As they went about setting up what little extra he’d need, Carter was focused on his own thoughts.

Even with how long we’ve known each other, she still doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know the effects her words have.

She doesn’t know that I don’t want to be the hero anymore.

He shook his head, light enough that Moira couldn’t see.

Whatever.

Dash lay off to one side of the room as her three captors discussed their new plans, now that they had a fourth member to look after. Unfortunately for her, they had situated themselves directly in front of the doors, probably under the correct assumption that she would try to escape if they were further away. She couldn’t even sneak away, further into the library, since Janice had positioned the lantern so that everything in the rather small entranceway would be easily visible.

How the heck am I supposed to get away from them if I have nowhere to go? she thought, head resting on the ground as she watched the three of them talk. Come on, Rainbow Dash, think! She sighed.

Jerry glanced over at her with a frown, having apparently heard her, then looked back at the others. “I’ll guard the door,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, and cutting off Janice in the process. He looked over at Tom. “You can explore with her.”

“You sure you want to do that?” Janice replied, the annoyance on her face amplified by her tone of voice. “If that thing goes crazy, there’ll be nobody around to hear it.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Jerry replied, smiling. “Besides, I doubt you want some important noise blocked out by the sound of her hooves, and, well...” He trailed off, then shot a glare at Tom. “I don’t trust Tom not to shoot her as soon as we’re out of earshot.”

“You know me too well,” Tom said, a mocking grin on his face.

Jerry rolled his eyes and looked back at Janice. “I can handle this.”

She shrugged. “Alright, if you say so. But if you let this thing escape...” she dragged her thumb across her neck.

He nodded. “I understand completely.”

Janice smiled and clapped her hands together. “Alright, I guess that’s that.” She looked at Tom, who grinned. “Let’s go.”

Dash watched as they walked away, the light receding with them. She smiled as they turned the final corner, completely shrouding the room in darkness. She may not have been able to see very well with the limited ambient light, but if their first minutes of fumbling around in the dark were any indication, she could at least see better than the three of them.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned in time to see Jerry flick on a flashlight. Well, there goes that idea, she thought, the smile dropping from her face.

Jerry chuckled to himself. “I love how she always goes after Tom like that. It’s never my fault, when she has any say in it.”

He shook his head, and the small smile that had been on his face disappeared. “They don’t like you, I can tell. Heck, I know why.” He turned toward her, enough light illuminating his features for her to see that he was disappointed. “That wasn’t the smartest thing to do, attacking a raider like that when he had backup. Would’ve gotten you killed, if I hadn’t been here.”

Dash tilted her head, trying her best to imitate what a curious animal would do. If they want to think I’m just some dumb animal, I’ll just let them believe that. That’s one advantage they can’t take away.

He sighed and walked over to her, kneeling down when he’d gotten close enough. “You can drop the act,” he said, giving her a smile he probably thought of as comforting. “I know you’re smarter than they think. You’re not just an animal, are you?”

As he knelt there, inspecting her, she found to her shock that it was working; she was feeling more and more comfortable the longer she spent around him. There was nothing about him that would’ve made her feel that way, at least not that she could make out. Unkempt brown hair covered the top of his head, and what she assumed to be armor protected the rest of his body in a mishmash of leather and metal that would send Rarity into a fit if she ever saw it.

So why do I feel so calm right now? Her complete lack of worry concerned her more than Jerry himself did. She was laying down next to the person who had shot her not half an hour ago, and yet she hadn’t felt this calm since before she’d arrived here. Even if he had kept the other two from killing her, even if he was just kneeling there, inspecting her as she herself was inspecting him, she still knew that she should have been scared. Yet, it simply wasn’t there.

Jerry gave her a knowing smile. “Well, I guess I won’t be getting through to you that easily,” he said, standing up and turning away from her. “I’ll try again later.”

Now’s my chance. If she struck now, she would be able to get out easily.

With a quick flap of her wings, Dash launched herself into the air. The sound of her wingbeats was easily covered by Jerry’s footsteps, so all she had to do was wait for him to get far enough away. Then, if she could build up enough speed – an admittedly easy thing for her to do, even in such small confines – she could knock him down long enough to get out. She’d be... well, maybe not home free, but still free.

She watched, unmoving, as Jerry walked further and further away from her, the reality of her situation slowly sinking in. No matter how much she wanted to, no matter how much she struggled, she could not bring herself to attack him. Whatever force it was that was stopping her from being scared of him extended to her ability to harm him, even if her want was there.

I’m completely trapped as long as he’s guarding me, Dash realized, eyes going wide as she landed.

After what felt like an eternity, Jerry finally reached the spot he had been going toward and sat down, turning around to face her again. He smiled, knowing all too well what had just happened.

“It’s interesting, isn’t it? Any animals that are near me become... oh, what’s the word? Calm?” He shrugged. “Yeah, let’s go with that. They become calmer, less easily provoked.” He sent a surprisingly malicious grin her way. “Unable to attack me.”

His expression went back to normal, but Dash could see now that there was an almost unnoticeable steel hidden behind it. She gulped.

“I’m honestly kind of surprised it worked on you, what with how intelligent you are and all!” he said, resting his back against the wall. “When you tackled Tom, I wasn’t sure what to think. Knew it had come into effect when you stayed down, though. Then, when you moved away from the door without any incident?” He clapped his hands together and chuckled. “Absolutely beautiful.”

She sat back down and breathed in and out, working up the nerve to talk to him. It was plain to see that he knew something was up, and she wouldn’t get anywhere if she kept playing dumb. I hate this, she thought, eyeing him, trying to judge how he’d react.

Finally, she opened her mouth and spoke. “What did you do?” Four simple words, enough to express what she wanted to know, and nothing more. If I have to give him an edge, I may as well make it as small as possible.

His reaction wasn’t what she’d expected, not by a long shot. Instead of staying cool and collected as he had been, and simply brushing it off, his eyes widened and he leaned his head back, looking at her as if she’d grown another head. He recovered rather quickly, going back to his seemingly-normal expression of indifference, but the hint of curiosity in his eye belied his facade. She’d definitely gotten his attention now.

“You talk.” He tilted his head. “That’s... quite a surprise. I mean, I knew you were intelligent, but sapient? This might actually be interesting.”

He’s avoiding the question, Dash thought, narrowing her eyes. “Tell me,” she insisted, taking a step closer to him.

He snorted and stood up, popping his neck as he walked toward her. As he drew closer, she realized that he was at least two or three times taller than her. Before, he had always been kneeling down nearby or sitting down some distance away. Now, though, he was using his height as an intimidation method, and it shocked her that it was working so effectively. She started walking backward, eyes wide, heart picking up speed, trying to keep an even distance between them.

She ran into the wall and slid down it. He caught up, absolutely towering over her.

She closed her eyes and turned her head to the side.

Instead of the blow she’d expected, Jerry whispered in her ear. “I didn’t.”

Dash opened her eyes and turned to look at him. He was just standing there, looking down at her.

She shook her head. “What’s with all that stuff you’ve been doing, then?” she asked, her previous strategy all but forgotten in her anger. “First you affect what I’m able to do, then you toy with my emotions like that?” She looked him in the eyes. “What are you?”

He barked a laugh and she flinched. “I’m a simple human, who just so happens to have an odd control over a long list of animals.” He knelt down and grabbed her by the muzzle, forcing her gaze on him. “And you, my dear little rainbow-maned pegasus, are counted in that list.” He let go, pushing her to the side as he turned back around. She fell to the ground in a heap.

He walked over to the doors and turned back around, leaning against them with one hand. Dash put her hooves under her and moved to stand back up, a task that was monumentally more difficult than it should have been, but froze when the same sound as before echoed out from his direction. She turned her head and saw him pointing the weapon at her.

“Lay down.”

She did, eyes tracking his movement the entire time.

He smiled.

“Now, you and I are gonna have a nice chat, and you aren’t going to move from that spot until we’re done.”

The Citadel. The Brotherhood’s base of operations and one of the most secure locations in the entire Capital Wasteland.

When Carter had first entered its halls seventeen long years ago, on the run from the Enclave immediately after the death of his father, he had been in awe. Such technological splendor would’ve been out of place anywhere else in the Wasteland, even in the Vault he had called home for almost his entire life. Yet, he had never had time to truly appreciate the sheer amount of technology the Brotherhood had accrued, simply because his every visit to the Citadel had been on some mission or another.

Even now, he still wasn’t able to marvel at it. At that moment, he was sitting in the meeting room in the A Ring, alone except for Sarah Lyons, and listening to her describe the situation that he had been so urgently called there for.

“Why exactly can’t your elite, power-armored soldiers take care of it?” he asked, giving her a disapproving look. “I doubt three raiders would give even one of them difficulty, unless they were actually smart enough to use cover and flanking routes strategically.”

Lyons frowned. “Have you not been paying attention? All of the forces we could spare – from Initiates all the way up to Paladins – are on the front lines.” She paused as something dawned on her. “You do know what I’m talking about, right?” He gave her a blank look. Her mouth dropped open. “Somebody told you about the war we’ve been fighting, right?”

He shrugged. “Well, if somebody did, I don’t remember it. Can you give me the short version?”

“Remind me to lecture these people about why you should be told everything,” she said, resting her elbow on the table and covering her face with a hand. She groaned. “Alright, short version it is.”

“We’ve been fighting a coordinated group of raiders from the west, although at this point it seems like a veritable army. They’re showing advanced tactics, the likes of which we hadn’t seen from any of the raider groups we cleared out of the city.” She sighed. “While these three could just be one of the groups we haven’t managed to cleanse from the DC area, I’m not willing to take that risk. If they’re here providing reconnaissance, we need them taken out as soon as possible.”

She chuckled. “I could always go myself, but I’d never hear the end of it from Rothchild.” Her slight smile morphed into a grimace. “Or any of the members of Lyons’ Pride.”

“Understood,” Carter said, nodding. “When should I head out?”

“Now.” Lyons smirked at him. “You’re dismissed, soldier!”

As he made his way back through the winding halls and out into the courtyard where training normally took place, Carter was deep in thought. A war. A war is going on, and nobody told me about it. He frowned and slowed his pace.

What else haven’t I been informed of?

He shook his head and kept walking. One last mission before he could truly return home. One last mission before he was done, before he could rest, before he could finally have time to himself.

He snorted.

One last mission? This will never be over.

Where the hell are they? Jerry thought, frowning as he looked deeper into the library. It had been at least a few hours now, seeing as the sun was now peeking through the crack he’d made in the front doors, and Tom and Janice hadn’t returned yet. By this point, he was getting more annoyed than concerned.

He looked over at Rainbow Dash, asleep in the corner she’d moved to after their conversation, and suppressed yet another snicker at the name. What kind of place has such on-the-nose names? He chuckled and shook his head. Better yet, what place has multi-colored pegasi? Does it have anything else that shouldn’t exist?

That thought was exciting, but Dash had been so adamant about not telling him any details on where she was from – even when he had further intimidated her – that he’d ultimately had to drop the subject. She’s headstrong, I’ll give her that. Not much else, though.

He pushed off of the wall he had been leaning against and walked over to her, nudging her with his foot to get her up. She woke with a start and looked around wildly, her eyes eventually settling on his leg. Her posture relaxed and she yawned.

“What do you want?” she asked, gazing sleepily up at him.

That was a good sign. She was already calmer in his presence.

“Come on, Dashie,” Jerry said, smirking at the nickname he’d come up with. “It’s time to get up. We have to go find the others.”

She stood up and shook herself, clearing whatever sleep has been left on her.

“Why?” she asked, looking up at him with a slight tilt to her head. “Do you actually care about them that much?”

His smile fell. Perhaps I said a bit too much last night. “You know how I said, ‘they’re the biggest morons I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with’?” He shrugged. “I was tired. Not thinking straight, you know?” His smile returned. “I do care about them. They’re friends, you know?”

He could tell that Dash wasn’t buying it, but she didn’t push the issue.

She wasn’t as argumentative, either. Another good sign.

“I want you to lead the way,” he said, bringing out his gun. “That way, I can keep an eye on you. You know, as a precaution.”

Her eyes had darted to the gun as soon as he drew it. She took a step back, then shuddered and started walking, keeping her eyes glued to the gun as long as she could. She fears it. He smirked. Good.

Not long after, they found the two missing raiders. Or rather, they found their remains, buried under a pile of rubble. They had made it into the Children's Wing, but had barely gone anywhere before they’d been buried. Idiots, Jerry thought, shaking his head. The ceiling breaking isn’t exactly silent.

“Well, I guess that’s that,” Jerry said nonchalantly. “We should probably find some shelter, so something like that doesn’t happen to us.”

Dash whipped around, her face a battle between shock and anger. “These were your friends!” she shouted at him, walking right up to him and jabbing him in the leg with a hoof. “You really don’t care that they died?”

He kicked her. Not too hard, since he didn’t want to have to waste any Stimpaks if he broke one of her bones, but it sent her some distance away all the same. As she struggled to stand, apparently dazed from the blow, he walked over and put a foot on her, putting just enough pressure for her to want to stay down.

Jerry switched his foot for a hand and knelt down next to her. “Look at me.”

She kept her eyes shut.

He put the gun up to her neck and pushed. “Look. At. Me.”

She froze, then opened her eyes. He pulled the gun away and she turned to look at him.

“Good.” He kept the gun pointed at her, just close enough for her to still be uncomfortable. “Death is a fact of life here, kid. You’d best learn that sooner than later. Otherwise...” He shot the floor next to her and she shied away from him. “You’ll end up dead, too.”

He stood. “Now, get up. We’re going to find some shelter so the same thing doesn’t happen to us.”

A cursory search of the rooms closest to the entrance yielded poor results; many were blocked off by walls of debris, and still others looked or felt unstable enough that he would've been an absolute idiot to stay in them. In the end, the safest room – for the night, at least – was the entrance. Jerry cursed his luck, even if they'd be able to escape easier if some part of the ceiling decided to make its presence known by raining down on them.

Jerry shook his head and glanced over at Dash. She was eating one of the few fresh apples any of them had thought to pack, but he smiled anyway as he watched her devour it. Better than giving her Salisbury Steak, he thought, rummaging through the small bag hanging from his waist. He recoiled slightly at the smell that wafted up at him. Or any of the food that's in here.

He saw Dash studying him out of the corner of his eye, apparently finished with her apple, and chuckled to himself.

"Hope you enjoyed it," he said, meeting her gaze. "Those are pretty rare around here. You should feel lucky."

She said nothing, simply ducking her head back down, ears flat against it.

He sighed and rested his back against the wall.

You'll come around, sooner or later.